The Princess Spy

by Larry Loftis

  Accordingly, I have omitted from the story Aline’s embellishment of Lassalle’s presence and the alleged murder.

  Aline, Mellon, and MacMillan checked out… flight to Madrid: The Palacio registrations shown in the main text reveal that all three checked out on February 10, 1944. In her 1992 article “The OSS in Spain” (p. 124), Aline confirms that Mellon and MacMillan were with her on the flight to Madrid. Strangely, in her last book, The End of an Epoch (p. 19), she has the men remaining in Lisbon, contending that she flew to Madrid alone.

  Iberia: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 68; End of an Epoch, 19.

  fields of Castile… snow-capped Guadarrama… orange… brown… red, blue: Aline covers this view from the plane in three of her books: The History of Pascualete (p. 3), The Spy Wore Red (p. 68), and The End of an Epoch (p. 19).

  apprehensive: Ibid.

  I sensed a mystery: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 19.

  Barajas Airport… swastika… Junkers: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 68; “The OSS in Spain,” 124; End of an Epoch, 19–20.

  Ambassador Carlton Hayes: See generally, Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain. See also David Eccles, By Safe Hand: The Letters of Sybil & David Eccles, 1939–42. Eccles was Britain’s principal economic adviser for the Iberian peninsula, and in his memoir, he assesses Franco’s position and intentions, coming to the same conclusion as Ambassador Hayes. Eccles writes: “To what conclusion will the reader of this book have come about Franco’s real intentions? In the twelve months following the collapse of France, when half of Europe thought we had no chance of winning, did Franco want to enter the war or stay out?… Whatever he may have said in public to please the Germans and their friends his instincts and his behavior during and after the war point to a deep preference for neutrality…. I had friends who were very close to Franco. Once or twice they said the pressures on him were so great that he might have to surrender to the war party but they never said that he wanted to join the Axis. Quite the contrary.” By Safe Hand, 417.

  German operatives… Johann Jebsen… 520 agents: Popov, Spy Counter-Spy, 103. See also David Kahn, Hitler’s Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II, 248.

  70 to 100 agents working at a secret: Walter Schellenberg, The Memoirs of Hitler’s Spymaster, 133.

  full lists… Jebsen… Kenneth Benton… each member of the British staff: Kenneth Benton, “The ISOS Years: Madrid 1941–3,” 395, et seq. See also Schellenberg, Memoirs of Hitler’s Spymaster, 133. Jebsen’s meeting with Benton is confirmed in MI5 files at KV 2/854 (p. 8) and KV 2/856 (p. 759B), UK National Archives.

  winter chill… wind, hat: Romanones, History of Pascualete, 3; Spy Wore Red, 68; End of an Epoch, 19.

  dirt roads… children… cars… bicycles… donkey cart… Plaza de Toros: Ibid.; Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain, 22; Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 68–69.

  Palace Hotel: Aline records her stay at the Palace with some detail in The Spy Wore Red (pp. 69–70) and The End of an Epoch (p. 21). Unfortunately, her imagination seemed to be her guide. In The Spy Wore Red, she arrives at the hotel at 4:40 p.m., December 31, 1943. In The End of an Epoch, she arrives precisely at 11:00 a.m. in January 1944. In reality, Aline arrived at the Palace Hotel on February 10, 1944. See Exhibit A of April 11, 1946, memorandum from C. G. MacMillan to E. Caswell Jones indicating “Arrival at Post Date: February 10, 1944.” RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. See also Aline’s departure from Lisbon on February 10 in the Palacio Hotel registration in the main text. In both accounts, Aline writes that she was met in the Palace lobby—per Washington instructions—by Edmundo Lassalle (whom she gave the code name “TOP HAT”). Such a meeting was impossible, of course, since Lassalle was still in the US and would not arrive in Madrid until June 1.

  young man… perfect English… tall, handsome, and well-dressed: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 69–70; End of an Epoch, 21–23.

  a German agent: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 22.

  Teatro de la Zarzuela… Lola Flores… La Niña de Fuego: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 74–75; End of an Epoch, 187. Who Aline had dinner with and attended the theater with is a mystery. She writes in The Spy Wore Red and The End of an Epoch that Edmundo Lassalle was her date, but he would not arrive in Madrid until June. Logic would suggest that she went with either Larry Mellon (with whom she had visited Casino Estoril) or James MacMillan, both of whom had joined her on the flight to Madrid. In The Spy Wore Red Aline places the date of this night as New Year’s Eve, 1943, and in The End of an Epoch she puts it as January 1944. The correct date is February, however, since Aline arrived in Madrid on February 10, 1944.

  Flamenco was invented: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 189.

  El Gallo… Cagancho: Barnaby Conrad, La Fiesta Brava: The Art of the Bull Ring, 159; Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon, 212–14, 216. Their real names were Rafael El Gallo and Joaquin Rodriguez, respectively.

  Gitanillo de Triana: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 190; Barnaby Conrad, Matador, 237.

  the secret of flamenco’s… flamenco dancers to entertain groups: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 188.

  Who is it… El mozo de espadas: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 77; End of an Epoch, 34.

  Chapter 5: Man of Swords

  Three Spaniards… carnations… Señorita Griffith: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 77; End of an Epoch, 34.

  If you please: Ibid.

  I may be the greatest: Conrad, La Fiesta Brava, 129.

  In 1919 he appeared in 109 corridas: Ibid., 25.

  He was a genius… The way Belmonte: Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon, 68–69.

  The señorita must… The traje de luces: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 77–78; End of an Epoch, 35.

  Calle Alcalá Galiano, No. 4: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 78; “The OSS in Spain,” 124; End of an Epoch, 31. See also Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 27.

  Why does such a pretty girl: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 78.

  three-story… relatively new: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 27.

  Plaza Santa Ana… Señorita Griffith… When would you like: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 79; End of an Epoch, 34.

  Bugatti Royale… roadster… type 41: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 49; Spy Wore Red, 80.

  matadors made between $2,000 and $7,500: Walter Smith, who headed the Oil Control Commission, expressed in 1952 that a matador’s fee at the time was $2,000 to $10,000 per afternoon, and that a season was one hundred performances. Walter Smith, Glimpses of Spain, 50. Given that the year is 1944, I have adjusted the fee downward.

  Manolete… $30 million: In 1950 American matador Barnaby Conrad wrote that in Manolete’s eight years as as senior matador, he had made approximately $4 million. Conrad, La Fiesta Brava, 3. But that was between 1939 and 1947; adjusted for inflation to today’s dollars, Manolete had made some $56 million. By 1944, he would have cleared at least $30 million.

  Calle Peligros… La Mahonesa: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 80.

  Señorita, it is an honor: Ibid.

  separate buildings… July 5, 1944… Gregory Thomas and Ambassador Carlton Hayes: The lease between Thomas, representing the OSS, and Hayes, representing the State Department, is found at RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76, NARA. Since Thomas was a lawyer, it is likely that he drafted the agreement.

  Walter Smith… July 1941… early 1942… U.S. and Spain reached an agreement: Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain, 80–81.

  Miss Griffith… gigantic, angular physique: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 83.

  Thomas… Cambridge… Paris… Salamanca… Spain and Portugal: OSS internal memo dated July 21, 1943, included in the file: “OSS Activities in Italy; Hitler’s Correspondence with Mussolini; Plans for the Invasion,” https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP13X00001R000100160005–2.pdf.

  station chief… ARGUS: Gregory Thomas’s OSS files, listed under “ARGUS,” are all located in Record Group 226 of the NARA. His Madrid SI files are located at Entry 211, Box 12; Entry 210, Box 303; and Entry 127, Boxes 23 and 24. His Madrid X-2 files are located at Entry 127, Box 24. His Madri
d OSS files are located at Entry 168, Box 34 and Entry 127, Box 13. His Lisbon SI files are located at Entry 148, Box 68. His Bern file is located at Entry 210, Box 542. His London file is located at Entry 190, Box 262. His Washington files (which include general OSS, SI, X-2, Spain, and a Lisbon/Barcelona file) are located at Entry 196, Box 83; Entry 210, Boxes 72, 91, 303, 313, 465, 515, and 526; and Entry 214, Box 2.

  We’ve barely twelve: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 84.

  MacMillan… QUERES: James H. MacMillan’s Madrid SI files, listed under “QUERES,” are located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 19, NARA. He has another file pertaining to finances at RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76. For confirmation of his role as finance officer and deputy chief, see, e.g., MacMillan’s correspondence to Douglas Dimond (OSS chief of Special Funds) dated December 19, 1945, in this file.

  her immediate supervisor: The vast majority of Aline’s OSS reports are addressed to QUERES.

  Larry Mellon… LEGION: William Larimer Mellon Jr.’s Madrid files, listed under “LEGION,” are located at RG 226, Entry 127, NARA. Within that entry, his OSS-designated files are located in Box 1, while his X-2 files are in Box 24. He also has a Paris X-2 file located at Entry 190B, Box 17.

  an administrator: Margaret Kasley, code named KATHY, to whom Aline directed one or two reports, has only one NARA file, located in the financial reports section at RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76.

  Robert Turpin… KODAK: Robert G. Turpin’s Madrid SI files, listed under “KODAK,” are located at RG 226, Entry 139, Box 81, NARA. His Madrid financial records are located at Entry 197A, Box 76. He also has two Washington files, listed under his last name, located at Entry 190, Box 710 and Entry 92A, Box 23.

  would arrive next month: Turpin arrived in Madrid on March 16, 1944, according to his hotel records in Lisbon (he checked in to the Estoril Atlantico, next door to the Palacio, on March 10, 1944, and departed on March 16). Cristina Pacheco, ed., Grande Hotel e Hotel Atlântico, Boletins de Alojamento de Estrangeiros: Boletins Individuais, 1939–1944, 270–71.

  Robert Dunev… WILLIAMS: Robert Dunev’s Madrid files, listed under “WILLIAMS,” are located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 19, and at Entry 197A, Box 76, NARA.

  Business hours… siesta… flamenco: See Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain, 41; Walter Smith, Glimpses of Spain, 190; Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 37.

  Nobody goes to bed: Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon, 48.

  Dunev… second identity: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 31.

  Heinrich Himmler… had a top agent: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 84.

  four suspects… Suñer… Hohenlohe… Furstenberg… Lazar: Ibid., 85.

  Ramón Serrano-Suñer… head of the Falange… interior… foreign minister… September 1942: Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain, 25, 57–58; Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 2, Their Finest Hour, 522, 528; Payne, Franco and Hitler, 15, 81–82, 87–88, 135–48.

  Prince Maximilian Egon von Hohenlohe: Aline disguises the identity of Prince Max, referring to him as “Prince Nikolaus Lilienthal.” Prince Max’s file in OSS’s X-2 section is located at RG 226, Entry 119A, Box 55, NARA.

  Himmler and Hermann Göring… services to the Gestapo: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 85.

  confidant… Schellenberg: Ibid., p. 3.

  1939 Max: Klemens von Klemperer, German Resistance Against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938–1945, 92.

  fourth week of October 1939: John Costello, Ten Days to Destiny, 59; Waller, Unseen War in Europe, 111–12, 165.

  mid-July 1940… Sir David Kelly… Bern: Costello, Ten Days to Destiny, 345; Waller, Unseen War in Europe, 165.

  prepared to accept: Costello, Ten Days to Destiny, 345; Waller, Unseen War in Europe, 165.

  March 1941… Sir Samuel Hoare: Costello, Ten Days to Destiny, 456; Peter Padfield, Hess: Flight for the Führer, 166.

  1943… Max had met Dulles… Long Island… secret meeting: Leonard Mosley, Dulles: A Biography of Eleanor, Allen, and John Foster and Their Family Network, 144–45.

  The talks continued for three months: James Srodes, Allen Dulles: Master of Spies, 261. The conversations between Prince Max and Dulles were recorded in various German memos discovered by the Russians after the war. The discussions have been labeled the “Bull-Pauls” discussions because Dulles is referred to as “Mr. Bull,” and Prince Max is referred to as “Herr Pauls.” The extent to which the Russians redacted the documents is a matter of debate among World War II scholars.

  Gloria von Fürstenberg: Gloria’s file in OSS records, listed under “Furstenberg,” is an X-2 file located at RG 226, Entry 124, Box 14, Stack 190, Row 7, Compartment 17, Shelf 4, NARA.

  Mexican… thirty-one… Los Angeles… Clarence Brown… Paris… Frank Scholtens… von Fürstenberg… children: See Gloria’s X-2 card, with information collected by Portugal’s PVDE (secret police), at RG 226, Entry 124, Box 14, NARA. See also OSS correspondence of October 13, 1944, from Charles Gray to Van Brink. Ibid.

  Dr. Hans Lazar: Lazar’s file in OSS records, listed under “Lazar,” is an X-2 file located at RG 226, Entry 210, Box 350, Stack 250, Row 64, Compartment 21, Shelf 1, NARA.

  Transocean: Jimmy Burns, Papa Spy: Love, Faith, and Betrayal in Wartime Spain, 354, citing “Los espias Nazis que salvo Franco,” El País, January 26, 2003.

  monthly budget of 200,000 pesetas: Payne, Franco and Hitler, 122.

  four hundred agents: Burns, Papa Spy, 98.

  Chapter 6: Snatch-22

  Life in the code room: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 56–57.

  German order-of-battle… Messages were always sent: Ibid., 44–45.

  escape plan… 21,900 pesetas… roughly $2,000: Ibid., 31.

  ran out of pesetas… July 3… 827,000… We hope to: Correspondence from E. W. Andrews to Col. W. Lane Rehm dated July 7, 1944, RG 226, Entry A1 224, Box 17, NARA.

  Schoonmaker… TIGER… arrest… escape: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 49–53. Frank Schoonmaker’s OSS file is located at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 687, NARA. Agent TIGER’s files are located at RG 226, Entry 110, Box 3, Folder 27 and RG 226, Entry 190, Box 238, File 534, NARA.

  Ambassador Hayes… only such intelligence: Kermit Roosevelt, Overseas Targets, 34.

  Edmundo Lassalle… Walt Disney Company… contract: Huddleston, Edmundo, 39–43.

  Juanito… receptions… dinners… chocolates: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 104, 116.

  Johann Jebsen… Ablege Kommandos… killed a man: Loftis, Into the Lion’s Mouth, 193.

  April 30… Jebsen disappeared… Lisbon… injected… Biarritz: Ibid., 222–24, 227; Heinig Report, January 6, 1947, KV 2/3568 (6b), UK National Archives.

  Robert Dunev… Mercedes… Paseo de la Castellana… kidnapper: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 57.

  Chapter 7: Death by Murder

  May 13… SS Thome …Philadelphia… May 29: Huddleston, Edmundo, 52–54 (citing Edmundo’s correspondence from the ship, from Lisbon, and from Madrid). The dates of Edmundo’s departure from the US and arrival in Lisbon and Madrid are significant insofar as Aline claims to have met him in Madrid’s Palace Hotel on December 31, 1943 (Spy Wore Red, 69), and to have seen him days before at Casino Estoril in Lisbon (Spy Wore Red, 64). These connections were impossible, of course, since Aline and Edmundo were both in the US at the time; Aline did not arrive in Madrid until February 10, and Edmundo did not arrive until June 1.

  Robert Dunev… SS Serpa Pinto: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 23.

  interview… Primer Plano: “Hollywood, al habla: Así era, hace 2 meses la Meca del cine,” Primer Plano, June 11, 1944 (unpaginated).

  The historical way… Edmundo Lassalle’s my name: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 69. Aline’s date regarding her first meeting is clearly inaccurate. Since Edmundo left for Barcelona on June 9 (per his correspondence on June 10), I believe this is the approximate date (June 2 or 3) that he and Aline met at the Palace.

  That cutout was Aline: That Aline was Lassalle’s cutout is clear from the number of reports where she passes along information with the prea
mble, “from PELOTA” (see, e.g., BUTCH memo to LEGION on July 13, 1945, RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA), and from the lack of reports from Lassalle to any Madrid staffer.

  My cover is that… Who is the Marquesa: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 71–73.

  Cristóbal Balenciaga… tailor… Paris… Infanta: Beth Duncuff Charleston, “Cristobal Balenciaga (1895–1972),” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

  There will be a smattering: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 74.

  Doña Mimosa… Calle de Ferraz… Balenciaga: Ibid., 92–93. The date Aline gives for this reception, January 1944 (p. 103), is impossible since Aline and Edmundo were both still in the US at that time. The more likely date, when both were in Madrid, is the first week of June.

  El Greco’s most famous: Ibid., 93.

  Samuel Hoare… Lequerica… Duke and Duchess of Lerma: Ibid., 94–95.

  Why, Miss Griffith… The cards show… I see a bullfight: Ibid., 94–97.

  piano… Casilda… Carmen… Nena: Ibid., 97–98, 121.

  followed: Ibid., 104, 107.

  Franco… a plot to kill him: Ibid., 98–99. In Aline’s details she states that Mimosa was a subagent of Edmundo’s, and that she was passing the code to him. As noted above, Aline’s date of January 1944 for this event is impossible since Edmundo did not arrive in Madrid until the beginning of June. It’s unlikely that he would have acquired subagents in just a week, although the card reading and rumor of an assassination plot may well have been accurate.

  Chapter 8 :Putting on the Ritz

  Calle Monte Esquina… Balenciaga: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 105.

  $351 a month: This amount was the aggregate of compensation (salary and overtime plus living expense) provided by the OSS and the State Department. See Aline’s compensation card and the Madrid staff compensation budget at RG 226, Entry 197A, Box 76, NARA.