The Princess Spy

by Larry Loftis

  disassemble and reassemble in the dark: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 47; Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 13.

  stand alongside targets… feel of being fired upon: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 13–14.

  Ready for a couple of… Your objective: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 37. As part of The Farm’s final exams, students were sent on clandestine missions into nearby cities with a specific task, sometimes to place dummy explosives, sometimes to get a job without identification, sometimes to display lock-picking skills. See Robert Dunev’s mission at the Here’s the number note below.

  hitchhiked: Ibid., 38.

  Here’s the number… safe… C+: Ibid., 39–40. Robert Dunev received a similar assignment. He was dropped off one morning at a Baltimore hotel with $200 and told to land a job at a local defense plant without any identification. He would be retrieved that evening, The Farm instructor said. Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 20–22.

  Would you like… What are you doing: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 45–46.

  I wanted to be alone… I can’t: Ibid., 46.

  dawn to midnight, November 1 to 21: In The Spy Wore Red (p. 34) Aline mentions that her training went “twenty-one days straight,” and her OSS file suggests that she was at The Farm from November 1 to 21, 1943. Her date of employment, which commenced her first day at The Farm, is recorded in her personnel card (OSS Form 1193), located at RG 226, Entry Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. See also Robert Wauchope’s correspondence to Weston Howland on November 22, 1943 (indicating that Aline had finished her training at The Farm), at the same NARA location. Her file is somewhat contradictory, however, as her summary of initial dates card (also at Box 294) indicates that she was at “School” (i.e., The Farm) from November 1 to November 29. While Aline might have returned to The Farm for a fourth week, Wauchope’s letter suggests otherwise.

  same Chevy… I guess this is: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 54–55.

  cipher clerk: In The Spy Wore Red (pp. 55–57) Aline states that she was being sent to Madrid as an agent to work on Operation Anvil (later Dragoon) and Operation Bullfight (an operation that does not appear in OSS records). This was not the case. As her OSS personnel card indicates, she was sent to Madrid as a cipher clerk. RG 226, Entry Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. That said, she was a member of OSS’s Secret Intelligence group, and she had been trained in all aspects of espionage. Like all other Madrid staffers (other than secretaries), in addition to her day job, she would have been expected to be available to assist with any secret intelligence matters the office encountered. Robert Dunev, for example, had the exact same training as Aline, and was the station’s senior cipher clerk, but was given secret intelligence assignments as well. Dunev’s cover was so complete that SI gave him two identities. His main OSS cover was as an embassy clerk (where he would do his OSS coding). For this job he had a furnished apartment near the embassy on Miguel Angel Street. However, for special assignments he was also “Joaquin Goecoechea,” a local Spaniard. For this identity he rented a one-room studio in a poor section of town. He kept a separate wardrobe at this apartment and slept there at least once a week. Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 31.

  station chief… senior coder… radio man… financial officer… Basque expert: The Madrid station chief at the time was H. Gregory Thomas (“ARGUS”), and Robert Dunev (“WILLIAMS”) was the coder. The financial officer (James MacMillan, “QUERES,” or 857) and Basque expert (William Larimer Mellon Jr., “LEGION”) would fly with Aline to Lisbon and Madrid, and the radio man, Robert Turpin (“KODAK,” or 617), would arrive in March. As late as April 11, 1944, the Madrid office had added only five more staff members: three for Analysis and Procedure (“QUEEN,” “TICK,” and 706), one for coding (“OMAHA”), and one for the radio room (“PANCHO”). See the diagram of personnel at RG 226, Entry 139, Box 81, NARA.

  When I met you: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 55.

  one and a half years in Spain: Aline’s memory of what Ryan said, and Ryan’s assertion about this time in Spain, is confirmed by archive records. Lisbon was the first stop on any trip from the US to Spain, and Palacio Estoril hotel records reveal that he checked in there on May 24, 1941. Pacheco, ed., Hotel Palácio, 164–65. In addition, in correspondence to Col. Lane Rehm on February 3, 1943, Ferdinand Meyer writes: “It is necessary for the Subject [Frank T. Ryan] to make a survey trip to Spain in connection with certain phases of our operation there. He expects to be away several months.” RG 226, Entry 127, Box 19, NARA.

  Shepardson… Oxford… Harvard… aide to Edward House… secretary: “Whitney Shepardson, 75, Dies; International Relations Expert,” New York Times, June 1, 1966, 47.

  I hope you will… You’ll have plenty: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 56. In Aline’s dialogue here she states that Shepardson gave her an important mission he called “Operation Bullfight” (p. 57). This scenario is highly unlikely since Aline’s role at the time of her departure for Spain was simply that of code clerk. See W. L. Mellon’s October 26, 1943, letter to Reginald C. Foster, wherein he states: “Miss Griffith has been entered at The Farm for November 1, 1943 to receive basic training with special emphasis on cipher. She is one of three girls whom we intend to send to Madrid as code clerks, in response to urgent requests from our office there.” RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. In addition, “Operation Bullfight” does not appear in OSS archives or in historical military sources. Accordingly, I have not included that portion of Aline’s story.

  Your cover will be… American Oil Mission: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 58. See also “The OSS in Spain,” 122, and The End of an Epoch, 29. Robert Dunev identified it as the “U.S. Petroleum Mission.” Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 15. The proper name, as identified in OSS correspondence at the time, was the American Oil Control Commission. See correspondence from E. W. Andrews (OSS’s SI office) to William A. Kimbel (State Department) on September 13, 1943, at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. For details on this correspondence, see the American Oil Control Commission note in Chapter 4. For background on how the mission was founded and what it did, see Ambassador Carlton Hayes’s memoir, Wartime Mission in Spain, 1942–1945, 80–82 (Hayes identifies it as the “American control commission”).

  “many of our agents there”: In April 1942 OSS Secret Intelligence sent its first two agents to Madrid and Lisbon, both operating as oil attachés in this State Department oil mission cover. They were to split their time equally, supervising oil sent to Spain and collecting information for SI. By October 1944, the OSS had sent fifty-two agents to these two stations under State Department cover, and twenty under private cover.

  Sunday, December 5: In The Spy Wore Red Aline has her meeting with Pierre before her meeting with Shepardson (pp. 51–53). Given that she and Pierre would still have been at The Farm, such a meeting would have been extraordinarily difficult, especially since neither had a car. She mentions that her meeting with Shepardson was in early December (p. 56), in all likelihood either Thursday, December 2, or Friday, December 3. Aline mentions meeting Pierre on a Sunday (p. 51), so December 5 would be the most probable date of their rendezvous.

  Plaza Hotel… Carnegie suit… Stork Club: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 51–52.

  the Stork Club… 2,500 people: Russell Whelan, “Inside the Stork Club,” American Mercury, September 1944, 357–65.

  ring… I don’t think: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 52–53.

  Chapter 4: The Clerk

  overseas security check: See Aline’s OSS card with clearance dates, which states: Overseas Security: requested 11/22/43 Issued 12/22/43

  School: 11/1/43–11/29/43

  Request for transportation: 1/10/44

  Departed: 1/28/44

  American Oil Control Commission: This was the correct name of the cover organization. See correspondence from E. W. Andrews to William A. Kimbel on September 13, 1943, stating: “It would be greatly appreciated if you could arrange with State Department to have Miss Marie Aline Griffit
h appointed a clerk at the Madrid Embassy, attached to the Oil Control Commission…. [A]s she will work entirely for O.S.S., any part of her salary paid by the State Department should be charged to the fund held with them for that purpose. Mr. Walter Smith, the head of the Oil Control Commission, is aware of our need for added code clerks, and has expressed his entire approval.” RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  salary of $1,800… $1,000… $390… living allowance: See Aline’s salary and deductions cards, as well as the Madrid staff compensation ledger, contained in her personnel file at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  $2,400… Hattie Carnegie: See Aline’s “Personal History Statement” (Form SA-1) in her personnel file at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  January 10… transport: See Aline’s OSS card with clearance dates at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  Aline’s transportation was so top secret: This document (correspondence from Kenneth Mygatt to Frank T. Ryan, et al., January 25, 1944) is from Aline’s personnel file at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  Biltmore… snow: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 58.

  January 27: Aline’s recollection of dates and of her own age are highly confused. In her first book, The History of Pascualete (p. 3), she correctly records that she arrived in Spain in February 1944. In her second book, The Spy Wore Red (p. 58), she states that she left for Spain on Christmas Eve, 1943 (before the OSS had even requested her transport), and arrived in Madrid on December 31 (p. 69). In “The OSS in Spain” (p. 122), Aline writes that she began her service in Madrid in January 1944. In her final book, The End of an Epoch (p. 9), she again declares that she left for Spain in 1943 (p. 9), but later in the book (p. 187) she declares that she arrived in January 1944 and went to watch a flamenco star, Lola Fores, with Edmundo Lassalle on her first night there. Lassalle did not arrive in Madrid, however, until June 1944. Equally perplexing is Aline’s recollection of her age when leaving on assignment. In The History of Pascualete, she declares that she was “barely twenty-two.” In The End of an Epoch, she states that she was “barely twenty-one.” Aline was born on May 22, 1920, so she was almost twenty-four when she departed for assignment.

  The date when Aline actually left for Spain is January 27, 1944. The date when she arrived in Madrid is February 10, 1944. See Exhibit A of April 11, 1946, memorandum from C. G. MacMillan to E. Caswell Jones:

  Entrance on Duty Date: November 1, 1943

  Departure for Post: January 27, 1944

  Arrival at Post Date: February 10, 1944

  Termination date: August 15, 1945

  [Note that her card for summary dates has her leaving on January 28.] RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. See also Aline’s reimbursement file, at RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76, Folder 431. The first entry (“BUTCH”), dated February 15, 1944, shows Aline’s reimbursements for her travel to Madrid, including her per diem. The dates mirror the MacMillan memorandum noted above (i.e., departure from New York on January 27, 1943, passing through Lisbon, and arriving in Madrid on February 10, 1944).

  As shown in the main text with her Estoril Palacio Hotel registration, Aline arrived in Lisbon on February 8, stayed two nights at the Palacio, and flew to Madrid on February 10.

  cooped up here on the fifteenth floor for two days: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 58; End of an Epoch, 9. Note that Aline confuses the length of time at the hotel: in The Spy Wore Red, she’s at the Biltmore “three days and three nights,” while in The End of an Epoch, she’s there for two days, departing on the second night.

  Yankee Clipper …sleeping quarters… dining room… lounge… honeymoon suite: Roy Allen, The Pan Am Clipper: The History of America’s Flying Boats, 1931 to 1946, 90–93; James Trautman, Pan American Clippers: The Golden Age of Flying, 226–27.

  passengers never knew until the last minute: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 58; End of an Epoch, 9.

  a round-trip flight… $1,000: Allen, Pan Am Clipper, 89.

  including station chief H. Gregory Thomas: Romanones, “The OSS in Spain,” 123–24.

  traveled by sea: For example, Aline’s partner in the coding room, Robert Dunev, traveled to Lisbon aboard Portugal’s Serpa Pinto (Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 23), and her sidekick, Edmundo Lassalle, traveled aboard the Portuguese freighter, the SS Thome (Huddleston, Edmundo, 48).

  call… ten minutes… Two men: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 9.

  James MacMillan and William Larimar Mellon Jr.: Romanones, “The OSS in Spain,” 124; End of an Epoch, 11. Most of Aline’s reports in her BUTCH file are to “QUERES” (MacMillan), although one or two were prepared for “LEGION” (Mellon). The NARA QUERES files are located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 19, and RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76. The LEGION SI files are located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 1, while his X-2 files are located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 24.

  Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia: Aline mentions taking off from Long Island Sound (“The OSS in Spain,” 123), but the specific location was Pan Am’s marine terminal at LaGuardia airfield. See Trautman, Pan American Clippers, 134–35, 242, 260, 268.

  dark… pitch black… cold… military uniform: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 9, Spy Wore Red, 59.

  28 feet high… 152 feet… 82,000 pounds: Trautman, Pan American Clippers, 246; Allen, Pan Am Clipper, 109.

  We travel in luxury: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 11.

  seventy-four passengers… sleepers for: Trautman, Pan American Clippers, 246.

  chefs… Salmini… Candotti… Waldorf: Allen, Pan Am Clipper, 90.

  white linen tablecloths… silver and china… napkin draped over his arm: Trautman, Pan American Clippers, 226.

  shrimp cocktail… turtle soup… filet mignon… petit fours: Allen, Pan Am Clipper, 90, Trautman, Pan American Clippers, 226.

  Clipper’s bar… martini… manhattan… scotch: Pan Am Clipper Bar Menu, 1951.

  Bermuda… waves were too large: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 11. This delay resolves the issue of why the plane left on January 27, but the party didn’t arrive in Lisbon until February 8. OSS records confirm the departure date, and Palacio records confirm the arrival date, but Aline’s account in The End of an Epoch is the only source revealing the cause of the delay.

  pilot had invited her to watch: Romanones, History of Pascualete, 8; End of an Epoch, 11.

  visit the casino… bronze-embossed mahogany doors: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 12.

  Crystal chandeliers… red velvet drapes: Ibid., 13 (Aline describing the curtains as “burgundy”). Photos of the crystal chandeliers can be seen in Estoril’s archives housed at Archivo Municipal de Cascais, Portugal, and virtually every spy who wrote about visiting the casino mentioned the chandeliers and red velvet curtains. See, e.g., Desmond Bristow, A Game of Moles: The Deceptions of an MI6 Officer, 151.

  clatter of chips and whir of roulette wheels: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 13.

  Aline, watch those: Ibid. In the next line after this dialogue, Aline quotes MacMillan as saying that Japanese agents were in the casino, picking up messages, “including dates and hours transmitted by the numbers played at the roulette table—right under our noses.” In all probability, she borrowed this from Dusko Popov, the British double agent who in 1974 had revealed this very method used by the German Abwehr to provide him with a place and time for one of his meetings in 1941. See Dusko Popov, Spy Counter-Spy, 91; Loftis, Into the Lion’s Mouth, 49. That the Japanese would be using the precise communication system used by the Germans three years earlier is unlikely. Accordingly, I have omitted this part of Aline’s quote.

  baccarat: Aline recalled that the game was chemin de fer (Spy Wore Red, 63; End of an Epoch, 13), a European version of baccarat where the players have an option to “stand” with their cards or take a “hit” (another card), but Dusko Popov, who played the game at this casino in 1941, described it as baccarat. Pop
ov, Spy Counter-Spy, 151.

  Gamblers are superstitious: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 63; End of an Epoch, 13.

  Errol Flynn… The Sea Hawk: Casino Estoril Cinema program, February 7–13, 1944 (courtesy of Cascais Archive).

  quite a first day: According to Aline, much more happened that night, but at least half, and perhaps all, of what she declared was untrue. In The Spy Wore Red (pp. 64–65) and The End of an Epoch (p. 15), she writes that Mellon pointed out that on the dance floor was one of their fellow OSS agents, “TOP HAT.” This agent’s real code name was “PELOTA,” and his real name was Edmundo Lassalle. Lassalle was, in fact, the agent with whom Aline would work in Madrid. However, Lassalle could not possibly have been in Lisbon in February 1944 because he was still in the US; Edmundo did not even sail for Europe until May 13, 1944, when he left from Philadelphia aboard the SS Thome. When Edmundo arrived in Lisbon on May 30, he wrote to his wife, complaining that the conditions on the ship were “atrocious” (Huddleston, Edmundo, 48, 54). Why Aline would fabricate Lassalle’s presence that night is unclear, but it highlights what she claimed happened next. When Aline and Mellon were making their way out of the casino after dinner, she wrote in The Spy Wore Red (p. 65) and The End of an Epoch (p. 15), she witnessed a murder. She and Mellon heard a woman shriek, she claimed, and then she turned to see a man lying facedown with a knife protruding from his back.

  This supposed murder has several problems. First, it is not mentioned in any OSS file. Since the man supposedly murdered was, according to Aline (Spy Wore Red, 101), an OSS informant, this would be highly unusual. Second, the murder does not appear in any Lisbon or Estoril newspaper reports on February 9 or 10, 1944. Third, and most important, the man whom Aline claims to have committed the murder was none other than Edmundo Lassalle (Spy Wore Red, 102), who was still in the US at the time.