1938 (30 page)

German military intelligence, the Abwehr, had penetrated the British secret service and broken some of its ciphers. Ian Colvin, the
News Chronicle
’s reporter in Berlin, heard it from Fabian von Schlabrendorff. One of Schlabrendorff’s friends had suggested working with British intelligence to bring down Hitler. Canaris thought it unwise:

I must warn you against the British Secret Service . . . for several reasons. Should you work for them it will probably be brought to my notice, as I think I have penetrated it here and there. They will want to send messages about you in cipher and from time to time we can break a cipher. Your names would appear in files and registers. That is bad, too. It would be difficult to overlook such activities in the long run. It has also been my experience that the Secret Service will requite you badly—if it is a matter of money, let me tell you, they do not reward services well, and if they have the least suspicion, they will not hesitate to betray you to me or to my colleagues of the Reich Security Service.

On August 17 Thomas Kendrick, head of Vienna Station MI6, was arrested. A small diplomatic crisis ensued. The British ambassador in Berlin, Henderson, told the Foreign Office in London that since Kendrick was a passport control officer and not a diplomat, he possessed no immunity from arrest.

It appears that Kendrick had been betrayed by Siegfried or “Fred” Richter, Kendrick’s office manager who had doubled up as the verger in the Anglican Church since 1924. Richter was born in Vienna but hailed from Rechnitz in Burgenland, which was Hungarian at the time. His father was a Jewish horse trader, but his mother, Anna Schwach, may have been Catholic. He had gone to Britain as a stable lad in 1900 and met his Irish wife, Maud Dollery, there before returning to Vienna in 1912. He managed stables for the Schlesingers—rich Jews—and later for Graf Reventlow in Berlin.

The British nationality he had acquired by marriage had not prevented him from serving as a soldier-servant in the Imperial army in the Great War. He later possessed an Austrian passport as well, although the outgoing British ambassador, Selby, issued him with another British one in March 1938. Richter had had a checkered career since the war; he had been an interpreter and had an unsuccessful knitwear business. Soon after the Anschluss, Richter was formally engaged as a “marshal” in the British Passport Office working for Kendrick. He had been casually employed by Kendrick for some time, running errands for the legation and the consulate.

He earned 290 RM from both jobs, giving his wife 7 RM daily for the housekeeping. At the time of his arrest he owed the German state 600 RM in tax arrears. Introduction fees greatly supplemented his income. The Gestapo estimated that he was earning anything up to 100 RM a day, probably by bringing in Jews for baptism. He may have had agents working for him too, such as Edmund Pollitzer. There was a considerable amount of money burning holes in the pockets of his various suits. Once, in a tram, he pressed a wad of cash on his sister-in-law, telling her that he did not wish to be caught with so much on him.

During the Abyssinian War, Kendrick had asked Richter if he knew of anyone who could go to Italy to report on the Italian navy. Richter knew of a Korvettenkapitän von Gatterer from his time in the Reparations Commission. Gatterer refused but suggested the secretary of the Navy League, Rudolf Koren. Koren went to Italy to spy for Kendrick, with Richter acting as intermediary. Richter tried to introduce other potential agents to Kendrick, but he was not interested until Richter met Karl Tucek in May 1937, an ex-foreman with Böhm, an engineering firm specializing in compressed air and other machines. After being laid off he had turned inventor, fashioning a machine that he believed would be of interest to a foreign firm. Richter saw possibilities and asked for an introduction fee. He was even more interested when he learned that Tucek had been in the Austrian navy and that he was terribly short of money. He told Tucek he could find him some if he would go to Italy and “have a look around.”

In his testimony at Richter’s trial Tucek said he realized immediately that he was being asked to spy on the Italians and refused. Richter then suggested Germany. Tucek again refused. Richter found him a job, but he was still short of money. In January 1938 he said he was ready to take up Richter’s suggestion. Richter then went to Kendrick and described Tucek as a Communist of great potential and a former naval engineer. Kendrick became interested when he saw some of Tucek’s drawings. When Richter told Tucek that he was going to meet the head of the British secret service, he provided him with his service record and wanted him to tell Kendrick that he had a friend working in the Schicau Yard in Elbing who could employ him (Tucek) as a mechanic.

Once Kendrick had clearance from London, he arranged to meet Tucek in his flat. He said he would buy his patent for 1,000 schillings if he would do a job for him. Kendrick then produced a questionnaire to be completed in Elbing. The answers required concerned U-boat production and the possible power and speeds of the submarines. Richter told Tucek he had to learn the questions and return the document to him.

Tucek returned from Elbing on March 20. Some big changes had taken place in Austria in his absence. Two days later Richter and Tucek met in the Mondl pub in the Favoritenstrasse. Richter wanted Tucek to deliver the questionnaire to the British consulate the following morning. Tucek countered that he was now a German citizen and that on German soil he could neither make the drawings nor hand over the material. He would only do that on neutral soil. He wanted to see an MI6 man in Switzerland. He had precise information about submarine production in Elbing, Königsberg, and Danzig and where the submarines were built, in what number, and their speeds. He proved obdurate, adding that “he could give no details to a non-expert” and that he needed to talk to an expert in Switzerland.

Tucek took to dropping into the consulate, as he was anxious to go to Switzerland. He told Richter that he had the chance of getting a job in Wilhelmshaven and wanted to know if this was of interest to British intelligence. Richter relayed this to Kendrick and on April 4 was able to inform Tucek that he was about to get word from England, from a firm that was interested in his invention. It would instruct him to visit an address in Switzerland.

Finally Kendrick received a telegram. Tucek was to travel to the Berner Hof in Interlaken, where a British agent would be waiting for him. He was to have 600 schillings in expenses and hand over the information to an Englishman called Mr. Brandon (actually Captain Albert Brandon, MI6 officer in Geneva). Richter issued him with a third-class return ticket to Zurich. He had to buy his own to Interlaken because it was not to be clear what his ultimate destination was. Richter gave Tucek postal vouchers to the value of 150 Swiss francs. He was told that Brandon would give him more in Interlaken.

Tucek’s meeting with Brandon took place in Interlaken on May 28. Tucek was as good as his word and told him everything he had learned in Elbing, Königsberg, and Danzig. Tucek could answer all Brandon’s prepared questions on the spot. Brandon therefore gave him 150 Swiss francs and asked him what sort of expenses he might need for Wilhelmshaven for four to eight weeks. Tucek named a figure of 400 RM. Brandon thought there would be no problem obtaining such a sum.

Tucek returned to Vienna on May 29 and reported to the consulate on the 31st. There he told Richter that he was happy with the way things had gone in Switzerland. Kendrick gave Richter 600 RM to hand over to Tucek together with the message that the man in Switzerland was fully satisfied with the information provided. Tucek supposed that the real mission was to find out about the ships with tonnages in excess of 35,000. Kendrick said that 440 RM was for expenses, the rest for him, and there would be a bonus as soon as he had taken the new information to Switzerland after his return from Interlaken. Tucek found a job in Wilhelmshaven and left on June 12. Kendrick sent word that he would receive 600 RM monthly now, as an employee of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

Tucek told Richter of the things he had seen in Wilhelmshaven. He had a pass that allowed him access to the dockyards. He was working in the submarine and torpedo boatyards as a technician. He said he wanted to see Brandon again in Switzerland, but Richter said he would need more information first, which meant going back to Wilhelmshaven. He was given another 800 RM in travel expenses and instructions, which he was to conceal immediately. They asked him to find out more about the battleship
Scharnhorst
. Tucek had to provide details of its capacity, speed, and its fuel consumption at different speeds. He also needed to bring back similar information about the
Tirpitz
, which was under construction. British intelligence wanted to know how it was laid out; horsepower, speed, and fuel capacity; strength and armor, both below and above deck; and the construction of the keel. Richter and Tucek met for the last time on July 17, just before Tucek left for Wilhelmshaven. It appears Tucek was a double agent working for the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). Once he had mustered enough evidence to destroy Vienna station, he filed his report.

Richter might have had an inkling that things would not turn out well, and in August he made arrangements to leave for England. He was arrested on the 13th on the Elisabethpromenade, together with Maud and his daughter Gretl. He had just locked up at the British consulate and had on him an envelope containing 1,000 RM. It was marked “Capt. Kendrick, Brit. Passport Office.” This was initially thought to be composed of Jewish bribes.

On August 18, Reuters announced Kendrick’s arrest by the Gestapo. He had been going on leave to join his daughter in the company of his South African wife and been stopped at Freilassung near Salzburg on the 17th, after skirting close to Wehrmacht maneuvers. Kendrick had been taken by train from Salzburg to Vienna and then to Gestapo HQ at the Hotel Metropole. He was interned in one of the attic bedrooms next to Louis Rothschild and Schuschnigg. No reason had been given so far for Kendrick’s arrest. On August 22 it was revealed that Kendrick was accused of espionage and had confessed.

The grouse shooting at Garrowby was interrupted to inform the foreign secretary, Halifax. Kendrick had been running the MI6 office for thirteen years. It is to be assumed that both Henderson and Halifax were aware of his real role. Henderson believed that Richter’s arrest had started the ball rolling and that “Kendrick’s attempted departure on leave immediately after it will certainly be interpreted as a guilty conscience.” He was interrogated for three days on end in eight-hour relays. The Foreign Office noted that these were “practices usually observed in Moscow.”

Kendrick was released at midday on the 20th and went straight to his flat in Hietzing, to find his wife and members of the British consulate. He had orders from Berlin to quit the German Reich within twenty-four hours. He left for Budapest after lunch, as he had no visa to enter any other country, and landed at Croydon Airport on Monday the 22nd. The following day the
Daily Telegraph
ran a picture of his triumphant return. The German authorities maintained that he had only been released because they placed such importance on good relations between the two countries. It appeared that Ribbentrop was angry because he had been kept in the dark by the SD. The spirit of Munich was already in the air. The Anglophobe Ribbentrop wanted to show off the panache that would earn him the title of “the second Bismarck.”

After Kendrick’s departure, the entire Vienna MI6 station had to be evacuated. His second-in-command, Kenneth Benton, and his wife, Peggie, were given twenty-four hours to leave and hotfooted it to Riga while the Gestapo sealed their flat. Mary Holmes and Betty Hodgson, the two MI6 secretaries, left in his wake. Eric Gedye, the
Morning Chronicle
’s correspondent in Vienna, a thorn in the side of the Nazis and another suspected agent, was asked to leave. On August 22 he went to Prague, where his wife had established a
Daily Telegraph
bureau. The vice consul, Walker, elected not to return to Vienna after his leave; he had been there for nine years. In Berlin, Frank Foley and his entire staff were recalled. It was the biggest disaster to befall the British secret service before the Venlo Incident of the Phony War. As Foreign Secretary Halifax put it in a letter to Anthony Eden: “It is altogether a most unfortunate case, and as I expect you know the Consulate General in Vienna have been put at a great disadvantage by the Kendrick Affair and its ramifications.”