The Walls Have Ears

by Helen Fry

  through his earnest cooperation to the effective training

  of American intelligence personnel.

  Kendrick worked for MI6 until his retirement in 1948. He died in 1972 at the age of 91. A Roman Catholic funeral service took place in Cobham, Surrey, and was followed by burial in the municipal cemetery in Weybridge. Grandson Ken Walsh recalled: ‘I attended his funeral and stood next to my mother. I noticed some chaps in long raincoats. I asked my mother who they were. She replied: “Oh, they’re from the Foreign Office and MI6.” As we left the church they shook hands with us. They were just like spies out of a film.’59

  Even in his twilight years, Kendrick never spoke about his work. Until recently, MI6 did not officially exist. Kendrick went to his grave carrying many secrets. The cloak of secrecy surrounding his life adds to the sense of mystery, enhanced by the shadowy figures at his funeral.

  EPILOGUE

  Secrets To The Grave

  For decades, Lustig speculated whether their work had any impact on the outcome of the war. Although not privy to precisely how it changed the war, Lustig could take comfort from the words of Kendrick on his first day at Latimer House: ‘What you are doing here is as important as fighting on the front line or firing a gun in action.’1

  Did they contribute to the Allied victory in Europe and defeat of Nazism? It would take Lustig nearly seventy years to discover how their unit, alongside Bletchley Park, impacted the intelligence war. Lustig passed away in December 2018 at the age of 98 and was one of only a handful of intelligence personnel who lived to see the declassification of the official files and gain an appreciation of their enormous contribution to the war. Although the work of the secret listeners is now recognised as being ‘of considerable national and international historical interest which bears comparison to the code-breaking work at Bletchley Park,’2 it remains an area of Second World War history yet to be fully studied and evaluated by historians. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to be complacent about what is now known about the war and to overlook the volume of intelligence and significance of material that the secret listeners amassed for British intelligence. They often picked up information that had not been gathered by any other British wartime unit.

  The pages of this book have sought to provide a comprehensive history of the intelligence gathered, the mechanics of gaining that intelligence and the day-to-day lived experiences of the POWs, largely drawn from information contained in declassified Special Reports and General Reports. They preserve the rare but verbatim wartime conversations which in turn shed light on a moment in time and provide unique insight into life as a German general or enemy POW at the hands of British intelligence and its spies.

  The sheer volume of material from the bugged conversations provided Britain and the United States with a comprehensive picture of the Nazi war machine and its threat. The M Room yielded a wealth of information about the new technology the Germans were developing for use in warfare, which could not have been secured in direct interrogation. It is highly doubtful that the Allies could have kept ahead of the ‘tech war’ without it. Operational intelligence from the M Room enabled the Allies to develop counter-measures to the new technology being developed before it was first used by the Germans. The M Room provided intelligence which ranged from the first discovery of X-Gerät (the new Y beam technology fitted to Luftwaffe planes) to Knickebein, radar, magnetically-fused torpedoes, mines, new technology on U-boats and Luftwaffe aircraft, Hitler’s plans for a gas attack on Britain, German battle plans and positions of troops, U-boat bases and construction programmes, the Battle of the Atlantic, German secret weapon programmes (V-1, V-2 and V-3), and guided projectiles.3 At the end of hostilities, it was reported that the unit proved to be ‘one of the most valuable sources of intelligence on [German] rockets, flying bombs, jet propelled aircraft and submarines’.4

  The bugged conversations shed a lot of light on German radar, including night fighter radar appliances and tactics, so that when a post-war investigation was made in Germany, it was estimated that the Air Intelligence section, ADI(K), had reports on the subject that covered ‘95% of the whole developed and developing field of German radar and anti-radar devices with accuracy little short of 100%’.5 A special report recognised how this alone had made ‘an enormous contribution’ to minimising Allied losses in night attacks over Germany.6

  The theatrical scenes and dramatic episodes that unfolded, particularly in the ‘special quarters’ at Trent Park, often seemed to belong more to fiction than history. No ‘third degree methods’ (rough treatment or torture) were ever used at the M Room sites.7 Instead, the files provide a glimpse into the often unruly life of the German generals. This can make for surprising reading – as seemingly frivolous behaviour on the part of the intelligence services (such as treats and trips to London) is pitched against a bitter rivalry between Hitler’s own top commanders. But it is pertinent to draw back and ask: how else could the Allies have successfully gained the vast array of operational intelligence? Despite the ‘mad hatter’s tea party’ of daily life at Trent Park, it underlies a deeply serious intelligence operation. Success was accomplished with devastating efficiency and good old-fashioned British humour (which would not seem out of place in an episode of the TV series Dad’s Army). The stakes were high. No wonder Kendrick slid a pistol across the desk when intelligence officer Charles Deveson first started at the unit – and said to him: ‘If you ever betray anything about this work, here is the gun with which I expect you to do the decent thing. If you don’t, I will.’8 There was no room for traitors or accidentally spilling the beans – the secrecy of this operation had to be protected at all costs. Kendrick is to be credited with masterminding a cunning operation that enabled the Axis prisoners, and specifically Hitler’s top commanders, to relax in comfort in captivity. Little did they suspect that the walls had ears. . .

  Few people have ever heard of Thomas Joseph Kendrick. His clandestine wartime sites had provided pivotal information through a highly efficient ‘human intelligence’ organisation, and influenced the course of the war. One reason for his obscurity is that he and the majority of his staff had to take their secrets to the grave. They had all signed the Official Secrets Act. Towards the end of the war, Norman Crockatt (head of MI9) wrote to Kendrick:

  You have done a Herculean task, and I doubt if anyone else could have carried it through. It would be an impertinence were I to thank you for your contribution to the war effort up to-date: a grateful country ought to do that, but I don’t suppose they will.9

  The nation could not yet thank Kendrick, nor the men and women who had secured a free Europe and laid the foundations for contemporary espionage into the Cold War and beyond. Their secrets were consigned to the basement of the War Office; and it would be over sixty years before the files were quietly released into the National Archives and anything revealed about Trent Park, Latimer House and Wilton Park.

  Even after the files were released between 1999 and 2004, it took another thirteen years for formal recognition of the unit’s significance, which came only after a high-profile public campaign in which the author was involved, after developer Berkeley Homes purchased Trent Park in 2015 and planned to turn the historic rooms into luxury apartments. A weighty endorsement of the site’s significance by Historic England was taken seriously enough by Berkeley Homes to save the key historic spaces within the mansion as a museum dedicated to the work of the secret listeners.10

  Today, it is possible to argue that the M Room shortened the war and saved lives. However, analysis of the M Room’s legacy is only in its infancy. Its files have rarely, if ever, been consulted for books on the Second World War. Further research is essential to assess its implications for operations on land, air and at sea and to understand the wider link between intelligence gained and campaigns launched.

  With this story emerging from the shadows, the nation can finally pay tribute to its women and men and the commanding genius of its spy chief, Thomas Joseph
Kendrick. As one of Britain’s greatest spymasters, his legacy can take its place in the nation’s history. The events described in this book, however outlandish, did unfold and significantly contributed to the M Room’s mission to protect Britain’s shores from the gravest of threats. The stakes during the Second World War had never been higher:

  Had it not been for the information obtained at these centres, it could have been London and not Hiroshima which was devastated by the first atomic bomb.11

  Appendix of Intelligence Staff

  ARMY INTELLIGENCE WHO SERVED WITH CSDIC

  Overall Commandant: Colonel Thomas Joseph Kendrick, OBE.

  Assistant Commandant (Intelligence): Lieutenant Colonel Charles Corner, MVO

  Assistant Commandant (Administration): Lieutenant Colonel F. Huband, MBE, MC, DCM

  Commandant at Wilton Park: Major Leo St Clare Grondona.

  Captain H.G. Abrahams, Captain F.G. Adams, Captain George Ernest Austen, Captain S.F. Austin, Lieutenant A.J. Bauers, Lieutenant C.A.W. Beaumont, Lieutenant Blyth, Captain R. Boothroyd, Captain M.O. Brigstock, Lieutenant Patrick Brodie, Lieutenant A. Buesst, Lieutenant J.G. Bullock, Captain John Edgar Burgoyne, Captain C.E. Calderari, Major Frank Cassels, Lieutenant K.O. Chetwood-Aiken, Lieutenant W. Cochraine, Hugh John Colman (Hans Joachim Colman), Lieutenant G. Cooper, Captain G.P. Copping, Captain B. le Cren, Captain M.D. Davidson, Lieutenant H.W. Davis, Captain S.H. Davis, Captain Charles Deveson, Lieutenant Colonel Henry V. Dicks (camp psychologist), Lieutenant F.E. Edmunds, Colonel Richard Prior Edwards, Lieutenant E. Egger, Lieutenant H.R. Evans, Lieutenant W.G.G. Fairholme, Lieutenant R.D. Fermo, Lieutenant E.M. Fitzgerald, Captain W.E. Foss, Captain W.P. Gatliff, Lieutenant H.S. Gervers, Lieutenant Gross, Captain R. Hamilton, Lieutenant H.P. Hare, Major Harrison (CSDIC, Middle East), Captain W. Hartje, Captain C.C. Hay, Captain D. Heaton-Armstrong, Lieutenant J.S. Heber, Captain M. Hilton, Lieutenant A.E. Hind, Lieutenant J. Hunter, Captain W.J. Ingham, Captain H.R. Jahn, Captain J.E. Johnson, Captain Charles Juulmann (Karl Ferdinand Juulmann), Captain E.E. King, Captain G.A. Kitchen, Captain Victor Lang, Major C.H. LeBosquet, Lieutenant F. Lonergan, Lieutenant Macintosh, Captain Macmillan (CSDIC, Middle East, technical), Captain E.W. Marin, Captain Norman S. Marsh, Captain E.A. Morton, Lieutenant L. Muirhead, Captain Ian Thomson Munro, Captain F.W. Murray, Captain A.B. Nash, Captain A.H. New, Lieutenant A. Oakey, Major Leslie E. Parkin, Captain J.E. Parnell, Captain C.D. Perring, Captain H. Phare, Captain L.L.M. Pokorny, Lieutenant E.A. Poupard, Lieutenant F.W. Read-Jahn, Captain C.H.B. Readman, Lieutenant H.W. Reynolds, Major Thomas Rittner, Captain A.C. Robertshaw, Captain H.B. Romberg, Lieutenant M. Rowe, Lieutenant M.E. Rubin, Lieutenant G.A.F. Sandor, Captain W.H. Serin, Lieutenant D. Simon, Captain A.G. Speirs, Lieutenant R.H.C. Steed, Lieutenant O.H. Strafford, Captain L.G. Struthers, Lieutenant G.A. Thompson, Captain B.S. Vickerman, Captain J. Walmsley, Lieutenant M. Walshe, Lieutenant John Weatherley, Lieutenant Jan August Weber, Lieutenant E.W. Zundel.

  Female officers: Subaltern Lucy F. Addey, J/Commander P.M. Agar-Robartes, J/Commander M.R.K. Bennett, Subaltern E. Bernert, J/Commander M.B. Boak, Subaltern E.W. Bobby, J/Commander M. Braun, Subaltern S.J. Caldwell, 2/Subaltern M. Crutchleigh-Fitzpatrick, 2/Subaltern C.J. Davis, 2/Subaltern A.G.M. Doyle, 2/Subaltern P.G.R. Doyle, J/Commander K.M. Falwasser, J/Commander M.J. Frise, Subaltern M. Grugeon, Subaltern S.P. Hall, Subaltern J.P. Horrigan, Subaltern E. Iles, J/Commander G.H. Leigh, J/Commander H.M. Lishman, Subaltern J.E. Little, Subaltern B. Maile, J/Commander T. Masterson, J/Commander R. Morris, Subaltern G. Ouseley, J/Commander V.M. Robins, J/Commander Dawn Rockingham-Gill, Subaltern P.M. Rubin, J/Commander A.D. Skoyles, Subaltern M. Sworder, 2/Subaltern L.M. Thomas, J/Commander E.M. Thwaits, J/Commander Catherine Townshend (Jestin), J/Commander E.F. Van Bergen, Subaltern F.F. Watt, J/Commander J.D. Woodhead, 2/Subaltern H. Zillwood.

  SECRET LISTENERS

  The names below are as complete a list as currently possible of the German-speaking refugees who served as secret listeners. In some cases, only their anglicised name, or part of full name, is available:

  Robert Aufhäuser, Peter Baer (Peter Baines), Hubert Bailey, Rudolph Bamberger (Bambi), Otto Lothar Barber (William Peter Barber), Fritz Berger (Freddie Benson), Walter Beevers, Erwin von Bendemann (H.I. Bertham), Peter Bendix, Bentham, Berchstecher, Fritz Bierer (Fred Bentley), Blake, Egon Brandt (Ernest Brent), Bratu, Garry Casey, Hans Friedrich Eisler (Sean Graham), Emanuel Ekler (Eric Ellis), Bruce Eldon, Max Ernst Erlanger (Ernest Max Langley), Kurt Ernst (Brian Henson), Erskine, Friedrich Falk (Frank Falk), Werner David Feist, Alfred Fleiss, Hans Francken (Hannen Geoffrey Francken), Ludwig Heinrich Franken (Lewis Franklin), Felix Konrad Fullenbaum (Felix Kenneth Fraser), Peter Ganz, Hans Göhler (John Gay), Lev Golodetz (?), Eberhard Gottstein, Innozenz Grafe, Sidney Graham, Ludwig Kurt Grunwald (Kenneth Grandville), Oscar Hamm, Heilbronn, Kurt Heinsheimer (Frank West), Walter Oscar Heller (Walter Hellier), Francis Hellman, Peter Klaus Herz (Peter Hart), Adolf Hirschfeld (Alan Henley), Hans Ernst Hoffmann (John Housman), Albert Hollander, Willie Hornstein (John Horton), Franz Huelsen, Erich Huppert, Harry Jakobs, Jellinek, Hans Kallmas (Herbert Kellett), Wolfgang Kals (William Kennedy), Fritz Katz (Frederick Geoffrey Katz), Karl Heinz Kaufmann, Leo Kaufmann, Leon Kendon, Siegfried Kissin (Stephen Kissin), Erich Konrad (Eric Arthur Conrad), Konrad Paul Korn (Paul Douglas), Ernest Korpner, Kraft, Herbert Kyval, Walter Leatham, Ernst Lederer, Herbert Lehmann, Lindsay, Charles Lipton, Alexander Lowy, Fritz Lustig, Otto Mandel, Mann, Bobby Manners, Robert Mannheimer (William Manners), Siegfried Männlein, Marefield, Erich Mark (Eric Mark), Claus Mayer, Hans Adolf Mayer (Herbert Anthony Marshall), Joseff Merfeld (Peter John Morton), Wolfgang Meyer (William Meyer), Arthur Morgenthau, Robert Neave, Herbert Neuhaus (Herbert Newhouse), Neumann, Rees Nichols, Heinrich Nickelsberg (Hilary Nichols), Rudi Oppenheimer, Helmut Orgler, Erich Peritz (Eric Stephen Pearce), Oskar Henryk Prentki, George Pulay, Johnny Rapp, Sabersky, Heinz Jürgen Sahlmann (Henry Saunders), Edward Solomon Salti, Teddy Schächter (Teddy Chester), Eric Schaffer, Godfrey Scheele, Robert Schneider (Robert Lacey), Ernst Schönmann (Ernst Scott), Segell, Francis Seton, Father Shipton, Hubert Simon, Sirot, Spiller, Werner Stark, Hans Stern (David Stern), Richard Paul Adolf Stern, Frank Stevens, Hans Strauss (Hugh Strauss), Wolfgang Tietz (Leonard Deeds), Albert Tugendhat, Franz Türkheim (Peter Türkheim), Michael Ullman, Fritz Carl Ullstein, Vigart, Wilhelm Vollbracht, Max Wassermann (Martin Warner), Fritz Wechselmann (Arthur Fred Wellmann), Norbert Wegner (Norman Willert), Fritz Weis (Fred Wells), Peter Weisz, West, Wulwick.

  THE K ALBUM

  The main source is a booklet called ‘The K Album’ which list the names of members of ADI(K) – Air Intelligence.

  Commanding Officer: Samuel Denys Felkin.

  Squadron Leader W.L. Antrobus, Flight Lieutenant W.B. Atkinson, Squadron Leader L.P. Bamford, Section Officer C.R. Baring-Gould (Mrs Bottenheim) (female), Section Officer E.J. Bembaron (female), Flight Lieutenant R. Benson, Flight Lieutenant C.R. Bingham, Squadron Leader B.E. Bishop, Section Officer H.M. Black (female), Captain E.H. Boehm, Squadron Leader A.K. Boning, Captain M.P. Borchert, Squadron Leader G.W. Bragg, Flight Officer W.O. Brayton, Section Officer J.Y. Brooks (female), Captain L.A. Brunner, Flight Lieutenant E. Campbell, Flight Lieutenant V.I. Clark, Flight Lieutenant M.D.M. Cockraine, Flight Lieutenant R.J. Cole, Flight Lieutenant L.E. Collier, Flight Officer K.R. Costello (female), Squadron Leader G.L.D. Cox, Flight Lieutenant D. Culver, Captain C.C. Davis, Flight Officer J.E.M. Davis (female), Squadron Leader L.V. Davis, Wing Commander R.M.C. Day, Flight Lieutenant J.F.R. Druce, Lieutenant Colonel E. Englander, Section Officer F. Fairburn (female), Flight Lieutenant W. Forbes-Watkins, Section Officer E.A. Ford-Hutchinson (female), Wing Commander R.H. Francis, Captain W.A. Frank, Flight Lieutenant R.H. Gould, Squadron Leader H.R. Gray, Flight Lieutenant B.B. Gregory, Squadron Leader H.O. Gregory, Major K.M. Grubb, Flight Officer V.L.A. Gundry-White (female), Wing Commander P. de Haan, Section Officer M.E. Harcourt, Squadron Leader L.F. Hartje, Flight Lieutenant D.F. Haslewood, Flight Lieutenant M.A. Hic
ks, Flight Lieutenant R. Hirsch, Lieutenant Colonel J.D. Holtzermann (US), Flight Lieutenant A.R.J. Humphrey, Squadron Leader John X. Hunt, Flight Lieutenant J.C. Hutchinson, Commandant G. Ittel (French Air Force), Squadron Leader L.A. Jackets, Squadron Leader T.E. James, Squadron Leader W. Jamieson, Wing Commander G.B. Jepson, Section Officer M. Jopp (female), Squadron Leader H.H. Keen, Captain W.M. Kloetzer, Section Officer C.M. Krause (female), Squadron Leader P.N. Labertouche, Flight Lieutenant S.A. Lane, Squadron Leader C.M. Lawler-Wilson, Flight Lieutenant N.E. Leigh, Flight Lieutenant P.K. Lickford, Flight Lieutenant J.R. Littlefair, Flight Lieutenant E.A. Littlefield, Captain S.R. Litton, Flight Lieutenant M.J. Longinotto-Landseer, Flight Lieutenant J. Lord, Squadron Leader Ludovici, Flight Lieutenant A.J.R. Lyon, Flight Lieutenant I. Macrae, Captain G.D. Mandelik, Flight Officer S.M. Manduell (Mrs Jackets), Wing Commander C.H. March, Flight Lieutenant H.G.R. March, Squadron Leader W.W. Marks, Flight Officer E.J. Masterman (female), Flight Lieutenant E.H. Mayer, Flight Officer E.M. Mayes (female), Flight Lieutenant E.E. Medland, Lieutenant J.H. Mehl, Squadron Leader N. Miller, Wing Commander W.L. Minter, Flight Lieutenant G.I.A. Moes, Flight Lieutenant J.E. Mullholland, Wing Commander J.B. Newton, Wing Commander Newton-John, Flight Lieutenant P.G.A. Norman-Wright, Flight Lieutenant E.C. Norris, Flight Lieutenant J.G. Nowell, Flight Lieutenant J. Odde, Section Officer O. Oppenheimer (female), Captain F.E. Overley, Squadron Leader J.E.H. Park, Flight Lieutenant A. Parkin, Flight Lieutenant Pelham-Toll, Flight Lieutenant E.C. Peters, Flight Lieutenant V.J.R.D. Prendergast, Captain Pyper (South African Air Force), Wing Commander R.M. Rickett, Flight Lieutenant G.M. Robbins, Flight Lieutenant J.S. Robinson, Flight Lieutenant B.P. Roche, Wing Commander H.N. Roffey, Captain H. Rosenhaupt, Flight Lieutenant Ruse, Captain O.A. Saborsky, Squadron Leader E. Sankey, Captain C.D. Schneider, Squadron Leader R. Scrivener, Squadron Leader J.F.A. Segner, Squadron Leader R.H. Siddons, Flight Officer L.M. Sieveking (female), Flight Lieutenant A.J. Sington, Flight Lieutenant W.M. Skeffington, Wing Commander V.O. Slesser, Squadron Leader C.H. Smith, Squadron Leader D.A.G. Smith, Captain M.M. Sommer, Wing Commander Peter Soren, Squadron Leader G.W. Spenceley, Squadron Leader C.K. Squires, Squadron Leader H.M. Stokes, Captain M. Sulkes, Squadron Leader B.B. Sullivan, Flight Lieutenant A. Taylor, Flight Lieutenant J.L.S. Taylor, Flight Officer I.D. Thornhill (female), Captain Willis Thornton, Squadron Leader J.P.C. Tooth, Major Max van Rossum Daum, Flight Lieutenant S.Y. Vitalis, Captain R.E. Vollprecht, Flight Lieutenant C.H.R. Wade, Lieutenant Colonel E.M. Warburg, Flight Lieutenant H.J. Ware, Flight Lieutenant G.C. Waterston, Squadron Leader H. Webb, Captain H.E. Weingartner, Flight Officer H.M. Weir, Captain J.M. Whitten, Flight Lieutenant A.C. Wilberforce, Flight Lieutenant R.R. Witter, Squadron Leader T.S. Wyatt.