MI5 in the Great War

by Nigel West

  In October 1917 GHQ I(b) discovered that an inhabitant of the British Zone was corresponding with M. M. Guell and Cie, 14 Calle San Beltrani, Barcelona.

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  Alfred Hagn, a Norwegian, applied for leave to come to this country as representative to England of the Dagblad and the Ukens Hevy on 29 September 1916, four days after obtaining a passport at Christiania. He landed in England on 9 October and spent six weeks in London, leaving again for Norway on 19 November. His application for a permit was submitted to MI5 who knew nothing against him. Early in January he applied for leave to come again as correspondent for the Dagblad and perhaps a Bergen and Stockholm paper. He expressed the intention of staying for the duration of the war and gave the Norwegian legation as a reference. So swift a return being undesirable, Major Dansey issued instructions that, unless eminently satisfactory in examination at the port, Hagn should be allowed to land only on condition of signing an undertaking to remain in England during the war. Hagn signed the undertaking and landed at Hull on 11 April, came to London and put up at 39 Tavistock Square. On 21 April he applied at the Foreign Office for permission to visit the Front. Mr Carnegie of the Information Department of the Foreign Office, instituted enquiries about Hagn among trustworthy Scandinavian journalists. As none of them would vouch for Hagn or recommend him in any way. Mr Carnegie referred to MI5 which drew attention to Hagn’s signed undertaking but raised no objection to leave being granted. Mr Carnegie then required a recommendation from the Norwegian legation; this was immediately forthcoming.

  On 7 May a report was received from MI-1(c) that Alfred Hagn was a German agent, but as the source of their information, the Christiania police, must be kept secret, the matter would require delicate handling. In consultation with Scotland Yard it was agreed that casual observation would be unsuitable and after verifying Hagn’s address, Melville was sent for a few days to 39 Tavistock Square. Further, the case was signalled to the GPO, MI8, MI9, to the Home Office, permit office, ports, and military permit office. Major Carter also communicated with Mr Carnegie to arrange that, in order not to arouse Hagn’s suspicions, he should be allowed to participate in some trip for foreign journalists. Hagn, having run short of money, applied to his vice-consul for help. The vice-consul lent him £5, and wired on his behalf for money to be sent care of the consulate. This telegram was addressed Synnoeve, Braaten, Loerenskog Station. Instructions were given to the GPO to forward the telegram and not to stop any reply to it but to send a copy to MI5. The wire was despatched on 14 May. Meanwhile, Melville had made friends with Hagn at the hotel, had ascertained that the Dagblad had another correspondent in London, that Hagn did a good deal of writing in his bedroom, left the hotel at 11 a.m. returning in time for dinner. By going out with him, Mr Melville had managed to let him be seen by three members of the special staff and agents were watching to see whether he posted any letters.

  On 12 May, Melville had scoured from a glass-stoppered bottle in Hagn’s bedroom some white liquid which on being tested proved to be F, in MI9 nomenclature.

  Upon this report Major Carter obtained the GPO’s authorisation for a detective of MI5 to go to the nearest post office and open a letter-box; warning of the gravity of the case was sent to the Telegraphic and Postal Censor and to the GPO, and the Censor kept special watch for communications going to the Dagblad and for money orders coming to the Norwegian consulate. On 14 May a letter was intercepted purporting to have been written by Hagn’s mother to her son on the 7th, and this was followed by a letter from ‘Syrmoeve’ acknowledging receipt of a letter and card from Hagn and summoning him back to Norway at once on account of his mother’s illness. The rendezvous was at the Hotel Norge, Bergen.

  On 16 May, Hagn was seen to post some letters; the box was cleared and a letter addressed to Fru Julie Hagn, c/o Herr W. Erikson, Simonsairk pr Loxevacg, Bergen, was found. On the following day he posted a roll of papers to the address of an English lady in Paris. Other intercepted letters dated 18 and 17 May respectively show that Hagn had written on arrival a postcard to Halsen and three letters subsequently to ‘Synnoeve’, and that an article of his writing had appeared in the Bergenstldende but that with the exception of the letter from his mother he had received no news from Norway. Letters for Halsen were addressed Fröken Pauline Hall, c/o Herr Madssen, Tergenfrlnaton 36, Christiania. Hagn’s letters were tested for secret writing but none was developed; however on the letter to his mother a shred of cotton wool was found.

  Other letters and articles written by Hagn were intercepted and tested without result. It was known that he had been to Hampton Court, near which there were munitions factories, with a man named Prederloeen, and that he had noticed the theft of some of his secret ink. As it was thought that he might he using some medium unknown to us it was considered dangerous to leave him at large any longer and he was arrested on 24 May.

  Major Carter, who was present at the arrest and search, appended a note to his report to the effect that an officer of the department thoroughly conversant with the ways of spies should always attend at the search of a suspect’s rooms. F ink was found in a bottle marked edinol dentlfloe; in a bottle labelled ‘gargle’; on a ball-pointed pen and impregnated in a sponge; three canvass collars and a scarf. Cotton wool, the use of which Hagn was unable to explain, was also found in the room. Hagn explained that he had written only three articles since his arrival and that he was to be paid £8 an article; he had come over with £5, had received no money from Norway but had borrowed £5 from the Norwegian consul and £3 from Mr Prederloeen. He denied that he had used secret ink but it was made clear to him that the whole process was known and after removal in custody he made a written confession admitting that he had secret ink in his possession. Hagn was seen once more and from the two interrogations the following account of his life may be drawn up:

  Hagn was born in 1882; his father died early and at the age of eight his mother took him to be educated in America. In 1895 they returned to Norway, and after further study there Hagn became a jeweller’s engraver. Some years later Hagn took up painting and literature. He went three times to Paris to study art, he published a book and wrote articles and stories for the Dagblad. In 1910 he came to England for the purpose of journalism only and his articles on the state of England attracted the attention of the Germans and, after some resistance on his part, they engaged him to work for them. They gave him a certain sum out of which he spared all he could for his mother, but he was delayed in Norway and spent most of what he had reserved for the journey. The Germans refused further supplies until he had worked for them. The two Germans with whom he was in touch were known as Laven and Leifholt. Synnoeve Braston, to whom his letters were to be sent was said to be an innocent girl.

  The questions on which the Germans required information were:

  – Was the damage done by the Zeppelins really so slight and did the population take things as calmly as was reported?

  – Did the Press Bureau keep a lot of information from the public?

  – Was it likely there would be strikes?

  – Was there a shortage of food owing to the submarines and was there any likelihood of food riots?

  – Do the British carry troops in hospital ships? (Confirmation wanted) Time and day of the week of the arrival and departure of these ships.

  The Director of Naval Intelligence and Foreign Office were informed of the question regarding hospital ships and the peculiar insistence of the Germans with regard to this point. It was thought possible that they received false reports on the subject from their agents who were known to accept pay but to remain hidden in Holland and Denmark instead of proceeding to England.

  Hagn applied subsequently for another interview and confessed that he had used secret ink three times, that he was to write to two addresses and that his real mission was a naval one. Major Carter had grounds for thinking that Hagn was concealing more and that he was making an attempt to communicate with the Germans by letter in code. The usual search of telegrams was u
ndertaken but no wires to Pauline Hall and Synnoeve Braaton were traced. Pauline Hall was said to be receiving letters from Germany and to be both a paying guest in the house of Madssen of the Nord Announcen bureau and a worker in his office.

  Synnoeve Braaton was said first to be an innocent young girl, whose letters to Laven had been intercepted by the Norwegian police; afterwards it was stated that Braaton was an assumed name. Synnoeve’s family name was Oedarkvist and her father was a baker. Fru Julie Hagn was not dangerously ill as alleged by Synnoeve.

  News of Hagn’s arrest was communicated to the Norwegian minister and to Norway. Thereupon British agents in Norway protested that the Christiania police had lodged information against Hagn only on condition that he would be sent back to Norway where his evidence was required against two Germans, one of whom, Lawen, was believed to be the head of German spies against England. MI5G replied that the information given by the Christiania police only confirmed the suspicions already ascertained by the British authorities and that Hagn could not be released.

  Several articles belonging to Hagn were sent for re-testing without further result but it was noted that the bottle of potassium iodide contained the usual number of tabloids although according to German instructions their agents were to use it to develop letters sent to them. On 5 June sentence was passed in Norway on ten persons mostly connected with shipping for espionage on behalf of the Germans and four other persons were acquitted, and the names of Dr Filchener, a well-known explorer; Rusk, a German-American well known to MI5 and one of the originators of the bureau; Wesedt, a German agent actively engaged in Bergen was brought into prominent notice, as well as the cover-address used for their correspondence: Thomson Fabriker, A/B Goteburg.

  An effort was made to procure from Norway any letters written by Hagn, but the Norwegian government had intercepted only one letter written by Hagn to Lawen and required this piece of evidence for production in the trial of Erik Lawen (or Laven) alias Frits Lavendal. Laven, like Hagn an artist, had been arrested at Bergen and a German named Harthern, correspondent to the Frankfurter Zeitung was implicated in the same case. On their part, the Norwegian government asked for particulars of the means used to develop Hagn’s secret ink and for permission to interrogate Hagn on his connection with Harthern and Lawen. Neither request could be granted by the British and the Norwegians declined to give any further assistance in the trial of Hagn. After forty-five different tests, the Norwegians succeeded in developing messages about the movements of ships in Hagn’s letters to Synnoeve Braaten. As these, presumably, were the identical letters which our own chemist had tested in vain and as Hagn carried materials for an ink already known to us, it is to be supposed that the Germans had discovered some additional means of rendering the ink difficult to develop. Lawen, who was implicated in the destruction of Norwegian shipping by bombs, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, Schwarz to four years and Yhorsen to eight years. Harthern had to leave Norway.

  After the first trial in Norway, on 5 June, MI5G obtained evidence that the Ukens Hevy, to which Hagn had contributed articles, was run by an editor influenced by Harthern and that Hagn himself had been an object of suspicion to respectable Norwegian journalists ever since September 1916.

  On 3 July, contrary to the usual practice, MI5G had decided to publish the news of Hagn’s arrest on the grounds that it was already well known to many persons, and that the pending trials in Norway would infallibly lead to its publication there and the British press would have a grievance if the news appeared first in a neutral country. The summary of evidence was completed on 13 July and the trial took place on the 27 and 28 August. Hagn was charged under DRR 48, 18A, and 22A on four counts, of having committed a preparatory act in coming to England on 11 April, of having been in communication and of having attempted to communicate with a spy address, and of being in unlawful possession of a medium for secret writing. He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death. The sentence was confirmed.

  The Norwegian minister petitioned for mercy on the grounds that there was medical evidence of Hagn’s ‘reduced mentality’. A statement as to Hagn’s mental condition had been accepted by the court and considered before passing sentence; it was therefore decided that there were no military grounds for commuting the sentence, but for diplomatic reasons and as an act of friendship to the Norwegian government that the sentence should be commuted to one of imprisonment for life.

  A notice of the sentence and its commutation was issued to the press on the grounds that it would act as a deterrent and a warning to other neutrals, that it was an act of mercy and the trial was well known in Norway. When the news was received from Norway that secret writing had been found in Hagn’s letters, he seems to have been informed of the fact. In a written statement he confessed that after his return from England in November 1916 Harthern had introduced him to Lawen who with Leifholt engaged him as a German agent. This took place at Harthern’s flat in the presence of Synnoeve Braaten. By implication, Hagn’s first visit to England was innocent; it is worth noting however that when he left England in November 1916 his ship was delayed and he stayed perforce for a night or two in North Shields where he met a certain Pastor Steen, who knew everything there was to be known about the Tyne Docks and shipping. There is little doubt that Hagn was of unsound mentality inclining to religious mania.

  Through an unfortunate slip, Hagn was deported from England on 19 September 1919 without previous consultation of MI5.

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  Leon Francois van der Goten, a Belgian diamond-cutter, fled from Belgium with his family in September 1914. The party went to Breda, where for a time Leon lived on his mother’s savings and after March 1916 became a waiter at the Cavalry Barracks moving subsequently to the Café de Pool in Breda.

  Together with J. Ven he endeavoured to establish a courier service for smuggling news out of Belgium on behalf of A. Plus of the British Intelligence Service; they also helped young Belgians and Frenchmen to escape to Holland and conducted them to the Belgian consulate at Breda receiving £4 for each person safely brought across. Van der Goten secured four plans of strategic points in Belgium, those he sold to Plus having previously made copies for his own future use. Dissatisfied with his remuneration van der Goten procured from Mr Gradon, Belgian consul at Rotterdam, an introduction to the Uranium Hotel which was the centre of the Allied Secret Services, and there offered the services of himself and Ven to the British. After an interval of sixteen days the offer was declined. It would appear that since January 1917 Theunissen of the French Secret Service had been keeping van der Goten under observation. While van der Goten was awaiting the result of his overtures to the British he quarrelled with Ven whose share of profits he had retained. As a result the Belgian consul refused to pay him some 200 francs owing for the latest batch of Belgian refugees. Then came the refusal of the British to employ him. In a rage van der Goten vowed that as soon as the Belgian consul paid him he would betray the Allied Services to the Germans. Theunissen learned of the quarrel with Ven and of the threat, reported it and thence forward took every step under direct instructions from his employers.

  Through a second intervention of Mr Gradon, van der Goten, had, it would seem got in touch with a Mr Robinson of the British Service and had proposed and been commissioned to organise a service of information on the Belgian railways. Theunissen, who had wormed himself into van der Goten’s confidence and become his partner, learned of the scheme and of van der Goten’s intention to betray the Belgians taking part in it. He informed the French, and Robinson, who had never really trusted van der Goten, cast the man off.

  Van der Goten then announced that the time had come to go over to the Germans and soon after he asked Theunissen to give to the Germans certain definite information against Belgian couriers. Theunissen then stated that the Germans were already in possession of the facts and that he himself was a German agent, whereupon van der Goten said they would share the profits. Finally, at van der Goten’s request, Theunisse
n undertook to introduce him to a German Secret Service agent. An agent of the French Service named Gremling, who spoke German well, was put up to play the part under the alias Lieutenant Kriohel. At the meeting van der Goten produced a plan of the flying camp at St Denys, Belgium, stating that it was the copy of an original which he had obtained from a courier working for the British; he gave other information and accepted six weeks, pay and a season ticket for a month usable on the Dutch railways in order that he might visit the various British agents. A trap was laid for him by the Ukranian Bureau into which he fell. Between 6 and 18 May he sent in four reports giving correct information about the Allied Services. Having found out all van der Goten knew and seeing that he was dangerous, the French determined to get him out of Holland. Greed was his dominating passion and he hated the British. By playing on these motives he was induced to ask for work in England. After some apparent demur Krichel accepted him to go to England as a courier on condition the first journey was made with Theunissen. Van de Goten then went to the Ukrainian Bureau with a vague report that German agents were going to England; he was told to find out more. A passport and British visa were secured and once safely on board the Kirktiam Abbey, van de Goten was told that he was to go to Folkestone and collect German reports about a possible German bombardment of the British coast. Van de Goten accepted the mission but afterwards took fright and wished to leave the vessel; Theunissen reassured him.

  The two men were arrested at Hull and sent up to London van der Goten was interrogated at Scotland Yard and asked to see a British Secret Service official. He had recourse to the usual excuses namely, that he had come to unearth and traduce a nest of spies In England.