Snow (21 page)
Authors: Madoc Roberts
Owens did not seem too keen to explain the explosives he brought back with him but appears to be more concerned to deflect attention onto packages that Dicketts had been given. After several more diversions into episodes concerning an American who was bringing papers into Lisbon via Bermuda, Owens finally returned to Duarte and the subject of the explosives.
‘I was supposed to get tablets of a new secret ink, which I haven’t got. But he gave me a flashlight which contains time clocks. That is an explosive. You fit a detonator and I’ve a lot of them in soap. You fit it on and you set this time clock. The detonator explodes and the whole factory goes up. Or you can stick
it in a stick of dynamite and destroy reservoirs and so on. He also brought me another set of pen and pencil. They are perfectly harmless. You do certain things with them and – up she goes!’
Whenever possible during the interrogation Owens returned to how well Dicketts seemed to be in with the Germans, and to his belief that he was working for them and not the British. However, within Owens’ attack on Dicketts was new information about the structure of the German command system and the position held by Rantzau.
‘He showed me nothing except Polish propaganda and anti Winston Churchill propaganda. That’s all I know about it, but he’s got something extremely
important
from Goebbels. He told me about the Doctor and he said the Doctor’s best friend and the only one he has to look to is Göring. I said “I did not know that, did he tell him that.” “Well,” he said, “I know it.” I said, “I didn’t know he was such a big nut.” “Yes,” he said, “the only man he has to account to is Göring.” “Well,” I said, “That’s nice for me. The only man I’m responsible to is the Doctor.”
‘Anyhow I got £5,000 out of them and an extra £5,000 for my loyalty. Actually it’s more than that, because I had very heavy expenses in Lisbon, approximately £10,000. C
ELERY
is a most expensive man. He said I had to go out and buy gold watches and bracelets for him and for me and for his wife and for my wife.’
‘And you went out and bought them did you?’ asked Robertson.
‘Of course, to keep him in a good frame of mind.’
‘What is your feeling towards him at the moment?’
‘That man is a double-crosser, an extremely dangerous man and what’s more, whoever’s got the most money he’ll work for him. I had a long talk with your man then and asked him what he thought about it and he said “To be perfectly candid, I don’t think we’ll see that man again” and I said “I think you’re right.” “Well” he said, “That man’s very anxious to get out of the country and he’s going to stay where he is.” I said, “I’ve enquired from Duarte for four or five days now for reports from the Doctor regarding C
ELERY
and there’s no reply.” He said “I’ll see about that and if there’s any danger we’ll get you out at once.” But neither of us thought that man would ever come back again, but he’s come back and with something important.
‘I said to Duarte: “Don’t you think I ought to go back?” and he said: “No, wait here till the time is ready, because there’s something going on.” And it’s definitely what C
ELERY
has got. All I know is what he’s told me. It’s something that’s going to blow the whole works, in his words.’
‘On that point, you think he’s playing straight?’ asked Robertson.
‘Of course he isn’t playing straight, because the first time I met him he was a hundred percent for Germany, and when he came back he was more. He
said “there’s not the slightest chance for England.” He’d been in shipyards, aerodromes, aeroplane factories and so on and I’m positive no man I sent over myself to them could do that. I couldn’t do it myself. Why should a perfect stranger be treated like that? Have a two room suite in Madrid? It doesn’t sound right to me.’
Robertson then asked Owens how he could confirm what he was saying, to which Owens replied that George could confirm it, adding that George was coming to London. Robertson then went back over some of the
information
that Owens had given him, starting with the initial meeting at the Metropole. Owens’ answers were consistent, but this time he added some new information about Sam McCarthy whom he suspected of being the Germans’ source for the information that Owens was working for MI5.
‘Duarte said to me “We were always suspicious of B
ISCUIT
and he has written to us two letters in secret ink. The last one in January.” Whether it was him I don’t know, but somebody has blown the works. Then the Doctor said he had information that I was in contact with the British Intelligence. I don’t think he’d known it more than a week or ten days, by the way he spoke. It was evidently something new and I’m sure he didn’t know it long. In my opinion, by the way he spoke, not longer than ten days at the outside.’
The problem for MI5 was that it had been let down by one of the double agents, but which one? The organisation was wholly reliant on extracting the truth from S
NOW
, B
ISCUIT
or C
ELERY
. The stakes were high for both the service and its agents. For MI5, the entire double-cross system was at risk, and if the agents were found guilty of an offence under the Treachery Act they could expect a long period in prison or even execution. For Rantzau and the Germans, the dilemma produced similar consequences. Failure was not tolerated in the Third Reich, but according to Owens the Doctor had taken the news that J
OHNNY
was now working for the British quite well.
‘He was very pleased at that attitude and said “We can manage to manipulate that, because we’ve also had a man at the Army Headquarters. It’s very
interesting
and rather important to know that we’ve got our own man on the inside, working and they don’t know it.”
‘British Headquarters. I don’t know whether in France, but I think, from the way he spoke, that it was. It’s far too dangerous to ask details about that. Then we talked about how Lily was and I took photographs out and showed them and he said his wife wanted to be remembered to me.’
Owens reported that he and Rantzau then indulged in some general conversation before returning to the subject of fake radio messages.
‘How did he put that question to you,’ asked Robertson, ‘that they knew your messages were fake?’
‘He didn’t know they were fake. He asked me about the radio messages and I said they were perfectly above board. He said: “When we get the new radio, then you can use your men in South Wales to get the dope for the messages on the new transmitter.” I told him that everything that came through was true and I was sure about that, because everything had been checked up.’
‘Do you think it is possible he said this to you in order to catch you out?’
‘No, not at all,’ replied Owens. ‘I’m absolutely positive he had direct
information
and somebody had given it away. It was in the fact that I’ve known him so long and that there’s been no fake messages gone through, that the works haven’t gone up.’
Robertson then asked Owens about the second meeting he had with
Rantzau
. Once again Owens took this as an opportunity to portray Dicketts in a bad light and to show himself as taking the moral high ground.
‘Now, this second meeting with the Doctor,’ asked Robertson. ‘You were
building
up C
ELERY
and handing certain dope?’
‘I had nothing to hand over much because I said I had given it to C
ELERY
. C
ELERY
said to me “I am going to spill it” but I said “I want you to do one thing; that is not to tell these people about the route of the convoys that you’ve got. For the sake of those poor devils on those boats, don’t do it.” That’s all I told him. He had all the routes but I don’t know where he got them. He told me he had them, but I never saw them.’
Another area of interest that had emerged from the interrogation was the use of the Channel Islands as a route through which the Germans could get their agents into Britain. For Rantzau it was an alternative to dropping men in by parachute that was not proving very successful.
‘He said “I am very interested in that, because we’ve lost many men by
parachute
.” I told him about his man who broke his ankle. “Well,” he said “We’re very dissatisfied with the way these men have gone and we want to open up some kind of contact where they can get across in safety. We can’t go on losing men like this.” He asked about the infra-red man and I said I thought he must have come down in a canal or the sea.’
‘Did he say anything about S
UMMER
?’ asked Robertson.
‘Yes he asked me about him and I said “As far as I know, he’s beat it. He was very suspicious and I think a lot of enquiries have been made and he got wise in time and beat it.” And he said “He’s got seaman’s papers and I expect we will see him again.”
‘He wasn’t sure about B
ISCUIT
because he said “I don’t like the man, although he’s done good work for us in Lisbon.” He said he was very, very surprised he was able to take that radio. And he was getting so drunk here, he said that he shouldn’t do that in Lisbon. He made himself ridiculous, throwing away money. Anyhow, I thought, as you had sent him out here that he was a pretty smart fellow, and you could help him over the other side.’
The other agent that Robertson was keen to find out about was Williams’ contact Del Pozo, who was also known as the Spaniard, but Owens did not know anything about him so Robertson moved on to C
HARLIE
.
‘Did he mention C
HARLIE
at all?’
‘He asked me about him. He said “Do you think C
HARLIE
is alright?” I said “I don’t know.” He said “If you think it’s C
HARLIE
we’ve got his family in
Germany
.” They rather cross examined me on who I thought has spilt the beans.’
‘But the Doctor must have known who spilt the beans. Why do you think he asked you?’
‘I think he wanted to know who I thought was the double-crosser, because he was a little bit afraid about B
ISCUIT
. He doesn’t like B
ISCUIT
definitely. He’s finished with B
ISCUIT
. Duarte likes him a lot and Duarte’s girlfriend likes him a lot too. I met her. She’s connected with the International Police in Lisbon and she gives him all the dope through the police.
‘It certainly wasn’t a leg-pull. He had direct and positive information and I know the Doctor well. He said if I wanted it here’s £50 and I could go back. I said “I’ve all the faith in the world in you, but the information has got out somewhere and from somebody and I feel quite sure it’s within the last ten days.”’
One piece of information that came out of the interrogation was that the Germans had been experimenting with British gas masks which were left behind at Dunkirk and this was a clue to the nature of the German secret weapon which might have taken the form of a new type of gas. Whilst he was in Portugal the Doctor told Owens that they knew that the British had a radio station at Estoril. Rantzau even showed Owens MI5 messages that had been decoded.
Owens then told Robertson the words that were to be used to indicate that messages were fake. In general these were American slang such as ‘This
dope is on the level.’ Or ‘All this stuff is on the up and up.’ Or ‘This is some line.’ Rantzau told Owens not to worry if they said that the information he was giving them was no good as this was only camouflage.
To understand how much of the double-cross system had been
compromised
Robertson needed to know what names Owens might have mentioned to Rantzau.
‘Did he mention any other names, such as Hinchley-Cooke, or Marriott?’ asked Robertson.
‘No.’
‘You didn’t volunteer any other names?’ pressed Robertson.
‘No. Well, I don’t know any. I told you I talked to C
ELERY
and he turned over the other side at once. It wasn’t just to trap me. He was absolutely genuine and when he went over he went with no hesitation at all. He went over there and when he came back he was one hundred percent full of it. He said: “The game’s hopeless.” What’s more, he said “I’m just going to start things moving and meet Churchill,” and he said unless they could get him away, there’d be trouble and he came back and said he had to make arrangements for us to go away and that if necessary they would charter a special plane for us. What he has on him I don’t know. All I’ve seen is the propaganda on Poland and another of those Winston Churchill snaps. Outside of that I don’t know; he has told me nothing at all.’
‘What happened to the man for Manchester and the people for South Wales?’
‘I didn’t bring up the question of the people for South Wales and the man for Manchester was sent over. How he came I don’t know.’
‘You told him he hadn’t turned up?’
‘The Doctor said “I don’t understand. We’ve sent a lot of men over and
nothing
’s happened. They’ve gone wrong. There’s something wrong somewhere.” I said “I don’t know. I just hand your instructions on and not only have I tried to find out for myself, but my men too. I know,” I said, “about the man who came down near Newbury, who broke his ankle and who shot off his revolver for help.” As for the South African he says he thinks the same thing happened, that he came down in a canal and sank because of the radio on him.’
‘What are your instructions for collecting information at the moment?’
‘Do nothing, as a matter of fact, till I’ve got the new radio.’
‘It’s quite clear they’re not paying much attention to the radio information.’
‘I think they are. They were very pleased with a lot of stuff that went over, which was quite genuine. They were very pleased with it. I said “That’s genuine” and they said “Yes, that’s very good stuff indeed” and they congratulated me and they said they know that one day the stuff will be doped and they are all the instructions we want you to follow.’
Owens seems to be suggesting that everything could carry on as before. As long as the Germans still trusted him and he included some fake information with the key phrases from time to time then MI5 could continue as before. What MI5 had to work out was whether Owens could still be trusted. This all hinged on whether he was telling the truth about what happened in Lisbon with implications for the double-cross system, for all the information that Owens brought back with him – and for the outcome of the war.