Snow (17 page)

S
UMMER
presented the possibility of extracting new information about the impending invasion, but his mission’s exact purpose remained unknown and it was decided that Owens should ask for advice as to what he could do for S
UMMER
, the hope being that in their response the Abwehr would reveal what they had in mind for him. J
OHNNY
was still the sole line of communication between the Abwehr’s agents in Britain and Germany, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for MI5 to co-ordinate all the stories required to keep the deception credible. Thus far, the Abwehr had appeared to believe everything that Owens had told them about the meeting with
S
UMMER
, and evidently the Germans were keen to put him to work, as was indicated in the next message:

During S
UMMER
’s interrogation he revealed that he was soon to be followed to England by a friend about whom he was willing to talk if MI5 undertook to protect him. With this assurance Caroli disclosed that a Dane, Wulf Schmidt, was scheduled to be dropped imminently into Cambridgeshire, and accordingly MI5 circulated a warning. Sure enough, a second
parachutist
was taken into custody soon after landing in a field near Cambridge and, after a period of interrogation at Camp 020, was assigned the codename T
ATE
. When searched, T
ATE
was found to be carrying a forged ration book that bore a bogus serial number that had been supplied to the Germans by Owens. The number was part of a four-numeral series, but the one on the ration book began with the letter P, which was never used on the genuine article.

T
ATE
’s insertion into Britain had involved a parachute jump from a height of 3,500 feet, and for a few moments he had been caught in the beam of a searchlight. He’d then become entangled in some telegraph wires and injured his foot when he hit the ground. MI5 decided to run T
ATE
as a double agent alongside Owens and S
UMMER
, knowing that he would have to be turned and persuaded to make contact with Germany as quickly as possible before the Germans realised that he had been caught. Any delay might compromise S
NOW
, and indeed the whole embryonic double-cross system.

The speed with which German agents were turned was impressive, and depended on the use of subtle psychological methods rather than more physical means. MI5’s strategy was to undermine an agent’s confidence in his controllers by manipulating the information gained from other sources to make it appear that the interrogators knew rather more than they really did. When questioned, bulky files were placed on display to convey the impression that the organisation had already accumulated large amounts of intelligence on their subject. Apart from the threat of execution, violence was eschewed, although on one occasion there was a lapse in discipline and T
ATE
was physically assaulted by Colonel Alexander Scotland, a visitor to Camp 020 from another intelligence branch, MI9.

Scotland was discovered attacking T
ATE
, who defended himself by hitting back, and the incident was reported by Malcolm Frost, the MI5 officer who intervened. Appalled at Scotland’s behaviour, and convinced that ‘Gestapo methods’ were not the way to acquire reliable information or co-operation, Liddell banned the officer from seeing T
ATE
again. Nevertheless, Scotland turned up again, this time carrying a syringe supposedly containing a drug that would induce the prisoner to speak. Scotland was told that he could not see T
ATE
, who was not in a fit state to be interrogated, although in reality there was nothing wrong with his health.

Meanwhile, as T
ATE
was coaxed into collaborating, Owens was becoming increasingly concerned about his safety during the Luftwaffe’s air-raids on London, so he asked the Abwehr whether he should move from his flat to somewhere safer. Having been informed by the Abwehr that this was
acceptable
he was told by Robertson to look for a house in Oxford. However, he was not the only one looking for accommodation – the raids on London meant that there were few houses available in the area.

When Owens’ search for accommodation proved fruitless, he was allowed to rent the home in Addlestone, Surrey, of Jock Whyte, the MI5 officer heading B Division’s B23 sub-section. Under the agreement he paid four and a half guineas a week, plus the housekeeper’s and gardener’s wages, in return for which Owens, Lily, baby Jean and Burton could eat the vegetables from the garden. Meanwhile, J
OHNNY
was still receiving almost nightly requests for detailed weather reports and information about aircraft movements.

One of Owens’ missions involved a trip to Kent to collect information about the bridges over the Royal Canal between Appledore and Hythe. This he effected by the cunning method of approaching a sentry and asking him what he knew about the bridges. The sentry gave him all the information he required, though Major Scotland of the War Office vetoed the transmission to Germany.

On 24 September Owens received a message telling him that ‘Man for Manchester coming, possibly beginning next week.’ From the interrogations of S
UMMER
and T
ATE
, MI5 believed that this was a man named Reisen, a German. If the intelligence was correct, they would be on the look-out for a man from the United States who spoke English with an American accent. He was described as being thirty-seven, with black hair, clean-shaven, of medium height and of medium build. Upon contact with C
HARLIE
he was to be taken to 20 Rock Street, Higher Broughton in Salford, where a wireless had already been installed. Robertson talked over the arrival of this
agent with Owens, in particular the nature of his identity and his password. His National Registration card was to have the letters CNFS, which was a variation of CNFV, a bogus series that Owens had previously sent to the Abwehr. Owens was told to tell C
HARLIE
all he knew about the new arrival and the way he was going to work. However, MI5 was not willing to sacrifice the entire operation for this one man, and it was decided that if he should be arrested before he could contact C
HARLIE
, he was to receive no special protection. Inspector Page, who was the local police contact, was told to deny all knowledge of the man even if the arrest was made by one of his own men, and was advised that the man was to be treated in the same way as any other unauthorised alien.

In the same message with the information about the imminent arrival of the Manchester agent, the Abwehr told J
OHNNY
that the Swansea agents would also be arriving soon. As a result, two MI5 officers were sent to Wales to contact Major Ford and Gwilym Williams, and on their arrival the
officers
were installed at the Osborne Hotel in Langland Bay, about five miles outside Swansea.

Meanwhile, MI5 was engaged in developing S
UMMER
, who was released from Camp 020 and accommodated in Cambridgeshire with a handler named Theakston who was instructed to gain his confidence. This he did, but his assessments of his charge were rather different from the
conclusions
reached by his interrogators. When Owens heard that S
UMMER
had left B
ISCUIT
’s home he was surprised and pointed out that Germany would be expecting to hear from S
UMMER
. MI5 did not want Owens and S
UMMER
to meet, so in order to prevent any direct contact between the two men, they sent Owens to Hythe on a reconnaissance mission to keep him occupied.

Meanwhile, McCarthy had been to Manchester to see C
HARLIE
who was expecting the new agent, and on his return he had passed on C
HARLIE
’s concerns regarding the agent. Apparently C
HARLIE
was willing to take some time off work in order to look after the man, but could not stay with him all the time, and wondered whether he should leave him alone for long periods. He was also in need of money and wanted to know whether to write to Owens or get some from the new agent. It was decided that due to the growing expense of running an ever-increasing number of agents, Owens should ask Germany for more money.

T
ATE
, the latest addition to the network, had also been moved to
Cambridge
, and was starting to transmit but his signals were not getting through.
He believed that the Abwehr would listen out for him for up to six months so MI5 did not give up. Under interrogation he had told MI5 that two other Abwehr agents had been trained at the same time as he and S
UMMER
. One was Danish and the other Canadian, and the intention was for them to be dropped in Somerset and in South Wales. In anticipation of the arrival of a new agent in Wales, another MI5 officer, Richard Brooman-White, was sent to assist the Cardiff RSLO, Major Ford.

When the expected agents failed to arrive at the allocated time S
NOW
’s radio operator Maurice Burton was instructed to ask the Abwehr for an explanation. The reply informed J
OHNNY
that both the men were ready, and were just waiting for the right weather conditions. They also informed Owens that the man destined for Swansea had the money that had been requested, acknowledging Owens was supposed to be receiving £250 a month plus expenses, which included everything except food, drink, clothes and his rent. Naturally, MI5 was keen to take advantage of this arrangement and certainly enjoyed the irony of having the enemy pay for their operations. Accordingly, Owens was encouraged to invent false journeys which were legitimised by sending information that was already known to the enemy. This added to the potential to claim even more expenses.

At the height of the Luftwaffe raids on London in September 1940 McCarthy was instructed by the Abwehr to report on their effect, and once more it was agreed that MI5 could transmit whatever information could be gathered by ordinary observation. On the night of 9 October 1940 McCar-thy reported that Cambridge Circus had been wrecked and that Whitehall, Charing Cross, the Palace Hotel, Gray’s Inn Road, the Saville Theatre and departmental buildings had all been hit and had
suffered
considerable damage. However, the Germans had other plans for some of their bombs. They offered various options for smuggling more money to their agents in Britain, and these included another meeting with McCarthy in Lisbon, a rendezvous at sea near a Scottish port, or putting the money inside a dummy bomb which would then be dropped at a pre-arranged point.

In dealing with the request for details of aircraft and weapons factories, MI5 noted that within a ten mile area of Swansea docks there were factories involved in the manufacture of ‘every possible implement of modern
warfare
’. This report was shown to DMI Home Forces who did not have any objection to this information being handed over, but expressed his sympathy with the people of Swansea.

On the same day that Owens sent his message asking about the two agents he was expecting, a letter was sent to Gwilym Williams from a man
identifying
himself as Miguel Piernavieja del Pozo stating that he had just arrived in London from Spain. He claimed to have met a friend of Williams, by the name of Mr G. Kettering, who had wanted to pass on his regards and some news. However, he explained he was having trouble getting to Swansea and so was eager to meet Williams at his London flat. The bona fides of Mr Kettering were checked in the nightly message to the Abwehr, which confirmed that ‘Man with password Kettering is OK. Is man of Captain for propaganda and sabotage.’

Williams then travelled up to London from Wales by rail and was met at Paddington Station by B
ISCUIT
who took him to the Bachelors’ Club with instructions to make sure that they were not being followed. At the club they went through Williams’ story, and he was then sent to meet the Spaniard at the planned 5.50 p.m. rendezvous.

Williams went to room 117 at Athenaeum Court, 116 Piccadilly, where he was met by the Spaniard who was keen to check his identity and
proceeded
to quiz him about his age and occupation. It was when Williams mentioned the Welsh Nationalist Party that the Spaniard seemed to accept him as genuine. The Spaniard then produced a tin of talcum powder which he gave to Williams saying ‘it is full of pounds for you’ and advised that as the money had come from abroad, all the serial numbers were likely to be known to the authorities, and it would therefore need to be laundered.

The Spaniard explained that his mission was to send reports back to Madrid, so he wanted to learn about the Welsh Nationalist Party and places in Wales and England where weapons and aircraft were manufactured. Williams was asked to find someone reliable in London who he was to bring with him to the Spaniard’s flat. This man’s role would be to deliver Williams’ reports from Wales to the Spaniard in London so he could send the information back to Madrid. Williams then asked about the visitors he was expecting in South Wales but, much to Williams’ surprise, the Spaniard seemed to know nothing about them, saying that he was connected with the Spanish embassy and that he was leaving for Glasgow that night on diplomatic business. Accordingly, MI5 arranged for the Glasgow police to keep del Pozo under surveillance. Williams described him as being aged between twenty-eight and thirty years old, about five foot eight with a sallow complexion, slim, with a small black moustache. He had black hair, dressed in dark clothes and was described by Williams as being obviously Spanish.

After the meeting Williams was eager to open the tin of talcum powder, but waited to meet his MI5 handler before doing so. He had been told that he was to keep £200, which would be used to pay for the Spaniard’s expenses, and the tin was found to contain £3,900. Although Williams was unaware of this, he was unwilling to part with the tin, complaining about the way that he had been treated concerning his own expenses, and even went so far as to say that he was no longer willing to work for MI5. Williams was eventually pacified when it was agreed that the matter would be looked into but as a result of this episode another MI5 officer, John Marriott, described him as ‘an opinionated mercenary Welshman and needs to be thoroughly frightened. I think he is a dangerous man, potentially, as he is no fool.’