Churchill's Spy Files

by Nigel West

  86 March 1944. Lisbon informed Paris that Madame Solange declined any meetings before Kliemann arrived for security reasons.

  99 March 1944. Paris informed Lisbon that Kliemann would be arriving on the 12th or 13th, and that a few days’ discussion would be necessary.

  1011 March 1944. Paris informed Lisbon and Berlin that Kliemann had not made any arrangements with Wireless Control about the English traffic that was about to be established with V. Frau TRAMP.

  1114 March 1944. Lisbon informed Paris that Solange had to leave in a few days, and asked where Kliemann was.

  1215 March 1944. Bordeaux informed Lisbon that Kliemann had been delayed because of Portuguese visa difficulties. If Solange’s departure could not be delayed Lisbon were told to inform her that all her communications via the SABINA address had arrived safely with excellent results. That communications to her would be continued by radio from 25 March 1944 and she was to continue to use the SABINA address. Also, Solange was to leave behind precise instructions as to where the suitcase and radio were to be deposited. These instructions were only in case Kliemann did not arrive in time.

  1316 March 1944. Paris to Lisbon asking that facilities be given to Major Kliemann who was arriving in Lisbon. Also asking Lisbon to fix a traffic plan with TRAMP because there were no instructions in Paris. This message ended by saying that one of the six megacycle crystals was only a reserve.

  1417 March 1944. Madrid to Lisbon said that Kliemann was arriving on 17th and would visit the Consulate during the morning and requested that contact be arranged with Solange.

  1518 March 1944. Lisbon to Berlin requesting instructions from the Finance Department regarding 10,000 Escudos for Solange.

  1620 March 1944. Lisbon to Madrid stating that the sum of £1,200 was intended for Solange.

  1723 March 1944. Berlin to Lisbon, that £1,200 in notes of the smallest denominations were being remitted for payment for TRAMP, the book entry to be debited to Paris I Luft.

  183 April 1944. Lisbon to Bordeaux, for Paris, asking confirmation of the arrival of V-TRAMP’s W/T instructions.

  1911 April 1944. Paris informed Lisbon via Berlin, that the TRAMP instructions had arrived.

  202 June 1944. On the Wiesbaden–Paris circuit, TRAMP’s message No. 5 was relayed verbatim.

  21Since 26 April 1944 nearly all the references to Sergueiev in MOST SECRET SOURCES have been verbatim re-transmissions of her outgoing messages and incoming messages, except for a few exceptions.

  2216 May 1944. Paris to Lisbon, via Madrid, stating that W/T traffic with V-TRAMP was functioning flawlessly.

  2325 May 1944. Paris asked Wiesbaden to send at once TRAMP’s transmitting and receiving times along with the appropriate frequencies according to the last arrangement.

  247 June 1944. Paris asked Wiesbaden to signal when TRAMP last gave traffic and whether she had been heard since, even if badly.

  TREASURE turned out to be a temperamental case to handle, and exasperated her MI5 case officer, Mary Sherer, but she proved to be an exceptionally valuable asset as her instructions and questionnaire, supplied by Emil Kliemann, indicated a close interest in the Cromwell tanks as well as preparations for the anticipated invasion of Europe. As well as illustrating what the enemy knew already, the questionnaire had the additional benefit of revealing areas of weakness:

  All British, Canadian and American army motor vehicles which belong to a division, either Army Corps or army bear insignia on the front and rear. These insignia are divisional signs, unit signs and occasionally a painted flag (e.g. red-black-red). The divisional sign is most important of all. It is represented by coats-of-arms, geometrical figures, letters, flowers, leaves, trees, animals, etc. The size is about 20 by 20 cm. Exact description is absolutely necessary when reproducing them.

  The unit signs appear on a rectangular metal plate (measurement 24 by 21 cm) with backgrounds of various colours and a white inscription (letters, figures). If the metal bears on the upper edge or the lower edge the white stripe 50 mm broad, this is to be mentioned in the report.

  The signs painted on the sides of the motor vehicles and on the turrets of armoured cars are not to be given in the report.

  When observing signs on vehicles particular care must be taken that only the recognition of the same signs on a large number of vehicles justifies the conclusion that a formation (Verband) is involved.

  Occasionally soldiers wear on the left or on both upper sleeves the sign of their division on a cloth square (e.g. Canadian troops wear coloured rectangles and geometrical figures in various colours on the upper arm).

  Commando, Royal Marine and similar units wear these designations on both sleeves and sometimes a number. Pay attention to, and report on, both of these.

  In armoured units, where possible, give the type of tank.

  If numbers can be discovered (i.e. divisional numbers, number of brigades, numbers of artillery regiments) in the case of the infantry battalions care must be taken that the traditional name of the regiment is reported along with the number of the stated battalion.

  1) Report technical details on the new English tank which is alleged to be in production. Series A27 (M).

  2) Information about ‘Caiaouflet’ apparatus for exploding mines which has been adopted by the English; construction, weight, packing, appearance and method of working, explosives formula for blowing cavities (Minenkammersprengungen) and possibly service instructions.

  3) Reports on new English ‘Cromwell’ type of tank.

  4) Numbers (Nummern) of troop transports which come to or from England, giving destinations, etc.

  5) Which American forces are in England? Division, regiment, etc.

  6) Where is the staff of the 5th American Army Corps?) Area Oxford – Swindon – Reading). Which infantry divisions belong to it? Signs on motor vehicles.

  7) What view is taken in authoritative English circles of landing preparations?

  8) Where are the barracks placed in coastal areas, exact locations?

  9) Information on the presence of landing craft or vessels suitable for landing purposes particularly on the south coast of England, but also in other coastal areas.

  (Locations, number and possibly concentration) Are some of these vessels dismantled, and if so, where are the dismantled vessels?

  10) Information about the stoppage of leave of British and American troops should be reported urgently, giving place and time.

  11) How many and which British Divisions have been organised since commencement of the war?

  12) How many and which British Armoured Divisions have been organised since commencement of the war?

  13) How many and which English County Divisions still exist?

  14) What is the organisation and armament of these English County Divisions?

  15) Which English County Divisions have since been made into ordinary divisions? Give numbers they now have been allotted.

  16) How many and which Independent Brigade Groups are in existence?

  17) Have Brigades with numbers over ‘200’ any particular role? If so what is their task?

  18) Are there British Tank Battalions with numbers nine to thirty-seven? If so state Armoured Divisions? or Army Tank Brigades (as the case may be) in which Divisions are they?

  19) Have the British Royal Horse Artillery with numbers six to ten and over twelve? In which Divisions are they?

  20) Are there British Field Artillery Regiments with numbers thirty-four to fifty and over one hundred and sixty-five? In which Divisions are they?

  21) How many and which Field Artillery Regiments were formed into Anti Tank Regiments?

  22) What is the difference between the Coast Artillery Regiments and the Defence Regiments? Name the task of the Defence Regiment.

  23) What is the role of the seventieth battalion of regiments?

  24) How many Infantry and Armoured Divisions and Army Tank Battalions are at present in Canada? Give their numbers and/or names.

  25) Give number an
d types of tanks produced monthly in Britain.

  26) Give number and types of tanks produced monthly in Canada.

  27) Give number and types of Armd. Cars produced monthly in Britain.

  28) Give number and types of Armd. Cars produced monthly in Canada.

  29) Give number and types of landing craft produced monthly in Britain.

  30) Name shipyards where these craft are produced.

  31) Name factories where tanks and cars produced in Britain.

  32) Name factories where tanks and cars produced in Canada.

  33) Are the Commandos organised and armed uniformly? If not, give details of each.

  34) Give details of strength and composition and armament of Commandos.

  35) Give official numbers of Free French and Norwegian Commandos.

  36) Organisation, strength and armament of all Royal Marine Commandos. Give basis of information.

  37) What is organisation of staff of Chief of Combined Ops?

  38) Name parachute units now in Britain.

  39) Give location of paratroop HQ.

  40) How many machines are used in their organisation for transport purposes?

  41) Give regimental or brigade numbers used on baggage for troops going overseas and destinations.

  42) What units of the USA army are now in Gt. Britain and what units are in Northern Ireland?

  43) Give shipping numbers of troop transports leaving or arriving with destinations, etc.

  Sergueiev remained in contact with the Abwehr until December 1944, when she returned to Paris and was assigned a job as an interpreter to a US Army officer, Major John Collings, whom she married in 1946. She moved with her husband to Detroit, died of kidney failure in 1951 and her memoirs, Secret Service Rendered, were published posthumously in 1968.1 Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of her entire history is that years later MI5 would conclude that most probably Sergueiev had been a long-term Soviet agent.

  * * *

  SNIPER was a Belgian pilot, Hans Bertrand, who reached England in November 1943 and was allowed to join a Belgian squadron of the RAF. When he was posted back to Belgium in December 1944 he sent a letter in secret ink to his controller in Lisbon, and at the end of March he received confirmation that money for him had been buried near Aachen, but it was never recovered and the German surrender happened before the case could be pursued any further. Nevertheless, part of his value had been to incriminate two other Belgian pilots, Leon Jude and Jean Creteur, about whom he had been instructed by his Abwehr handler, Werner Unversagt, to make enquiries. Interestingly, Bertrand, who had been betrayed by ISOS even before be reached England, developed into a double-agent.

  In the case of Jean Creteur, MI5 was badly mistaken, and had mixed up Jean Creteur, who had been flying with the RAF’s 609 Squadron since May 1942. It was his brother Georges who was the espionage suspect, and Jean was freed from Camp 020.

  Leon Jude was a Belgian pilot who before the war had worked for Sabena, flying between Leopoldville and Brussels, but in March 1942 he was denounced by FATHER, another Belgian pilot, as having been associated with an Abwehr figure, Dr Hacke. At the time Jude was at Malvern, awaiting a posting to an RAF squadron, so his appointment was delayed while MI5 investigated him. At first, in April 1942, the Belgian Sureté interrogated him, but when inconsistencies appeared in his story, he was arrested and interrogated at Camp 020.

  Jude had arrived in England in March 1942 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, having travelled from Bilbao to Cuba on the Marques de Comillas in August 1941 under Abwehr sponsorship. In Havana he had reported to the Belgian legation and had been ordered to re-enlist in Canada, even though, aged 35, he was considered too old for operational duties. Released from the Tiscornia refugee camp, he flew via Haiti and Maracaibo to Caracas where, on 30 October he embarked on the SS Santa Rosa for New York, finally reaching the Belgian Army headquarters at Juliette, Quebec, on 22 November. By the time he arrived in England, in March 1942, he had never been asked about the circumstances of his escape from enemy-occupied Belgium, and had never been vetted.

  When questioned, Jude eventually acknowledged his recruitment by the Abwehr and conceded that his failure to declare this relationship at the first opportunity had prejudiced his case. Although MI5’s Eric Goodacre elicited the truth, the challenge was to cross-examine Jude without him realising that his colleague FATHER was an active double-agent. Particularly irksome was information possessed about the enemy, such as three cover addresses that he had failed to disclose:

  Gottfried Richter, Rua Linda 188, São Paulo

  Georges Lotina Rheima, 55 East 35th Street, New York

  Karl Lotz, 149/150 20th Avenue, Whitestone, Long Island, New York

  He had also failed to denounce FATHER, whom he knew had been approached by his Abwehr recruiter, the ubiquitous Dr Hacke. In the circumstances, it was felt that the safest course was to intern Jude for the duration of hostilities, but on July 1945 he was still in custody because FATHER was still active in the Far East, and consideration was given to handing him over to the Belgian Auditeur Militaire. Finally in August 1945, he was served with a Deportation Order and flown from Croydon to Brussels, where he was detained by the Sureté d’Etat.

  * * *

  Code-named JUNIOR, Hans Ruser was an Abwehr officer based in Lisbon. His father, Commodore Ruser, had been the master of the transatlantic liner SS Imperator, and Hans had been brought up in the United States. In February 1941 he had suggested to CELERY that he might be interested in defecting to the British. A year later he approached the SIS station in Lisbon with a view to defecting. He had been rebuffed, on MI5’s advice, for fear of jeopardising Dusan Popov, who had been known to him because of his meetings with Albrecht von Auenrode. To MI5’s relief, JUNIOR had pursued the matter no further, but in January 1943 he had been transferred to the German embassy in Madrid, where he had made another pitch to SIS. On this occasion he had been accepted, but on the condition he remained in place. JUNIOR had agreed these terms and fortunately this arrangement had worked well, although it presented a definite risk for Popov because JUNIOR had been able to deduce that Popov must have been operating as a double-agent. The unexpected complexity arose when, later in the year, JUNIOR had been consulted by Johnann Jebsen when the latter visited Madrid and had been put in touch with Colonel Walter Wren, then the new SIS station commander.

  On 20 December 1943 Guy Liddell recorded in his diary that he had read a long report about Ruser over the weekend:

  It is extremely interesting since it was through Dr Kurt Johannsen of Hamburg that he first came into contact with the Abwehr. Before the war a number of journalists in this country, including Kurt Singer and Karl Abshagen, used to send reports to Johannsen on political and economic matters, marked ‘Confidential and not for publication’. Ostensibly, Johannsen was dealing solely with the advertising of German import and export business. He was, however, financed by the Ministry of Propaganda and did a considerable amount of work for the German Ministry of Economic Warfare. Later Ruser worked in the Fremdenienst, a propaganda service which was set up for bear-leading visitors from this country and the United States to Germany. Ruser obtained this job through his shipping connections. His father had been employed by Norddeutscher Lloyd, had been captain of the Leviathan, and was interned in the United States. Ruser and his mother were at liberty and Ruser himself received most of his education in the United States. He eventually drifted to Spain and it was there that he became definitely connected with the Abwehr. There is no doubt that the Germans were giving assistance to General Franco in the very early stages of the revolution. The Ruser report shows how the KriegsOrganisation Spain and KO Portugal were gradually built up, through professional Abwehr officers making use of local business people. Ruser complains quite moderately that he never actually wished to leave Spain and that it was only on the insistence of Thompson that he did so. Definite promises were made to him that he would be given his liberty in this country. He thinks that he should still be of gr
eat use to us to Spain and Portugal owing to the number of contacts that he has there outside the Abwehr, and he is quite prepared to go back if we provide him with some sort of papers which will prevent him from being picked up by a junior member of the Spanish police and expelled from the country. The usual practice of the Gestapo in dealing with a recalcitrant German is to arrange that his passport should not be renewed. Immediately it expires the Spanish police arrest the man and push him over the frontier in conjunction with the Gestapo. Ruser thinks, however, that the tide in Spain is beginning to turn in our favour, and that certainly the junior Spanish officers would not now be prepared to act in this way.

  * * *

  Oswald Job would be mentioned several times (see Chapters 10 and 18) and was relevant only because of his connection with DRAGONFLY. A Briton resident in Paris before the war, Job was interned during the Nazi occupation but released to act as a spy for the Abwehr in London. Betrayed by ISOS, Job was arrested in November 1943 in possession of a diamond-studded tie-pin that he had been instructed to hand over to DRAGONFLY. MI5’s interrogation of Job proved sensitive because of the need to protect DRAGONFLY, who could also compromise FATHER and another valued double-agent. Having stuck to his cover story, and lied to his interrogators, Job was hanged at Pentonville in March 1944.

  9

  NINTH REPORT,

  1 JANUARY 1944

  MI5’s ninth report covered six double-agents, of whom GARBO, MUTT and JEFF were familiar figures; it introduced a Catalan, LIPSTICK, and the Yugoslav FREAK as recent additions. Once again, MI5’s role across the Empire was emphasised by references to the enemy spies Ernesto Hoppe, Diego Beltrán-Leiro and José Olivera arrested in Gibraltar, and to Basil Batos, an Abwehr agent recently detained in Kenya. The only other spy to be included, Guy Wijckaert, was a more conventional espionage suspect, having arrived in England as a refugee from occupied France.