Aubrey Alwyn Edgar Trofimov (he disliked his given names and always used "Troff") attended the Collège du Sacré Coeur, Menton, on the Côte d'Azur, completing his schooling in England and going to Manchester University.

He enlisted in the early months of the war and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1943. On hearing that volunteers were required by the SOE, he joined the other Jedburghs for training at Milton Hall, Peterborough, in April 1944  Although SOE teams landed in army uniform to avoid execution as  spies, many agents, including Trofimov, preferred to adopt civilian clothes. One night he ran into a German patrol in such a disguise, with a concealed American automatic pistol that would have got him shot on the spot if found, and had to impersonate a vomiting drunk. But he found allies among the local resistance groups and helped the Americans to capture a town with almost no casualties.

With the Jedburgh teams in northern France virtually to an end and Paris free in  August, some were sent to work with partisans in Italy.  Trofimov and others volunteered for service against the Japanese.  He went to Burma, where the principal partisan groups were the Burma National Army (BNA) operating under the direction of General  Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO), which was seriously harassing the Japanese

Trofimov was parachuted into the Karen Hills in charge of a Jedburgh team codenamed "Mongoose". This was one of the SOE's Force 136, which launched two major operations in support of General Slim's 14th Army in early 1945.

In Operation Character, which included Trofimov's team, it was primarily intended to raise the Karen tribesmen who had remained steadfastly in support of British interests throughout the Japanese occupation.

After the 14th Army had taken Meiktila in early March 1945, it was clear the Japanese planned to make their next main stand astride Toungoo 125 miles to the south.

 Six Jedburgh teams were dropped in a line running southwards with the aim of leading Karen guerrilla attacks against the road and railway to prevent the Japanese reinforcing Toungoo.

The tactic proved effective and Trofimov's team in the most southerly position killed 70 Japanese on a single day. Ambushes, roadblocks and derailments inflicted serious delays on movement, and Toungoo fell to the 5th Indian Division on April 22 before the Japanese could concentrate enough troops to hold it.