The Walls Have Ears
Page 32
60. Report, 21 December 1939, AIR 40/2394.
61. Appendix to ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, WO 208/3455. See, for example, SRA 419, 29 August 1940, AIR 40/3070.
62. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, pp. 2–3, WO 208/3455.
63. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 115, AIR 40/2636.
64. SRX 7, 23 December 1939, WO 208/4158.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. SRA 8, 24 December 1939, WO 208/4117.
68. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 78–80, AIR 40/2636. See also ‘SP Control and P/W Welfare Section’, appendix A, WO 208/4970, and ‘Section C: Stool Pigeons’ in report ‘P/W Interrogation 1939–1945’, ADM 223/475.
69. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 80, AIR 40/2636.
70. SRX 9 and 10, 26 December 1939, WO 208/4158.
71. SRX 10, 26 December 1939, WO 208/4158.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid.
75. SRA 19, 12 January 1940, WO 208/4158.
76. Ibid.
77. SRA 21, 29 January 1940, WO 208/4117.
78. Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace, p. 51.
79. Ibid.
80. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 118, AIR 40/2636.
81. Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace, p. 53.
3: TRENT PARK
1. ‘The History of CSDIC’, p. 6, WO 208/4970.
2. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, WO 208/3455. Copy also in WO 208/4970.
3. Ibid.
4. Appendix to ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, p. 2, WO 208/3455. See also Minute reference number: NID 01789/39, 1 August 1940, ADM 1/23905.
5. SRN 32, 14 March 1940, WO 208/4141.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Interview with secret listeners, Eric Mark and Fritz Lustig.
9. Ibid.
10. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 116, AIR 40/2636.
11. SRA 20, 29 January 1940, WO 208/4117.
12. Ibid.
13. SR 362, 20 August 1940, AIR 40/3070.
14. SR 50, 28 March 1940, AIR 40/3070.
15. Davidson’s comments in Appendix B, ref: MI9a/683, WO 208/4970.
16. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 117, AIR 40/2636. An early reference to X-Gerät came in January 1940 in SRA 36, 23 January 1940, AIR 40/3070. See also SRA 33, 23 February 1940, AIR 40/3070.
17. R.V. Jones, Most Secret War, pp. 134–50.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid. See also WO 208/3474.
20. SRA 37, 27 February 1940, AIR 40/3070.
21. Jones, Most Secret War, p. 146.
22. Ibid., pp. 97–8 and 428.
23. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 117, AIR 40/2636.
24. Courtesy Barbara Lloyd.
25. A Minute dated 25 July 1941, WO 208/3455.
26. SR 1085, 25 April 1941, WO 208/3457.
27. The ground station’s directional receiver aerial showed the plane’s direction.
28. See also, for example, SRA 1612, 29 April 1941, WO 208/4123 and Felkin’s summary report, 28 April 1941, WO 208/5158.
29. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, p. 1, WO 208/3455.
30. Ibid., p. 2.
31. See SRN 47, 17 April 1941 and SRN 297, 24 April 1941, both in WO 208/4141.
32. Trench diary, 12 March 1940. For biographical outlines of each member of NID at the bugging sites, see Derek Nudd, Castaways of the Kriegsmarine, pp. 61–70.
33. Interview with the author.
34. ADM 223/257 and ADM 223/472. Croghan died in an air crash on 16 December 1941 on a transport flight from Portreath to Gibraltar and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval War Memorial.
35. WO 165/39, 17 April 1940.
36. Ibid., 10 June 1940.
37. Ibid.
38. Added to the section’s numbers were Lieutenant John Wilfred Paul de Mussenden Carey, Charles William Everett, Lieutenant R.D. Macpherson, John Stuart Marriner (formerly of Reuters), Commander Leonard Rideal (in charge of POW reports), John Mansfield Weatherby and Sub. Lt D. W. Williamson.
39. Interview with Melanie McFadyean, 2014. Ralph Izzard was the uncle of comedian Eddie Izzard.
40. Nicholas Rankin, Ian Fleming’s Commandos.
41. After the war, Ruth Hales worked as secretary to engineer Geoffrey (Bob) Feilden who had developed the first jet engine with Frank Whittle. Esme Mackenzie married naval interrogator Brian Connell. Jean Flower married Charles Mitchel.
42. Donald Welbourn, unpublished memoirs, Imperial War Museum.
43. Interview with the author. Information confirmed in official files ADM 223/257 and ADM 223/472.
44. Nudd, Castaways of the Kriegsmarine, p. 70.
45. Trench diary, 12 July 1943. Wheeler was born in Bremen, Germany in 1923 where his father was employed, and lived in Hamburg until 1938.
46. ADM 223/257. McFadyean met a 19-year-old émigré (Marion Gutmann) from a prominent banking family in Berlin. A talented artist who had to flee the Nazis, she was also working for British intelligence for Sefton Delmer’s propaganda unit, where she forged false ration books, SS identity cards and postcards. They later married.
47. Between 1939 and 1942, McFadyean was posted to HMS Dunnottar Castle which operated out of Freetown, then in October 1940 to HMS Seaborn, a Naval Air Service Station at Dartmouth Nova Scotia.
48. Donald Welbourn joined in March 1943.
49. Donald Welbourn, unpublished memoirs, Imperial War Museum.
50. For a detailed study of the Norwegian disaster of 1940, see John Kiszely, Anatomy of a Campaign: The British Fiasco in Norway.
51. Trench diary, entries for 25 May 1940 and 17 June 1940.
52. SRX 95, 25 June 1940, WO 208/4158.
53. WO 165/39, 30 April 1940.
54. Ibid., 31 May 1940.
55. Helen Fry, The London Cage and WO 165/39, 30 April 1940.
56. WO 165/39, 30 April 1940. Local people recall seeing Luftwaffe pilots and Italian prisoners in the grounds of Ludgrove Hall. This is now corroborated in official files by reference to POW ‘Camp 1’ and ‘Camp 2’ at Cockfosters – the two transit camps where prisoners of war were assessed for possible transfer to Kendrick’s main camp. See Minutes of Meeting held at the War Office, 21 February 1940, WO 208/3458.
57. Ludgrove Hall had belonged to the Bevan family (co-founders of Barclays Bank), then became an exclusive private school which was evacuated to Sussex in 1938 and Ludgrove requisitioned for wartime use. In 1949, it was subject to a compulsory purchase order: see ED 78/418 and ED 78/419. In October 1940, Scotland transferred the cage to Kensington Palace Gardens. For a full history see Fry, The London Cage.
58. WO 165/39, entry for 8 May 1940.
59. Ibid., entry for 10 May 1940.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid., entry for 18 May 1940.
62. Ibid., entry for 30 June 1940.
63. SRX 95, 25 June 1940, WO 208/4158.
64. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, p. 4, WO 208/3455.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, pp. 3–4, WO 208/3455. See also Kendrick’s memo of 22 January 1941, attached to this survey.
68. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, WO 208/3455. For examples of invasion talk: SRA 20, 29 January 1940, AIR 40/3070; SRA 918, 12 November 1940, WO 208/4121; and SRA 1323, 20 February 1941, WO 208/4123. See also decline of invasion talk in 1941: ‘CSDIC Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
69. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, p. 4, WO 208/3455.
70. Ibid. An example is SRA 1374, 2 March 1941, WO 208/4123.
71. SRA 419, 29 August 1940, AIR 40/3070.
72. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, WO 208/3455.
73. Ibid.
74. SRA 441, 2 September 1940, AIR 40/3070.
75. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, pp. 3–4, WO 208/3455.
76. ‘CSDIC Survey: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1940’, p. 4, WO 208/3455.
77. Ibid.
78. ‘On Talks with Prisoners of War (London Area) between 16 September and 19, 1940’, Report by C.H. Brooks, FO 898/320.
79. Ibid.
80. Ibid.
81. Interview with Richard Deveson, 2013.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid.
84. WO 165/41, October 1942.
85. Expansion of the M Room operation had already occurred abroad with the opening of a site at Cairo. In August 1940, MI9 received a request from the commander in chief (Middle East) for a CSDIC listening station at Cairo. It was set up by Major Harrison, Captain Macmillan and Commander Rodd (RN) in readiness for successes on the battlefields of North Africa. CSDIC sites would also open in the Mediterranean (Italy) and the Far East. An assessment of their contribution is beyond the scope of this book. See history of CSDIC-Med in WO 208/3248.
86. See ‘The Story of MI19’, p. 4, WO 208/4970.
87. WO 165/39, 29 January 1941.
88. ‘Prisoner of War Interrogation 1939–1945’, p. 4, ADM 223/475.
89. Ibid. See also Richard Mayne, In Victory, Magnanimity, in Peace, Goodwill: A History of Wilton Park, pp. 24–8.
90. Memorandum, 7 October 1941, CAB 121/236.
91. 17 February 1941, CAB 79/9/19. See also ‘Accommodation for CSDIC’, p. 1, WO 208/3456. Copy also in WO 208/5621.
92. Memorandum, 7 October 1941, p. 2, CAB 121/236.
93. Ibid.
94. Letter from Archibald Boyle (Air Ministry) to Davidson (DMI), 19 December 1940, WO 208/5621.
95. Memorandum, 7 October 1941, CAB 121/236. See also ‘Interference with the work of CSDIC by the Construction of the Aerodrome at Bovingdon’ in WO 208/3456.
96. Memo dated 23 October 1941, WO 208/3456.
97. Kendrick to Crockatt, 26 September 1941, WO 208/3456.
98. At its meeting on 5 November 1941, CAB 121/236.
99. Ibid.
100. Minute from Crockatt to MI14, 27 July 1941, WO 208/3455.
101. MI6 to MI9, 2 March 1941, WO 208/3455.
102. Ibid.
103. Letter from Political Intelligence Department to Norman Crockatt, 24 February 1941, WO 208/3455.
104. Minute from Crockatt to MI14, 27 July 1941, WO 208/3455.
105. Letter from Room 055A [signature deleted under Section 3(4)] to Crockatt, 24 February 1941, WO 208/3455.
106. Letter 5 March 1941, Pile to Kendrick, WO 208/3460.
4: PRIZED PRISONERS, IDLE CHATTER
1. General Summary Report, September 1941, WO 208/4180.
2. SRA 1584, 27 April 1941, WO 208/4123.
3. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., appendix B, WO 208/3455.
6. Letter 11 February 1941, John Godfrey (NID) to Francis Davidson (DMI), WO 208/4970.
7. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
8. MI9 frequently received 20 copies of a transcript, Admiralty 2 copies, and Air Intelligence 4 copies. Examples of this distribution can be seen in WO 208/4123 (SRA 1374, 1399 and 1617).
9. SR 1, 6 April 1941, WO 208/3455.
10. SRA 1379, 4 March 1941, WO 208/4123.
11. WO 165/39, 4 March 1941.
12. For interrogation reports of these prisoners at the London Cage, see FO 898/320.
13. WO 165/39, 31 March 1941.
14. Ibid.
15. SRA 1366, 26 February 1941, WO 208/4123.
16. WO 165/39, 30 April 1941.
17. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
18. SRN 224, 29 March 1941, WO 208/4141.
19. SRA 1603, 26 April 1941, WO 208/4123.
20. For interrogations of survivors of the Bismarck, see ADM 186/806. Bugged conversations survive in WO 208/4142 and WO 208/4143.
21. ‘Summary of Reports on General Interrogation of German Naval & Air Force POWs during June 1941’. GRX 3, 9 July 1941, WO 208/4180.
22. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., pp. 5–6, WO 208/3455.
25. NID to Davidson (DMI), 24 May 1941, WO 208/3460.
26. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, pp. 5–6, WO 208/3455.
27. Letter dated 11 February 1941, WO 208/3460.
28. Letter 21 February 1941, Stewart Menzies (head of MI6) to Crockatt, WO 208/4970.
29. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
30. SR 1085, 25 April 1941, WO 208/3457; also various conversations in WO 208/4123.
31. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
32. SRA 1609, 28 April 1941, WO 208/4123.
33. Letter from Archibald Boyle (Air Ministry) to Francis Davidson (DMI), 19 February 1941, WO 208/3455.
34. SRA 1366, 26 February 1941, WO 208/4123.
35. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
36. SR 1, March 1941, WO 208/3455.
37. ‘CSDIC Half-Yearly Survey: 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1941’, WO 208/3455.
38. Ibid.
39. Churchill’s memo of 13 May, FO 1093/1. Churchill issued instructions for Hess to be held in a house just outside London which was to be fitted with bugging appliances by ‘C’.
40. FO 1093/1-16. Foley had been British passport officer in Berlin prior to 1939. See Michael Smith, Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews.
41. Ibid., pp. 188–200.
42. Felkin to F/Lt Baring, 23 May 1941, FO 1093/11.
43. Ibid.
44. Interview and correspondence with the author.
45. He is listed amongst the staff in a booklet called ‘The K Album’ which lists approximately 100 men and women who worked for ADI(K).
46. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly Report, 1 July 1941 to 31 December 1941’, WO 208/3455.
47. ‘Effect on German Troops in Occupied Countries of News about Bombings and General Conditions in Germany’, p. 3, WO 208/3455.
48. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly Report, 1 July 1941 to 31 December 1941’, WO 208/3455.
49. Ibid.
50. Details were picked up in the conversations of the German generals, for example SR 82, 15 April 1943, AIR 40/3106.
51. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly Report, 1 July 1941 to 31 December 1941’, WO 208/3455.
52. ‘Intelligence from Prisoners of War’, report by Denys Felkin, 31 December 1945, section 120–125, AIR 40/2636.
53. Ibid.
54. ‘Enemy Atrocities’, report of 18 November 1942, WO 208/4198. For example, by November 1942, war crimes against Jews could be found in SRA 713, SRA 893, SRA 1017, SRA 1045, SRA 1142, SRA 1236, SRA 1259, SRN 750, SRN 780, SRN 794, SRN 1075, SRX 950 and SR 50. There was also an eye witness account of the Warsaw Ghetto.
55. Donald Welbourn, unpublished memoirs, Imperial War Museum.
56. Ibid.
57. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly Report, 1 July 1941 to 31 December 1941’, WO 208/3455.
58. Jan Weber, unpublished memoirs.
59. SR 50, 13 November 1942, AIR 40/3106.
60. Catherine Jestin, A War Bride’s Story, p. 204.
61. Ibid.
62. Copy of diary entry sent to the author by Jennifer Jestin.
63. Jestin, A War Bride’s Story, pp. 209–10.
64. Ibid., p. 229.
65.
Ibid., p. 211.
66. Ibid.
67. See WO 208/3248, Appendix C. There were CSDIC sites in Cairo, Algiers, Italy, the Middle East and the Far East: see history in WO 208/3248. On 30 September 1940, for example, 50 personnel were mobilised for CSDIC (Middle East) to be sent out the following month. For correspondence on CSDIC Algiers, see WO 208/3461. CSDIC Mediterranean was under the command of Colonel Richard Prior Edwards, a copy of whose personal army record was sent to the author.
68. WO 208/3248, Appendix C.
69. Ibid.
70. Interview with the late Elizabeth Bruegger by the author in 2011.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Jestin, A War Bride’s Story, p. 210.
74. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly survey, 1 January 1942 to 30 June 1942’, pp. 3 and 5, WO 208/3455.
75. Ibid., p. 2. See also ‘Effect on German Troops in Occupied Countries of News about Bombings and General Conditions in Germany’, p. 3, WO 208/3455.
76. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly survey, 1 January 1942 to 30 June 1942’, pp. 3 and 5, WO 208/3455.
77. Bugged conversations from POWS captured in the Maaloy and Bruneval Raids are SRM 15 to SRM 63 in WO 208/4136. SRs from POWs captured in the Dieppe Raid are SRM 64–67, WO 208/4136.
78. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly survey, 1 January 1942 to 30 June 1942’, p. 7, WO 208/3455.
79. Ibid., pp. 3–4.
80. Ibid., p. 3.
81. Ibid., p. 5.
82. General Summary Report, section 4, 9 July 1941, WO 208/4180.
83. ‘CSDIC Six-Monthly survey, 1 January 1942 to 30 June 1942’, p. 4, WO 208/3455.
84. Ibid., p. 8.
85. Lee Richards, The Black Art: British Clandestine Psychological Warfare against the Third Reich.
86. Ibid., pp. 179–94.
87. Kendrick’s report, 24 August 1942, WO 208/4970.
88. Richards, The Black Art, pp. 179–94.
5: THE SPIDER
1. Letter written to Peter Quinn, copy given to the author.
2. ‘The Story of MI19’, pp. 8–9, WO 208/4970.
3. Fry, The London Cage, pp. 13–20.
4. ‘The Story of MI19’, WO 208/4970.
5. Report, 11 February 1945, WO 208/3451.
6. Jan Weber, extract from unpublished memoirs.
7. Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace, p. 53.
8. Joan Stansfield’s unpublished notes, copy from his daughter, Stella MacKinnon.
9. Henry Dicks’s papers survive in the Wellcome Library, London. The use of psychiatrists at CSDIC is also referenced in WO 165/41, August 1942.