Snow (12 page)

At the start of 1940 S
NOW
was called to a meeting by MI5 in Victoria Street to discuss his recent visit to Manchester, in the guise of ‘Thomas Graham’, to see C
HARLIE
. He reported that C
HARLIE
had been keen to find out how he might be approached by other German agents and had been advised by ‘Graham’ that they would probably bring him greetings from his friends in Germany, but there would be no mistaking it when it happened. C
HARLIE
had given Graham the photographs of Speke aerodrome, and had explained that he had received them from an official there. When the matter of money had come up, Owens had showed his usual reluctance to part with any of his own cash. He explained this to MI5 by saying that he believed C
HARLIE
was being paid directly from Germany, but MI5 pointed out that he was doing dangerous work and had to be refunded for all the equipment he had bought.

All of C
HARLIE
’s photographs were shown to the Air Ministry and the Director of Air Intelligence, Archie Boyle, determined that there was no reason why the photographs should not be sent to the Germans. However, Squadron-Leader Plant, who had previously expressed concern about
sending
weather reports to the enemy, also objected to sending the photographs on intelligence grounds. Another problem was that the photographs had been taken since the start of the war, so the city lights were blacked out. Photographs of this type would have been very difficult to take and they might raise suspicions because of the ease with which C
HARLIE
had been
able to obtain them. At this juncture S
NOW
had pointed out that if C
HARLIE
really was in touch with Germany independently, and had told his German masters that he had given the photographs to his English contact, it would create further suspicion if J
OHNNY
failed to pass them on. As for where C
HARLIE
had obtained the photographs, Owens could tell the Germans that C
HARLIE
was unwilling to reveal his source.

When the MI5 officers closely examined the list of questions delivered to S
NOW
on the microphotographs they were struck by the evidence of a considerable leak about the deployment of RAF squadrons. They were also surprised by the expectation that questions of such scope and detail could be answered, and pointed out that in order to address the questionnaire a source would either require access to the Air Ministry’s Operations Room or to the confidential papers issued from there. MI5 also noted that there were a vast number of locations listed in the questionnaire, and that unless S
NOW
had told the Germans that he had a contact at the heart of the Air Ministry, it would involve a huge amount of travel which realistically would take a good deal of time. However, the meeting finally concluded that as squadrons were moved around frequently, disclosing their current location to the enemy at a particular moment might appear to be useful information, but in fact would quickly be out of date.

When S
NOW
was questioned about the level of detail in the questionnaire and the expectation that such questions could be answered, he admitted that he had ‘shot rather a line and said that he had a number of contacts in the Air Ministry in the Contracts Department’. He also revealed that he had claimed similar contacts at the Admiralty and the War Office. When dismay was expressed at this disclosure, Owens reassured his audience that the questionnaires were only guides, and that Rantzau did not really expect him to be able to answer them all.

In an attempt to acquire a fishing-boat MI5 approached the Admiralty and was informed that SIS already possessed a trawler which they used for ‘certain work’ on the east coast. However, MI5 declined this offer because the ship would only be available for two months. As an alternative, it was suggested that MI5 should contact the Chief Inspector of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. A Mr Thompson was said to be very discreet and had done work previously for the Admiralty so, on 17 January 1940 a visit was made to 10 Whitehall Place and Thompson was informed of MI5’s problem. Thompson supplied the name of Mr T. S. Leach of the District Fisheries Office in Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby, explaining that the
fishing-grounds were restricted by the Admiralty, so any vessel outside the allocated area would raise suspicion. This news was vital information for S
NOW
and something that he would have to relay to the Abwehr so, with this in mind, Owens was given £30 in petrol vouchers and told to go to Newcastle, Grimsby and Lowestoft, a journey that would take him at least a week. In addition, MI5’s reason for sending him to Newcastle was to have him learn what he could about 13 Fighter Squadron RAF. Although this information could have been provided instantly by MI5, in the interests of verisimilitude it was considered important to have S
NOW
find it out for himself. MI5 felt that this material was essential so that, in the event an agent falling into enemy hands, he could not make damaging admissions while under interrogation. If the agent had actually been to the places claimed, and made all the observations mentioned, they would be more likely to add the irrelevant small details that emerge under intense questioning and help establish authenticity.

In mid-January 1940, when Owens set out on his trip to the north of England, his progress was handicapped by severe weather which prevented him from reaching many of his objectives. Nevertheless, despite the adverse conditions, he was able to gain an impression of just how generally lax the standards of security were. On one occasion, while dining at the George Hotel in Grantham, he overheard a conversation between an RAF pilot officer and his woman companion. She was well-dressed, wore spectacles and was about thirty-five, and Owens decided she was trying to extract as much information as she could from her host.

Having failed to reach the coast, Owens made his way south and stopped to see a friend at RAF Wattisham where he had no trouble at all in gaining access to the aerodrome. He was then told by his friend that recently a man wearing an RAF uniform had walked all around the airfield, and it was not until he had left that it was realised he was bogus.

Apart from this snapshot of the deplorable state of security at RAF bases, the trip was of little use and on his return from London Owens learned of MI5’s dissatisfaction. He was instructed that on his next visit abroad he would have to tell Rantzau that a great many of his contacts within the Expanded Metal Company, on whom he said he relied for information, had been called up, as had a number of his friends who worked in the militarily-sensitive contracts departments he had boasted of previously. As for the agents in South Wales, Owens was to say that many of them had been called up, but some had worked their way into factories in the region. Consequently, he
would pledge to do his best, but his only real source of information was C
HARLIE
. Owens was also told to suggest that if the Germans could put him in touch with other agents he could distribute the questionnaire and achieve much better results with less delay.

Unbeknownst to Owens, C
HARLIE
had been trying to contact him and had sent two letters which appeared to be about a business deal, but were in fact asking Owens to come and see him in Manchester urgently. Owens had not received the letters because they had been addressed to ‘Thomas Graham’, and this alias had not been included among those to be forwarded from his old flat at 9 Norbiton Avenue, Kingston to his new address. Thus it was not until late January that ‘Thomas Graham’ made his visit to C
HARLIE
in Manchester.

On his trip to Manchester Owens carried the photographs of the RAF aerodrome at Speke and asked C
HARLIE
if he could reduce them further, but was advised that this would mean a considerable amount of work, so it was decided to take them as they were. C
HARLIE
offered some pictures of the Manchester Ship Canal, and said that he could easily obtain photos of the Manchester and Birmingham water supplies. Another useful
development
was C
HARLIE
’s decision to join the Police Photographic Organisation which photographed air-raids. C
HARLIE
also confided that he had acquired an informant at the Cammell Laird shipbuilding yard who could access secret documents. Between them, Owens and C
HARLIE
arranged that they would no longer write to each other, but instead ‘Graham’ would visit once a fortnight. Owens had always reported that C
HARLIE
was trustworthy, but the feeling was obviously not entirely mutual because, at the next MI5 debriefing conducted by Stopford, C
HARLIE
asked whether MI5 could devise a means of safeguarding him should anything emerge about ‘Graham’ that he did not know. His principal concern seemed to be that Graham might incriminate him. He also suggested that if MI5 wanted to keep an eye on his home, and monitor the movements of any enemy agents, the house opposite was available for let. Stopford, still using the alias of Mr A. Head, said that they would consider the idea, and might even use infra-red photography at night.

When Owens was next contacted by the Abwehr he was asked to go to Antwerp on 8 or 9 February 1940. C
HARLIE
was keen to send a letter to his brother so MI5’s Richman Stopford was put in charge of writing something for C
HARLIE
to give to Owens, which C
HARLIE
could photograph and then reduce to a microdot. Naturally, MI5 was keen not to make it seem too easy
for C
HARLIE
to independently communicate photographs or information, such as the documents from Cammell Laird, so Owens was to be vague about this sort of information and hope to draw the Germans into giving him a name or two of other hitherto unknown contacts. Owens was also told to try to persuade the Abwehr to put agents in touch with C
HARLIE
, and to provide the names of agents who could help in gathering the
information
requested on the questionnaire. MI5 held the opinion that ‘the more people we had working for C
HARLIE
who were nominated by Rantzau and company, the better from our point of view.’ MI5 would also let Owens take a camera with him on his next mission in the hope of seizing a photograph of Rantzau or other Abwehr staff.

In the days before Owens left for Antwerp, C
HARLIE
came to London in order to deliver the microphotographs to ‘Graham’, and copies of them to MI5; among them was the letter for his brother. Owens then met Stopford to be given the answers to his questionnaire that, after lengthy negotiation, had been cleared by representatives of the armed forces who, understandably, had been somewhat reluctant to disclose material that would go straight to the enemy.

As Owens made his way from Victoria Station on 8 February, en route to the continent, he was about to take his seat in the first-class carriage when he noticed a man standing in the corridor. As Owens sat down the man entered the compartment, sat opposite him and engaged him in conversation. They were soon on friendly terms, and Owens learned that the man’s name was Samuel Stewart. When they reached Folkestone there was a delay in the flight’s departure due to fog, and Owens and Stewart stayed overnight at the same hotel. When, the next afternoon, Owens finally reached the Hotel de Londres in Antwerp, he noticed that Stewart was staying there too, so they dined together and went to the cinema. His new acquaintance would not allow Owens to pay for anything, and the following day J
OHNNY
asked Rantzau about him. Rantzau responded by describing Stewart as extremely reliable and a man who could be trusted, and said that Stewart had run a shipping business with offices in Antwerp, London, Belfast and Dublin, adding that he had access to the Ministry of Shipping. Owens became
convinced
that Stewart was already very well-connected with the Abwehr and was probably responsible for giving the Germans information about ships sailing from Britain and Ireland. Owens noted that when he had first
mentioned
Stewart, Rantzau immediately said ‘Oh yes, that reminds me about your wireless’, and from this it was postulated that Stewart might know
something about mystery signals that had been detected from a transmitter located in Belfast.

J
OHNNY
’s meeting with Rantzau had been arranged after he had contacted the SOCONAF, and had also been attended by Mrs Keller. J
OHNNY
handed over the photographs and gave Rantzau the information relating to the questionnaire, and the German appeared to be very happy with the weather reports, and especially with the material relating to the armaments fitted to Hurricanes and Spitfires. Apparently the Germans had learned that the new fighters were being fitted with four machine-guns and Rantzau had been anxious to find out the calibre of these weapons. It seemed likely that the Germans had learned about this improvement to the RAF’s fighters after a visit by a group of Members of Parliament to the aerodrome at Northolt.

During their meeting Rantzau gave J
OHNNY
new instructions concerning the use of his wireless and explained that he could now get through between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. at night, and between 1 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the day. The difference was that during the night there would be a permanent watch, while it might take a little longer to establish radio contact in daytime. Rantzau was also pleased with C
HARLIE
, so J
OHNNY
asked if there was any interest in colour photographs, which Rantzau said could be very useful in identifying the types of camouflage being used. The Germans were also keen to acquire details of the water supplies to Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.

For his efforts J
OHNNY
was given twenty-four £5 notes and three bundles of dollar bills which added up to a further £500. J
OHNNY
was now on the Abwehr’s payroll and was informed that he would in future receive £250 a month from Berlin. He was also handed a further, detailed questionnaire and was asked to find out how and where Canadian troops were being trained in Britain. At this point Owens complained about the amount of information that he was being asked to collect and the travel involved. However, Rantzau took the wind out of his sails somewhat by saying that they did not expect him to answer them all completely, and told him to carry on as he was doing and travel as much as he could. In time, he added, they would put people in touch with him. J
OHNNY
also reported on his attempts to find a trawler on the east coast and was told that this was still needed. Rantzau then revealed that he was going to America on a long visit, and would not be back in Europe until the middle of the year which was when, he claimed, the real war was going to start.