Double-Cross System
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The Double-Cross System or XX System was a
The policy of MI5 during the war was initially to use the system for
Early agents
Following a July 1940 conference in Kiel, the Abwehr (German intelligence) began an espionage campaign against Britain involving intelligence gathering and sabotage. Spies were sent over from Europe in various ways; some parachuted or were delivered by submarine. Others entered the country on false passports or posing as refugees.[2] Public perception in Britain was that the country was full of well-trained German spies, who were deeply integrated into society. There was widespread "spy-mania", as Churchill put it. The truth was that between September and November 1940 fewer than 25 agents arrived in the country; mostly of Eastern European extraction, they were badly trained and poorly motivated.[2]
The agents were not difficult to spot, and it became easier still when the German Enigma machine encryption was broken. MI5, with advance warning of infiltration, had no trouble picking up almost all of the spies sent to the country. Writing in 1972, John C. Masterman (who had, later in the war, headed the Twenty Committee) said that by 1941, MI5 "actively ran and controlled the German espionage system in [the United Kingdom]." It was not an idle boast; post-war records confirmed that none of the Abwehr agents, bar one who committed suicide, went unnoticed.[2][3]
Once caught, the spies were deposited in the care of Lieutenant Colonel Robin Stephens at Camp 020 (Latchmere House, Richmond).[4][Note 1] After Stephens, a notorious and brilliant interrogator, had picked apart their life history, the agents were either spirited away (to be imprisoned or killed) or if judged acceptable, offered the chance to turn double agent on the Germans.[2][5]
Control of the new double agents fell to
Robertson believed that turning German spies would have numerous benefits, disclosing what information Abwehr wanted and to mislead them as part of a military deception. It would also discourage them from sending more agents, if they believed an operational network existed. Section B1A (a subordinate of B section, under Guy Liddell) was formed and Robertson was put in charge of handling the double-agent program.[8]
Robertson's first agents were not a success, Giraffe (George Graf) was never really used and Gander (Kurt Goose; MI5 had a penchant for amusingly relevant code names), had been sent to Britain with a radio that could only transmit and both were quickly decommissioned. The next two attempts were even more farcical; Gösta Caroli and Wulf Schmidt (a Danish citizen) landed, via parachute, in September 1940. The two were genuine Nazis, had trained together and were friends. Caroli was coerced into turning double in return for Schmidt's life being spared, whilst Schmidt was told that Caroli had sold him out and in anger swapped sides.[8]
Caroli quickly became a problem; he attempted to strangle his MI5 handler before making an escape, carrying a canoe on a motorcycle. He vaguely planned to row to Holland but came unstuck after falling off the bike in front of a policeman. He was eventually recaptured and judged too much trouble to be used. Schmidt was more of a success; codenamed 'Tate', he continued to contact Germany until May 1945. These eccentric spies made Robertson aware that handling double agents was going to be a difficult task.[8]
Methods of operation
The main form of communication that agents used with their handlers was
A crucial aspect of the system was the need for genuine information to be sent along with the deception material. This need caused problems early in the war, with those who controlled the release of information being reluctant to provide even a small amount of relatively innocuous genuine material. Later in the war, as the system became better organised, genuine information was integrated into the deception system. It was used to disguise the development of "Gee", the Allies' navigation aid for bombers.[10]: ch 25 One of the agents sent genuine information about Operation Torch to the Germans. It was postmarked before the landing but due to delays deliberately introduced by the British authorities, the information did not reach the Germans until after the Allied troops were ashore. The information impressed the Germans as it appeared to date from before the attack, but it was militarily useless to them.
Operation outside the United Kingdom
It was not only in the United Kingdom that the system was operated. A number of agents connected with the system were run in neutral Spain and
Operation Fortitude and D-Day landings
The British put their double-agent network to work in support of
V-weapons deception
The British noticed that, during the V-1 flying bomb attacks of 1944, the weapons were falling 2–3 mi (3–5 km) short of Trafalgar Square, the actual Luftwaffe aiming points such as Tower Bridge being unknown to the British.[11][12] Duncan Sandys was told to get MI5-controlled German agents such as Zig Zag and Tate to report the V-1 impacts back to Germany.[11] To make the Germans aim short, the British used these double agents to exaggerate the number of V-1s falling in the north and west of London and to underreport those falling in the south and east.[1][10]: ch 44 Around 22 June, only one of seven impacts was reported south of the Thames, when 3⁄4 of the V-1s had fallen there. Although the Germans plotted a sample of V-1s which had radio transmitters, showing that they had fallen short, the telemetry was ignored in favour of the agents' reports.[12]
When the Germans received a false double cross V-1 report that there was considerable damage in Southampton—which had not been a target—the V-1s were temporarily aimed at the south coast ports. The double cross deception had caused a "re-targeting" from London, not just inaccurate aiming. When V-1s launched from Heinkel He 111s on 7 July at Southampton were inaccurate, British advisor Frederick Lindemann recommended that the agents report heavy losses, to save hundreds of Londoners each week at the expense of only a few lives in the ports. When the Cabinet learned of the deception on 15 August, Herbert Morrison ruled against it, saying that they had no right to decide that one man should die while another should survive.[12] However R. V. Jones refused to call off the plan absent written orders, which never came, and the deception continued.[10]: p. 422
When the V-2 rocket "blitz" began with only a few minutes from launch to impact, the deception was enhanced by providing locations damaged by bombing, verifiable by aerial reconnaissance, for impacts in central London but each "time-tagged" with an earlier impact that had fallen 5–8 mi (8–10 km) short of central London.[11] From mid-January to mid-February 1945, the mean point of V-2 impacts edged eastward at the rate of a couple of miles a week, with more and more V-2s falling short of central London.[1] Of the V-2s aimed at London, more than half landed outside the London Civil Defence Region.[10]: p. 459
List of agents
- Artist – Johnny Jebsen[13]
- Balloon – Dickie Metcalf
- Basket – Joseph Lenihan
- Beetle – Petur Thomsen, based in Iceland
- Biscuit – Sam McCarthy
- Blaze – (real name unknown), Transmission operator in the Luftwaffe, German[14]
- Bootle – (real name unknown), Jointly handled by SIS and the French Deuxième Bureau
- Bronx – Elvira Chaudoir[15]
- Brutus – Roman Czerniawski
- Careless – Clark Korab
- Carrot – (real name unknown), Polish airman
- Celery – Walter Dicketts
- Charlie – Kiener, German born in Britain
- Cheese – Renato Levi, Italian Servizio Informazioni Militare agent
- Cobweb – Ib Arnason Riis, based in Iceland
- Cossack – (real name unknown), Radio Transmission, Turkish[14]
- Deputy – (real name unknown), Naval telegraph operator, Belgian[14]
- Derrick – (real name unknown), Hydrograph, Belgian[14]
- Dominant – (real name unknown), Belgian[14]
- Dragonfly – Hans George
- Dragoman – (real name unknown), Travel agent, Spanish[14]
- Dreadnought – Ivan Popov, brother of Dušan Popov, Tricycle
- Fan – (real name unknown), Naval radio operator, French[14]
- Father – Henri Arents
- Fido – Roger Grosjean
- Flame – (real name unknown), Belgian[14]
- Flash – (real name unknown), Belgian[14]
- Forest – Lucien G. Herviou, French, SS 1943. Collaborated with OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in 1944. German codename LUC. Codename Fidelino, Italian?. Collaborated with Monoplane - Operation Jessica.
- Forge – (real name unknown), Driver, Belgian[14]
- Frank – (real name unknown), Rexist collaborator, Belgian[14]
- Freak – Marquis Frano de Bona
- Gabas – (real name unknown), Abwehr, German[14]
- Gander – Hans Reysen
- Garbo – Juan Pujol García
- Gelatine – Gerda Sullivan
- Gilbert – André Latham, jointly handled by SIS and the French Deuxième Bureau
- Giraffe – Georges Graf
- GW – Gwilym Williams
- Hamlet – Dr Koestler, Austrian
- Hatchet – Albert de Jaeger
- Jacobs – (real name unknown)
- Josef – Yuri Smelkov
- Junior – Hans Ruser, German[14]
- La Chatte – Mathilde Carré
- Lambert – Nikitov, Russian
- Lazy – (real name unknown), Transmission operator - Luftwaffe, German[14]
- Lipstick – Josef Terradellas, a Spaniard
- Magnet – (real name unknown) Radio Operator, Belgian[14]
- Meadow – (real name unknown), Writer, Belgian[14]
- Mercy – (real name unknown), Belgian[14]
- Meteor – Eugn Sostaric
- Mint – (real name unknown), Son of the Belgian Consul, Belgian[14]
- Model – (real name unknown), Dutch[14]
- Monoplane – Paul Jeannin 6th Army Group - French - prior codenames Jacques and Twit; German codename: Normandie. Former radio operator on the French liner Normandie.[16]
- Moonbeam – (real name unknown), based in Canada
- Mullet – Thornton, a Briton born in Belgium
- Mutt and Jeff – Helge Moe and Tor Glad, two Norwegians
- Nettle – Goldschmidt, German[14]
- Peppermint – José Brugada
- Pip – (real name unknown), Flemish saboteur[14]
- Puppet – Mr Fanto, Briton
- Rainbow – Günther Schütz
- Rover – (real name unknown)
- Scruffy – Alphonse Timmerman
- Shepherd – (real name unknown), French[14]
- Skull – (real name unknown), Abwehr, German[14]
- The Snark – Maritza Mihailovic, Yugoslavian
- Sniper – (real name unknown), Pilot, Belgian[14]
- Snow – Arthur Owens
- Spanehl – Ivan Španiel, Czech[14]
- Spider – based in Iceland, Sailor, Spanish[14]
- Springbok – Hans von Kotze
- Squeak – (real name unknown), Flemish Saboteur, Belgian[14]
- Stephan – Klein, Austrian[14]
- Summer – Gösta Caroli
- Sweet William – William Jackson, English[14]
- Tate – Wulf Schmidt
- Teapot – (real name unknown), Triple Cross agent, German[14]
- Treasure – Nathalie Sergueiew (Lily Sergeyev)
- Tricycle – Dušan Popov
- Washout – Ernesto Simoes
- Watchdog – Werner von Janowski
- Weasel – (real name unknown), Doctor, Belgian[14]
- Wilfred – (real name unknown), Flemish Saboteur, Belgian[14]
- The Worm – Stefan Zeiss
- Zigzag – Eddie Chapman
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Masterman (1972)
- ^ a b c d e Macintyre (2012), pp. 34–37
- ^ Crowdy (2011), pg. 77
- ^ ISBN 978-0195398144.
- ^ Macintyre (2012), pg. 4
- ISBN 9781526716149. pg 108
- ^ ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 181-186
- ^ a b c Macintyre (2012), pp. 38–39
- ^ ISBN 0199782822.
- ^ a b c d Jones RV; Most Secret War 1978
- ^ a b c Ordway (1979), pp. 467, 468
- ^ a b c Irving (1964), pp. 251–53, 257–58
- ^ Macintyre (2012), pp. 83–87
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Popov (1974)
- ISBN 9781594749254.
- ^ Holt, Thaddeus. The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War.
Bibliography
- Crowdy, Terry (20 December 2011). Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II. ISBN 978-1-84603-135-9.
- OCLC 602399051.
- ISBN 978-1408819906.
- ISBN 978-0-7081-0459-0.
- Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Note: Ordway/Sharpe cite Masterman - Jones, RV (1978). Most Secret War. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-89746-7.
- ISBN 9781526716149.
- ISBN 0448116065.
- ISBN 978-1399045278.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-11-630952-0.
- ISBN 0-11-630954-7.
- John C. Campbell, "A Retrospective on John Masterman's The Double-Cross System", International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 18: 320–353, 2005.
- Jon Latimer, Deception in War, London: John Murray, 2001.
- Public Record Office Secret History Files, Camp 020: MI5 and the Nazi Spies, Oliver Hoare, 2000.
- Tommy Jonason & Simon Olsson, "Agent Tate: The Wartime Story of Double Agent Harry Williamson", London: Amberley Publishing, 2011. ISBN 1-4456-0481-7.
- Benton, Kenneth . "The ISOS Years: Madrid 1941-3". Journal of Contemporary History 30 (3): 359–410, 1995.
- ISBN 978-1-4088-1990-6, retrieved 2012-04-16
- Haufler, Hervie (2014-04-01). The Spies Who Never Were: The True Story of the Nazi Spies Who Were Actually Allied Double Agents. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-4976-2262-3.
- ISBN 978-1-84954-796-3.
- Fiction. Overlord, Underhand (2013), by the American author Robert P. Wells is a fictionalized retelling of the Juan Pujol (Garbo) double-agent story from the Spanish Civil War through 1944, examining his role in MI5's Double-Cross System. ISBN 978-1-63068-019-0.