The Walls Have Ears
Page 31
NAVAL INTELLIGENCE STAFF
Personnel who served in, or were attached to, the Naval Intelligence section of the bugging sites:
Lieutenant Leslie Atkinson, Lieutenant George Blake (RNVR), Lieutenant John Wilfred Carey, Sub-Lieutenant Brian Connell (RNVR), Lieutenant Commander Burton Cope, Lieutenant Commander Edward Croghan, Lieutenant Commander Charles Everett, Lieutenant J.G. Halstead, Lieutenant Commander Ralph Izzard (RNVR), Lieutenant Julius Lunzer, Lieutenant John McDonnell, Lieutenant Commander Colin McFadyean (RNVR), Lieutenant R.D. Macpherson, Lieutenant John Marriner, Lieutenant Richard Pennell, Commander Leonard Rideal, Lieutenant Wilfred Samuel, Lieutenant Harry Scholar (Czech), Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Trench, Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Weatherby (RNVR), Captain John Weatherby, Lieutenant Commander Donald Burkewood Welbourn (RNVR), Captain Selwyn Charles Wheeler, Sub-Lieutenant David Williamson (RNVR).
Female interrogators and intelligence staff: Evelyn Barron, Miss M. Barton, Third Officer B. Collis, Miss E. Duckers, Jean Flower, Claudia Furneaux, Ruth Hales, Miss Hyde, Miss King, V. P. Lennard, Esme Mackenzie, Gwen Neal-Wall, Miss K. Pearce, Celia Thomas.
OFFICERS’ MESS, TRENT PARK
Daily Camp Commandant: Major Topham
Medical Officer: Captain Young
Interpreter: Captain E.A. Hamley
Captain Drumgold, Lieutenant Simmons, Captain Coulson, Lieutenant
Maule, Lieutenant Cheshire, Lieutenant Danks.
Notes
PROLOGUE: DECADES OF SILENCE
1. SRX 1635, 11 March 1943, WO 208/4162. Sketches of V-1 and V-2 launching equipment (ramps) contained in WO 208/4292.
2. Helen Fry, Spymaster: The Secret Life of Kendrick.
3. Kendrick’s personal service record, copy from Barbara Lloyd.
4. Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909–1949, pp. 202 and 301.
5. Fry, Spymaster, pp. 39–58; Jeffery, MI6, p. 202; and letter from Consulate General to Sir Nevile Henderson (British ambassador, Berlin), 22 August 1938, copied and released to the author by the Foreign Office in 2013 under Freedom of Information Act.
6. Fry, Spymaster, pp. 57–8, 144–7.
7. Martin Gilbert, Beyond the Call of Duty: British Diplomats and Other Britons Who Helped Jews Escape from Nazi Tyranny. The crisis facing Kendrick and his staff in trying to get Jews out of Austria is reported in detail in FO 372/3284. See also Jeffery, MI6, p. 301.
8. George Weidenfeld, Remembering My Good Friends; Eric Sanders, From Music to Morse, privately published autobiography. Both men were interviewed by Helen Fry for Spymaster.
9. Fry, Spymaster, pp. 115–17.
10. Ibid., p. 116.
11. KV 3/116.
12. Fry, Spymaster, pp. 90–8, 155–9. See also KV 3/116.
13. British Consulate General to Sir Nevile Henderson, 18 August 1938, FO 371/21691.
14. Cypher to Sir Nevile Henderson, 23 August 1938, FO 371/21691.
15. Cypher to Sir Nevile Henderson, 19 August 1938. Copy released to the author by the Foreign Office under FOI in 2013. News reports of charges of espionage: News Chronicle, 19 August 1938; Sunday Express, 21 August 1938; Daily Telegraph, 20 August 1938.
16. Jeffery, MI6, pp. 295, 310–11.
17. Michael Smith, The Secrets of Station X; David Kenyon, Bletchley Park and D-Day.
18. Jeffery, MI6, p. 319.
19. ‘The Story of MI19’, pp. 1–2, WO 208/4970.
20. Memo 2 September 1939, signed by Major M. Perceval, WO 208/3458. In 1940, the unit became a part of MI9, and then MI19.
21. Summary report by Denys Felkin (history of the unit), 31 December 1945, AIR 40/2636. Also ‘Prisoner of War Interrogation 1939–1945’, ADM 223/475.
22. Interview with Barbara Lloyd.
23. On 29 March 1910, Kendrick married Norah Wecke, the daughter of Frederick Wecke (manager of a diamond mine near Lüderitzbucht in German-occupied South-West Africa (now Luderitz in Namibia). Interviews with family members, Barbara Lloyd and Ken Walsh.
24. WO 94/105 is dedicated to the setting up of the bugging operation in the Tower of London. Various correspondence for January 1939.
1: THE TOWER OF LONDON
1. Minutes of the meeting, entitled ‘Co-ordination Arrangements for the Interrogation of P/W’, KV 4/302.
2. Letter from MI1 via the War Office to the Admiralty, 23 March 1939, ADM 1/10579.
3. Interviews with Evelyn Barron and Melanie McFadyean.
4. Memo, ref: C/1196/A, 21 August 1939, WO 94/105.
5. Memo issued by MI1(a), 2 September 1939, WO 208/3458.
6. Memo, ref: C/1196/A, 21 August 1939, WO 94/105.
7. Memo, 3 September 1939, WO 208/3458.
8. Nigel West, Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence, pp. 41–2.
9. See FO 371/22321, and Fry, Spymaster.
10. Felkin took over from Pollock on 20 December 1939. See ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, p. 2, AIR 40/2636.
11. Anne Walton (Felkin’s daughter). See also Fry, Spymaster.
12. Biographical information from Anne Walton.
13. Interview with Anne Walton.
14. Confirmed by their individual medal cards, the National Archives.
15. Memo from MI1(a), 3 September 1939, WO 208/3458.
16. Correspondence with the author.
17. After the war, he returned to work in Germany as general manager of Cable and Wireless Ltd.
18. Trench diary, 28 September 1939.
19. ADM 116/4572. He was mentioned in Dispatches in August 1942 for resolution and leadership as the senior officer of 1st S.G.B. Flotilla.
20. Pennell was decorated with a DSC on 15 September 1942, and mentioned twice in Dispatches (2 October 1942 and 9 October 1943).
21. Felkin’s history of the unit entitled ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, 31 December 1945, AIR 40/2636.
22. Peter Leighton-Langer, The King’s Own Loyal Enemy Aliens; and Helen Fry, Churchill’s German Army.
23. Interviews with the late Roger Lloyd-Pack, nephew of George Pulay.
24. Fritz Lustig, interviews with the author.
25. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, AIR 40/2636; ‘The Story of MI19’ in WO 208/4970.
26. Memo, ref: C/1196/A, 21 August 1939, WO 94/105.
27. Count Anthony de Salis died in 1952, France.
28. ‘Admittance to Prisoners of War Enclosure: Instruction 5’, issued 7 October 1939, WO 94/105.
29. ‘Prisoner of War Collecting Centre – HM Tower of London’, ref: C/1195/Q, 3 September 1939, WO 94/105.
30. Major Dunne to Governor of the Tower of London, 22 September 1939, WO 94/105.
31. Governor of the Tower of London to Major Dunne, 30 September 1939, WO 94/105.
32. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 52–63, AIR 40/2636.
33. Report, 3 October 1939, WO 208/4141.
34. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 68–76, AIR 40/2636.
35. AIR 40/2394 and WO 94/105.
36. The Guy Liddell Diaries, Vol. 1, ed. Nigel West, p. 20.
37. Trench diary entry for 17 September 1939. Full interrogation reports survive in AIR 40/2394.
38. German U-boats of WWII on uboat.net, 17 February 2010.
39. Nominal roll in WO 94/105.
40. Trench diary, 18 September 1939.
41. Ibid., 20 September 1939.
42. Trench diary, 22 September 1939.
43. Report entitled ‘U-27: Interrogation of Crew, September 1939’, AIR 40/2394.
44. ‘Procedure on Arrival of Prisoners of War’, 14 September 1939, WO 94/105.
45. Trench diary, 26 September 1939. See also Report entitled ‘U-27: Interrogation of Crew, September 1939’, AIR 40/2394.
46. Report entitled ‘U-27: Interrogation of Crew, September 1939’, A
IR 40/2394.
47. Undated report on information from the wireless operator of U-27, AIR 40/2394.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Undated translation of Beckmann’s coded letter, AIR 40/2394.
51. Sophie Jackson, Churchill’s Unexpected Guests.
52. Trench diary, 27 September 1939.
53. Ibid., 28 September 1939.
54. Report, 3 October 1939, WO 208/4141.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Trench diary, 5 October 1939.
58. Trench diary, 15 October, 17 October and 29 October 1939.
59. Report, 27 October 1939, AIR 40/2394.
60. Document: ‘Enemy Prisoners of War: Treatment on Capture’, WO 32/10720.
61. Ibid.
62. Report by Pollock, 15 November 1939, AIR 40/2394.
63. Ibid.
64. SR 1, 2 November 1939, WO 208/4117.
65. The first members of AI1(K) with Felkin were F/O W.O. Brayton, F/O H.O. Gregory, F/O H.N. Roffy, and F/O C.H. Smith – see list in KV 4/302. This section became ADI(K).
66. Report from AI1(K) to AI.3, 3 November 1939, WO 208/2394.
67. SR 2, 2 November 1939, WO 208/4141.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid.
70. Hochstuhl remained in the Tower until 18 November 1939.
71. SR 7, 22 November 1939, WO 208/4117.
72. Ibid.
73. SR 3, overheard on 26 October 1939 (report dated 9 November 1939), WO 208/4117.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Felkin’s report of 31 October 1939, WO 208/5158. For later discussion on bacteriological warfare, see GRGG 210, 11–12 October 1944, p. 2, WO 208/5622.
77. A copy of the Oslo Report in AIR 40/2572. References also appear in Naval Intelligence files, see ADM 1/23905.
78. From the British Legation (Oslo) to Admiral Boyes, 6 November 1939, ADM 1/23905.
79. SRX 4, 22 December 1939, WO 208/4158.
80. SRX 7, 23 December 1939, WO 208/4158.
81. SRA 18, 26 January 1940, AIR 40/3070.
82. Directive from the War Office, 13 October 1940, WO 208/3540; ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, AIR 40/2636.
83. MI9 War Diary, 21 December 1939, WO 165/39.
84. MI19 War Diary, WO 165/41. All entries were signed by Rawlinson.
85. ‘The History of CSDIC’, p. 3, WO 208/4970.
86. Damian Collins, Charmed Life.
87. The Hess files are contained in FO 1093/1-16. See Charles Fraser-Smith, The Secret War of Charles Fraser Smith, pp. 135–8. For other prisoners held in the Tower in WWII, see lists in WO 94/105.
88. Matthew Barry Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace: German Prisoners and the People of Britain, p. 51.
89. Hermann Ramcke, memoirs, pp. 79–80.
90. Trench diary, 30 November 1939 and 4 December 1939.
91. Trench diary, 4 December 1939.
92. Ibid., 4 December 1939.
93. Ibid., 9 December 1939.
94. KV 4/302; and references to Camp 11 in WO 208/3504.
2: M ROOM OPERATIONS
1. ‘Inventory of Equipment Supplied and Installed at Cockfosters Camp’, copy in WO 208/3457.
2. Letter from RCA to Kendrick, 14 February 1940, WO 208/3457.
3. It was shipped aboard the RMS Lancastria – the British Cunard liner that was later sunk on 17 June 1940 during the Dunkirk evacuations.
4. Cypher from Military Attaché (Washington) to DMI, 1 December 1939.
5. Kendrick to Rawlinson, 15 January 1940, WO 208/3458. See also ‘The Story of MI19’, p. 2, WO 208/4970.
6. Copies of their signed declarations, witnessed by Kendrick, survive in WO 208/3457.
7. Letter from RCA to Kendrick, 14 February 1940, WO 208/3457.
8. Ibid.
9. WO 208/3458, and a typed notice of 9 December 1939 in WO 94/105.
10. ‘The History of CSDIC’, WO 208/4970.
11. The army intelligence officers in this period were: Captain Charles Corner, Captain Leslie Parkin, Captain D. Heaton-Armstrong, Captain Frank Cassels, Captain Thomas Hardwick Rittner, Lieutenant M.E. Rubin, Lieutenant John Edgar Burgoyne, Lieutenant M.S. Marsh, Lieutenant R.H.C. Steed, Lieutenant G. Cooper, Lieutenant Charles Juulmann (Karl Ferdinand Juulmann), Lieutenant W. Hartje, Lieutenant S.H.S. Davis, Lieutenant J.E. Parnell, Lieutenant C.A.W. Beaumont, Lieutenant F.W.W. Murray, Lieutenant W.G.G. Fairholme, Lieutenant Victor Lang, Lieutenant H.P. Hare, Lieutenant Patrick Lennox Brodie, Lieutenant R.H. Boothroyd and Lieutenant J.M. Weatherley.
12. Biographical information courtesy of Paul Biddle. Juulmann (b.1885) served with the Royal Engineers, Signals Service in France in WWI, then 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in Russia as an interpreter.
13. Born 1893 in Ayr. At the outbreak of the First World War, Burgoyne was on a walking trip in Germany when he was arrested and interned in Ruhleben, then repatriated in 1917. In the inter-war years, he resumed his studies in French and German. By 1939, he was head of Modern Languages at the Royal High School and lecturer at Herriot-Watt College, Edinburgh.
14. Courtesy of Alasdair MacLeod.
15. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 68, AIR 40/2636.
16. The family always understood that Brin had been a stool pigeon and also spent time at Trent Park. Email correspondence with Steve Mallinson in April 2015.
17. Note dated 14 December 1940 about SPF/4, WO 208/4196.
18. Brin transferred to Bletchley Park in 1942.
19. Letter 9 December 1945 to Guy Liddell (MI5) from Rawlinson (MI9), KV 2/3767.
20. Letter to the Home Office, 25 March 1941, KV 2/3767.
21. ‘The History of CSDIC’, p. 6, WO 208/4970. Some special reports from stool pigeons survive in WO 208/4196.
22. They worked at Latimer House and Wilton Park, alongside Matthew Sullivan and US interrogator, Heimwarth Jestin. See Heimwarth Jestin, A Memoir, 1918–1946, p. 14.
23. ‘Inventory of Equipment Supplied and Installed at Cockfosters Camp’, WO 208/3457.
24. ‘Installation and Use of Microphones at CSDIC (UK) P/W Camps 1939–1945’, appendix G of ‘The History of CSDIC’, WO 208/4970.
25. Letter from RCA to Kendrick, 14 February 1940, p. 2, WO 208/3457.
26. Ibid., p. 3.
27. Overseeing the squads of listeners were Captains Brodie, Hartje, Davis and Serin, and Lieutenants Blyth, Rowe, Read-Jahn, Reynolds, Gross, Bauers and Weber.
28. Cassels had served in the First World War from 1914 and was wounded at Ypres in October 1918. In the inter-war years, he worked for the Foreign Office and as district controller, Inter-Allied Plebiscite in Upper Silesia until 1921. This was followed by a year in New Zealand, six years in Canada, as well as time in the Argentine Republic. He was fluent in German, Spanish and French.
29. Interview with the author. This account is borne out by the summary of M Room operational work in ‘The History of CSDIC’, appendix E, WO 208/4970.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid., appendix F.
32. Ibid.
33. These files are to be found primarily in War Office series WO 208 and Air Intelligence section AIR 40 at the National Archives.
34. Felkin report, 28 November 1939 and 23 December 1939, WO 208/5158.
35. Departments that regularly received copies rose to include for example, MI10, 21 Army Group, Ministry of Information, Airborne Troops, Foreign Office, SAS, SHAEF, ETOUSA and MIS (Washington).
36. WO 165/39, 30 April 1940.
37. ‘The History of CSDIC’, p. 6 and appendix F (section 9), WO 208/4970.
38. Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace, p. 55.
39. Ibid., p. 53.
40. Kendrick to MI9 headquarters, 22 July 1941, WO 208/3455.
41. Trench Diary, 12 December 1939.
42. Ibid., 16 December 1939.
43. Trench Diary, 28 December 1939.
44. Ibid.
45. Trench visited Bletchley again on 15 August 1940. Entry in the diary for that date. There, he met with cryptographer Jos Cooper (head of Air Section), Geoffrey Tandy (marine biologist who retrieved data from waterlogged codebooks from U-boats and captured crew) and Joan Clarke (cryptanalyst).
46. The secret listeners did not know about Bletchley Park, as confirmed in interviews conducted by Helen Fry with former secret listeners Fritz Lustig and Eric Mark.
47. Trench diary, 1 January 1940.
48. SRN 1, 23 December 1939, WO 208/4141.
49. Interrogation reports dated 8 January 1940 and 19 January 1940, WO 208/5158.
50. Ibid.
51. Interrogation report, 8 January 1940, WO 208/5158.
52. Ibid.
53. Reports 9 June 1940 and 10 November 1940, WO 208/5158.
54. SRX 44, 21 February 1940, WO 208/4158.
55. Godfrey to Davidson (DMI), 7 January 1941, WO 208/5621.
56. ‘W/T Procedure in German U-boat’, report 11 November 1940,WO 208/5158.
57. Memo dated 31 December 1944 to Washington from director of GC&CS, HW 57/35.
58. Report contained in AIR 40/3108 and AIR 40/2394, dated 28 November 1939.
59. The hospital had 200 beds reserved for wounded axis forces awaiting process by MI9. See ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 8, AIR 40/2636. See also pre-war preparations in a letter from MI1 via the War Office to the Admiralty, 23 March 1939, ADM 1/10579.