How to Read A Document

How to Read a Document

Document titles are to: 1) identify the original National Archives collection and location. 2) provide additional information about the source of the information. 3) provide a list of key subject terms. 4) identify other document features such as date, length (if more than 4 pages) and language. Almost all documents are in English, a handful are in Greek, Italian, French, and German and the file name includes signifier if the language in not English (e.g., Language Greek, Language German, etc.) Some of those not in English are translated.

Here are several examples:

1943 9-1543 Thessaloniki, Rallis, Gotzamanis, 165-MID-3115 (OSS No. 9336 Source Rose)

The year, 1943, followed by the month (September) and day (15th). “Thessaloniki, Rallis, Gotzamanis,” are searchable subject terms. RG165 denotes Record Group 165, MID 3115 is the subject file number of the Military Intelligence Division for “Puppet Government.” Although this is a document found in the military intelligence file, it was created by the OSS. The information in the parenthesis indicates that OSS numbered the document 9336 and that the source of the information was code-named “Rose.”

1944 11-244 Athens, Evia, Nationalists, EAM-ELAS, EDES, Antonopoulos, 38-Naval-Political

This is a document within Record Group 38, filed under “Naval Political.”

1944 12-2644 Epirus, Thessaloniki, Thrace, Volos, EAM-ELAS Terror, PAO, Ioannina, Bulgarian Atrocities, Patras, EAM-ELAS, 226-CID-L50607 (A-46901a)

This is a document in the OSS’s Central Information Division (RG226-CID), in the L series. The L series was used only by OSS’s Research and Analysis Branch, when the OSS distributed the document it was with a number beginning with “A.” So to readers in other government agencies, or the British, this was document (A-46901a).

1945 4-1045 USSR, British, 457-NSA-15 (US Intercept)

Record Group 457 are records of the National Security Agency; Magic was the program that intercepted and decoded foreign, including Greek, diplomatic traffic. This document is in Box 15. 

1945 4-245 Crete, Chania, Milos, Dodecanese, Cyclades, Italian Surrender, German Morale, Food Shortages, Civilian Relief, Guerrillas, 226-CID-125216 (Naval, British)

This is a OSS report located in the R&A’s Central Information Division, but prepared by the US Naval attache, based on information by the British Navy’s F.O.L.E.M. “Flag Officer, Levant and East Mediterranean.”

What’s the information in the Last Parenthesis?

Most of the documents have information in parenthesis at the end of the document title, giving either more details about the source of the document or identifying the subject of the document.

(Admin) Administrative files of the OSS, they are valuable to better understand the conflicts within and between the allies, as well as how the intelligence was produced and distributed.

(British) Original British intelligence reports given to the OSS.

(State) State Department cables with intelligence shared with OSS and military intelligence.

(OSS Foreign Nationalities) Reports produced by the OSS’ Foreign Nationalities Branch.

(A-00000) documents distributed and produced by the OSS Secret Intelligence Branch. “A” series documents can also be found in the military and naval intelligence archives. An OSS documents which was filed in the Central Information Division of the OSS would have both an A-00000 and and CID number.

(A-00000, British). OSS produced am A-series report based on British intelligence.

(MID) Reports typically produced by the US Army Attaches.

(Naval) Reports produced by the US Naval Attaches.

(OSS) Reports in the military and naval intelligence files only sourced as OSS intelligence.

(PWE) Political Warfare Executive was a British intelligence/propaganda agency. PWE produced weekly directives to guide BBC political coverage.

(HIS) The Hellenic Information Service, the intelligence arm of the Greek government-in-exile.

(Polish) British reports with Polish Intelligence as the original source.

(OWI) Reports from the U.S. Office of War Information.

(Boston Series) These are German reports smuggled to the OSS. Most are summaries and translations, there are also a few original German reports.

(Free French) A very small number of documents based on intelligence by the Free French Forces.

(Treasury) The US Treasury Department prepared a long study of the Greek economy and the Board of Economic Warfare also prepared two reports.

(CSDIC) Reports based on interviews of escapees and prisoners of war conducted at the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre.

(Test) The post-liberation testimony of captured prisoners and defectors

(Greek) Information produced by the Greek police or intelligence agency following the reestablishment of the Greek Government in Athens.

How was the Information Assessed?

The documents in the Vlanton Collection are mostly “raw intelligence,” meaning the information is unevaluated—interesting enough to share, but unconfirmed. One week an OSS report might state that 80% of all Greeks support EAM, and the next week the OSS might share another report that only 40% of Greeks support EAM. This does not mean that EAM lost 40% of its support in a week, only that different sources reported different information. In issuing their reports, the US intelligence agencies used one scale to access the sources (A to F) and another to assess the information (1 to 6). The War Department’s intelligence manual explains the system:

Evaluation of Source

A. Completely reliable

B. Usually reliable

C. Fairly reliable

D. Not usually reliable

E. Unreliable

F. Reliability cannot be judged

Evaluation of Information

1. Confirmed by other sources

2. Probably true

3. Possibly true

4. Doubtfully true

5. Improbable report

6. Truth cannot be judged

According to the 1946 War Department manual:

The evaluation of the Source of Information is an estimate of the reliability of the contact himself. An "A" rating will only be given under the most unusual circumstances, when for example: the Informant is an Intelligence Officer of long experience. A "B" rating indicates an informant of known integrity. "C", ”D”, and "E" ratings indicate a proportionately decreasing degree of reliability of the informant. An "F" rating is assigned when nothing is known concerning the informant.

An evaluation of the truth, credibility, or probability of the information is an estimate of the quality of an item submitted by an Informant. Numbers "1" through "5" indicate the degree of accuracy of a piece of information as stated in the above code. Number "1" need not necessarily accompany the letter "A", number "2” the letter “B" etc., since a reliable source may submit an Improbable report, or an unreliable source a probable true report.

British Intelligence, (known as MI-6, SIS, or, when pertaining to Greece during the occupation, ISLD) simply identified sources as “reliable,” a “responsible Greek contact who has proven reliable in the past,” while the British provide the pseudonyms of their agents, i.e., “below is information from Caligula and Claudius” etc.

The OSS generated documents identify the source of all their intelligence as “Z”.

To provide a common filing system, all documents begin with the year followed by the month-day-year, then a title (often not the original title but one that gives more information) followed by the National Archives Record Group collection number, followed by the file number of that collection, and sometimes followed by the source.