• Barricade (1942)
• Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Date of birth:

September 4th, 1915 (Glasgow, Scotland)

Date of death:

September 30th, 1966 (United Kingdom)

Service number:

74887

Nationality:

British

James Hamish Watt Torrance (1916–1966) was a distinguished British officer whose wartime career spanned conventional command, clandestine operations, and resistance coordination across Europe and North Africa.

He began his service as a Platoon Commander with the 6th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry on 30 March 1938. By February 1940, Torrance was a Captain with the 24th Independent Guards Brigade and seconded to M.I.(R) as an Intelligence Officer during the Norwegian Campaign. On 2 July 1940, he joined the Auxiliary Units under Colin Gubbins, serving as Acting Captain and helping establish Britain’s secret resistance infrastructure.

Transferred to the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in April 1941, Torrance operated undercover in Finland and Sweden as a timber trade inspector based in Kouvala. He completed parachute training at STS 51 (Ringway) in November 1941 and soon led Norwegian commandos in raids including the Lofoten Island operation and Q-ship attacks—civilian vessels armed for surprise engagements.

In April 1942, he was posted to STS 62, the Small Scale Raiding Force at Anderson Manor, Dorset. Later that year, he departed for Gibraltar to command the Brandon mission under SOE’s L Section. After a brief return to the UK in mid-1943, Torrance was sent to Cairo to lead Greek guerrilla forces as a British Liaison Officer from August 1943 to January 1945.

Following the war, he continued service as an SOE agent, likely in Norway, and was posted to Allied Land Forces Norway on 8 July 1945. Torrance’s contributions earned him the Military Cross, Africa Star, King Haakon’s Liberty Medal, and appointment as MBE.
He married fellow SOE operative Dorothy Moyra Brander in 1945. Torrance died of tuberculosis in 1966 at age 50 and is buried at Becklingen Cemetery.

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• Photo 1: TNA ref HS9/1476/3
• - LETT, B.G., The Small Scale Raiding Force, Pen & Sword Military, 2013.
  - The London Gazette 19-3-1948
  - The London Gazette 9-8-1945
  - MBE Recommendation

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