Double Cross in Cairo

by Nigel West

  Other items came from radio broadcasts, such as the news that General Sir Bernard Paget had replaced General Wilson, and sheer rumour, and that there was talk in the port that ‘several battleships including an aircraft carrier’ had sailed south.

  As ‘A’ Force’s confidence grew, there were many, many more ‘unconscious sources’ who were not formally part of CHEESE’S network, but inadvertently gave him useful tit-bits. A journalist who had been with Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia had replaced John Talbot, the Reuter’s correspondent who had been taken prisoner with two photographers in June 1944. He said he was now attached to 3 Corps HQ, and was going to Alexandria. A London Scottish officer in the London Division mentioned he was joining 168 Brigade; an RB officer belonging to the 15th Motor Division was responsible for another report about the 33rd Motor Brigade. An 10th Armoured Brigade officer based at Suez worked on the staff of 3 Corps, to which his brigade belonged, was going to Alexandria to join the rest of his staff. A Greek officer had been on a course recently to learn English methods of extracting information from enemy PoWs; a 46th Division officer remarked that he would be leaving Alexandria in two weeks’ time. A New Zealand nurse stated that the New Zealand troops in Cairo belonged to the 6th New Zealand Division. An 8th Armoured Division officer based in Cyrenaica said he had been in Kabrit for the past two weeks. A Gloucester Hussars officer who had been in Tobruk talked about the town’s barrage balloons and claimed that a South African brigade was there, and that parachute troops were expected shortly.

  Between 29 April and 10 September 1943 CHEESE sent seventy messages to Bari, of which five came from his ‘ESR friend’: Commando training centre in the Canal area; Commando training centre on the Little Bitter Lake: landing exercises; Passenger traffic to be restricted from 17 July; Troops embarked at Suez; Troops returned to Suez.

  Two Greek officers in CHEESE’S office who joined the ATB from Syria provided five messages: one was a captain working on Greek statistics; Transfer of Greek troops from Syria postponed; Captain on leave. Future plans delayed until Captain back from Syria; Greek division to be transferred soon.

  A Greek interpreter friend is working at Divisional HQ. Leave expires 20 June. Possible date of invasion; Working at 56th Division HQ; arrival of Greek Division delayed.

  During this period MISANTHROPE was busy, and contributed the content of nine messages:

  United Nations Parade. Greek armoured cars. Greek Division arriving from Syria; (from Alexandria) all invasion plans postponed; From Alexandria: Two battleships and one aircraft-carrier at Alexandria; (from ALEX) warships leave Alexandria; (from Alexandria) Warspite at Alexandria. (through a Greek officer) 1st Greek Brigade is in Syria; (through a South African corporal) 6th South African Armoured Division is in the Delta; de Gaullist troops have left Tobruk westwards; Major of airborne unit is on leave from Palestine.

  CHEESE himself reported having observed:

  A convoy with GO in white on green circle; Increase of troops in Cairo; Decrease of troops in Cairo; New staff HQ in Antikhana; Troops with red berets and ‘Airborne’ on sleeve; Greek battleship at Port Said; Anti-aircraft guns in Canal area; Canadian aviators in Cairo; Armoured cars and lorries in Cairo. Totem white cross in blue circle with black horse. Greek drivers, returning to Kasaassine to refit.

  Between 1 January and 29 June 1944 CHEESE transmitted a total of sixty-eight messages, of which eleven were identified as having been personal observations. In this category came

  The black cat sign of the London Division is in Alexandria; Sign of black cat and white chequerboard; Many troops in Alexandria of the London Division and some wearing the sign of a green tree; Two large and three small cruisers, several destroyers and fifty mercantile ships; The King’s Birthday Parade: The London Division including the London Scottish and Irish. Officer was heard to say probably last appearance in Cairo of the London Division. Units of the 15th Motor Division, 8th Armoured Division, GO sign, South Africans and New Zealanders; Indians and Australian Air Force; Still many Poles in Cairo; Many English troops disembarked at Alexandria; An officer in the 4th Division has been in Egypt one and a half months. Sign: quarter of a circle. Another division arrived with his. Order of Governate of Benghazi saying Arabs must be engaged urgently for construction of aerodromes in Cyrenaica. Trucks painted green and brown and bearing sign of white unicorn. Convoy of anti-aircraft guns going to Alexandria, painted brown and green. Order in office asking for officers speaking Bulgarian or Russian; Many Americans at Paynefield Aerodrome.

  A further eleven messages were attributed to information gleaned from CHEESE’S ‘ESR friend’. He commented on such subjects as

  An increase of military movement towards Tobruk; Think 10 English Armoured Division is at Suez; Military moves towards Egypt from Palestine; A division arrives from India at Suez; A division arrived from India is English and has sign of yellow hammer in a black circle; Movement towards Palestine including light and heavy anti-aircraft artillery and numbers of RAF trucks. Railway wagons at Suez to transport tanks to Port Said by 10 June. Tanks not arriving at Port Said till the end of June; Tanks belong to the 10th Armoured Division now to be at Port Said by 26 June; Lot of maritime activity at Suez.

  Under the grouping ‘learned in the office’, CHEESE reported that ‘General Paget has been to Cyrenaica and Mersa Matruh, Visited air troops at Gambit and armoured troops at Tobruk, also Greek sailors. Read order for officer to go overseas; going to HQ 16 Corps, he thinks destination will be India.’

  Between 8 July and 28 December 1944 CHEESE sent fifty-five messages, most based on his own views, among them reports such as ‘Have not seen 3 Corps here for some time; I think 15 Division has left Cairo but sometimes see trucks at Abbassia bearing sign of the white unicorn; I think HQ of 11th Army still here as we still see sign of seal balancing globe in the town; Have not seen sign of chequerboard for a long time. Increase in number of English soldiers here, most wear sign of yellow axe; No longer see sign of 3 Corps here, think it must have left; Speculation running high in office and town following Turkey’s rupture of relations with the Reich; Signs of yellow axe and yellow hammer seen in Cairo, yellow axe is sign of 78th English Division; Head of Civil Affairs Bureau returned here after a tour of Libya; Think the airborne division may be English but contains Indian units; Have not noticed any reduction in numbers of New Zealand and South African troops here. I think 6 New Zealand and 7 South African Divisions still in Egypt; Among officers who took part in conference with General Paget were Generals Stone, Scobie and McConnell. Air Marshal Park and Admiral Rawlings; Several trucks in town bearing sign of 15th Division; At HQ yesterday three trucks with sign of head of red elephant on blue square; Section of my office which deals with former Italian islands is about to complete preparations for leaving; Number of British officers wearing sign of “Y”; Not seen sign of 8th Armoured Division for a long time; No longer see here sign of yellow axe but have recently seen several trucks with sign of white unicorn; See no more Poles in Cairo; Section which deals with Greek islands has left my office but is still in Egypt; Have heard nothing of an Indian Armoured Division; Only see few Indian troops here; Think HQ 3 Corps has left Egypt for Italy; The King has dismissed cabinet of Nahas from power and Ahmed Naher has formed a coalition cabinet; Much emotion in Greek circles following German evacuation of Athens; Heard nothing of battleships at Alexandria; Seen several English officers wearing sign of gold star on red and blue square. This is emblem of GHQ India; Seen Royal Artillery officer wearing flash “cinque ports” on sleeve; Think airborne division no longer in the Middle East as the parachutist sign not seen here now.’

  Finally, there was the last tranche of signals, twelve of which were transmitted between 2 January and 10 February 1945. In his very last signal CHEESE reported that ‘shipping between Turkey and Egypt will soon start again.’ Thereafter, the channel fell silent, leaving the Abwehr completely in the dark about the fate of their master-spy.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  OPERATI
ON HATRY

  SIME’s efforts to support CHEESE financially proved very frustrating, but the ingenious solution eventually decided upon was Operation HATRY, a scheme inspired by the financial conman Clarence Hatry who was imprisoned in London in 1929 and credited with being the catalyst for the crisis of confidence which resulted in the Wall Street Crash a few days later. SIME’s version of HATRY was considered likely to be plausible to the Abwehr, and one based on a similar dilemma in London where a double agent codenamed TATE had run low on funds and had been replenished by the appropriately named Plan MIDAS, the expedient of having a Jewish intermediary circumvent the currency regulations by passing cash locally to a nominee when a similar sum had been deposited in his account abroad, in his case in the United States. HATRY, named after the famous financial fraudster, called for virtually the same model. An unscrupulous Jewish merchant in Cairo, Henri Cohen, was identified by CHEESE as a suitable candidate for the transaction, although the execution of the plan proved very complex.

  The background was that CHEESE was essentially a mercenary and had been risking his life since his original recruitment by Levi in April 1941 when he had received £150, and he had been asking for further funds since 28 June 1941. His sixth message, on 14 August 1941, was a request for financial support, but all efforts to pass him the money had failed, and one of those attempts had resulted in the loss of a submarine, the U-372 in August 1942.

  The destruction of an entire U-boat employed by the Abwehr as a means of funding an individual spy, whatever his importance, must have been a heavy blow for both the Kreigsmarine, which was prevented from learning anything about the circumstances of the sinking through the deliberate isolation of the crew who were kept in quarantine for the remainder of the war, and for the Abwehr, which suffered the loss of a trusted courier and the money he was carrying. However, in December 1942 there was renewed evidence that the Abwehr had found a replacement courier, for earlier in the month CHEESE had been given 27 December as a firm delivery date, and on 4 January 1943 was promised that the courier would be in Cairo ‘in the next few days’.

  Paradoxically, because CHEESE had acquired employment at OETA, the pressure on him had been relieved somewhat as he now allegedly had a regular source of income, but nevertheless SIME was keen to learn more about the courier, and suspected that the man might be GULL, an agent who was already known to James Robertson. Based on a very casual interview he conducted on 3 January, GULL had a legitimate excuse for travelling to Istanbul where, according to TRIANGLE, he had been of interest to the Abwehr. Robertson judged GULL to be just a little too ‘glib’ in his cover story, and strongly suspected him to be the Abwehr’s chosen route based on his personal communications which had been routinely intercepted by censorship.

  Without being directly questioned, he produced an explanation for the ambiguous telegrams which have been intercepted. Nothing in his story however excludes the possibility of his having been recruited by the Abwehr for delivery of the money to CHEESE. He knows Cairo; his business cover is satisfactory. He is known to have expressed anti-British feelings while in Istanbul. It seems a likelihood that the Abwehr (whom we know from the reports of TRIANGLE to have had at least some interest in him) would have profited from the opportunity presented by his passage through Turkey to Egypt. It may be mentioned finally that, if there had been one flaw in his cover story, it is that it was too glibly told. GULL wishes to return to Istanbul.

  Unfortunately, SIME faced an additional problem at the ‘mousetrap’, the flat at 20 Rue Galal, the site chosen by CHEESE for the money-drop, where the building was of such a nature that, according to the BGM, it would have been quite easy for the packet to be delivered to a different apartment. As SIME observed in a memo:

  (a) The BGM reports that the topographical situation at 20 Rue Galal, is such that the money may possibly be delivered at the wrong flat. (b) If this happens the notional story to be told by CHEESE is simply that the money has not arrived. (c) Alternatively, the courier (or his agent) in doubt as to his address, may decide to leave his mission uncompleted. In this event the courier may cause enquiries to be made at 20 Rue Galal, though this is unlikely.

  Furthermore, the block was inhabited by mainly Greeks and Italians, many of whom were thoroughly anti-British. SIME felt that if the courier could not be absolutely certain of identifying the correct flat he probably would not endanger himself by making enquiries, but would report his dilemma to the Abwehr, by which time SIME would have recommended a new address, thereby solving the problem.

  SIME had taken considerable precautions to allow the money-drop to take place, and briefed MISANTHROPE on 11 October 1942 about the need to enable the transaction in preference to arresting any intermediary or courier. It was explained that

  to arrest the courier, while leaving possible accomplices at large, would give warning to the latter and at the same time cause them to suspect the integrity – perhaps even the existence – of Paul Nicosoff. She will therefore be told that, although she will have to prepare herself by learning the following ‘part’, it will be her role not willingly to reveal information about herself or Paul, but rather to remain constantly on the defensive. This will be naturally explained by the extreme nervousness of both herself and Paul. She will refer more than once to the recent execution of five Axis agents in Aleppo; she may also mention the arrest of two German spies on a houseboat and the spate of arrests they brought in their train.

  If pressed to introduce the courier to Paul, she will quote explicit instructions from him against this, and will plead his great nervousness. She will also advance the argument that a meeting between Paul and the courier would double the danger for both – as in fact it would.

  SIME’s plan for the meeting between CHEESE’S representative and the Abwehr’s courier were planned to the last detail:

  Rendezvous is the Café Bel Air on the Pyramids Road. The BGM (playing the part of the ‘amie’) will be recognisable to the courier by the fact of her wearing a white costume with [a] red belt, and carrying a red handbag. Courier will also be in possession of a description of her. The agreed password will be exchanged. The enemy has been asked for a description of the courier.

  The BGM will be instructed in accordance with the brief already drawn up (of 11 October 1942) with such addenda as may have subsequently become necessary. This will be the responsibility of Captain Robertson. Details of the action to be taken by her at the rendezvous and subsequently will be imparted to her by Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins or Captain Robertson – but in any event after full consultation with the latter officer. At 2000 hrs on the agreed date the BGM will install herself at a table in the Café Bel Air. She will arrive in a taxi, which will wait outside. The chauffeur and his companion will be agents of DSO.

  As a fallback, SIME anyway went through the motions of recruiting GULL as an ordinary agent, remaining entirely silent about the suspicions concerning his true role.

  If the courier is GULL, he will have been briefed by us with a military questionnaire which should effectively eradicate from the minds of the Germans any idea that we may suspect GULL, or have any knowledge of his mission, or of the intended recipient of the money.

  Thus, on 24 December, the Abwehr informed CHEESE that it had been impossible to change the agreed arrangements, and that the courier intended to make the delivery on Sunday 27 December. This turn of events led SIME to speculate that the courier had left Turkey before he could be warned, or perhaps that there was another network in Cairo already which had been entrusted with the task. In any circumstances it was thought likely that the courier might employ a ‘conscious or unconscious Egyptian messenger’ to make the final delivery, the moment of greatest vulnerability. The situation was further complicated by the unconnected police raid which had scared off CHEESE and left SIME wondering about how to handle the new tenant, Pietro Fuimo, and his family. Should they be indoctrinated into the operation and told to receive the Abwehr’s package of money? In the end, Robertson opted t
o instruct Fuimo to accept any packet from a stranger and receive a gratuity of £30 for his trouble but, as it happened, nobody turned up. Fuimo, who had been interned for fifteen months as an enemy alien, had been released in January 1942 because of ‘his intense anti-Fascist feelings’. Nevertheless, in September 1942, Robertson contemplated his re-internment as a security precaution to prevent any leakage relating to Nicossof, whom he briefed about under the alias ‘Paul Orloff’, the name under which he could receive letters at the National Hotel.

  On 6 January 1943 CHEESE announced that he had found a much better money drop, at Souk el Tewfikieh 6. Specifically, the address was apartment 16, on the fourth floor, with an entrance next to the Café Soleil where a flat had been rented, at additional cost to him, by his amie, who would take up residence there on 14 January.

  A further, unexpected complication occurred when the BGM, destined for her walk-on part as MISANTHROPE, genuinely fell ill in March 1943, and announced that ‘her services would not be available until at least April’. This problem arose just when the Abwehr had instructed CHEESE to keep the flat at Souk el Tewfikieh 6, a demand that SIME had suggested ‘may be taken to indicate that a further attempt will be made to deliver the money’. These two challenges led James Robertson to set out the options:

  • Plan 1: To recruit a person either (a) male to play the part of a friend of CHEESE or (b) female to play the part of CHEESE’S ‘amie’ who will be fully instructed in the part he or she has to play (including, necessarily, the whole story of CHEESE) and who will thus be qualified to answer questions about CHEESE and, if necessary, to frequent the company of the enemy courier and his acquaintances.