Authors: Madoc Roberts
Eventually Owens was informed that no one had turned up at the
rendezvous
and he became worried about the implications for his imminent trip to Lisbon, suggesting that a message should be sent that evening telling the Germans that he had waited for hours but nothing had happened, and this had made him extremely annoyed. Owens’ anxiety gave him cold feet about the whole Lisbon mission, and he told MI5 that he would rather not go at all, but finally he agreed not to back out at this late stage. Some MI5 officers, mistrustful of Owens, believed that he knew that no one was going to turn up and as he was leaving for Bristol to catch his flight from Filton, John Marriott arrived saying that a message had been received from the Abwehr telling Owens not to worry, and that the drop would be rearranged on his return from Lisbon. On hearing this news the watchers were called off and Owens departed for Lisbon.
During his time in Portugal it was recognised that communications would be difficult but, on 22 February, MI5 received a message from Owens:
‘Dicketts not arrived, worried, can you help.’
MI5 then contacted the Admiralty for news of Dicketts’ ship, the
Cressada
, which had departed the previous week, and learned that it was due in Gibraltar that same day before making for Lisbon. Accordingly, MI5 arranged for Lily to send a cable to Owens informing him that all was well, and that Dicketts should be arriving shortly. The next day Lily received a cable from Owens telling her that he had found Dicketts in bad shape, but everything was now alright. MI5 told Lily to pass the message on to Dicketts’ wife to put her mind at ease as she had been very worried that her husband might have to go to Germany. Robertson had told her that he could not say whether this would happen as it was a decision that would have to be made by Owens and Rantzau, but if he did go Robertson doubted that he would be detained for any length of time.
Meanwhile, on 9 March, MI5 received an enquiry from the Home Office regarding the Detention Order issued in May 1940 and still outstanding on Owens. MI5 replied that Owens was currently behaving himself and was even proving useful, adding that the order should remain in force. A few days later, on 16 March, MI5 made an arrangement with Owens that if he brought an enemy agent to their attention he would receive a bonus payment of £50.
On 23 March 1941 Felix Cowgill wrote to Robertson with what he described as ‘disquieting news for you about S
NOW
’, revealing that on his arrival in Lisbon Owens had been informed that the Germans had known
for the past few months that his messages had been faked. Apparently Owens had not denied this but had told Rantzau that he had been found out by the British and had been forced to continue sending the messages. Rantzau, apparently accepting this explanation, had given him £10,000 and a new set of instructions. Owens had also told the MI6 representative in Lisbon that he had convinced Dicketts that he was really working for the Germans because he was concerned by Dicketts’ eagerness to proceed to Germany. Owens was of the opinion that the reason the Germans had become
suspicious
of him was partly the ease with which he had been able to travel to Portugal, given the sate of the war, and also that McCarthy may have given information to the Germans during his visit to Lisbon which had cast doubt on where his true loyalties lay.
With Owens still in Portugal it was difficult to know exactly how much he had revealed to Rantzau, but MI5 was very conscious that the heart of the double-cross operation could be ripped out at any moment. S
NOW
was the system’s central figure and was inextricably linked to every component part, including Dicketts, Williams, McCarthy, S
UMMER
and T
ATE
. The Germans would also know that Richardson was not a genuine contact at the War Office. The identity of many MI5 officers may have been compromised, including Hinchley-Cooke, Robertson, Burton, Stopford, Marriott and many more. Robertson estimated that if MI5 lost S
NOW
only three double agents would be left (codenamed T
RICYCLE
, G
IRAFFE
and S
TORK
). In effect, there would be very little left of the system and the Germans would surely now be extra careful about any agent working in Britain.
G
IRAFFE
was Georges Graf, a 22-year-old French soldier who had reached England in September 1940 after being recruited by the Abwehr in Lisbon. While he was considered a reliable channel to the enemy, he was reliant on corresponding with a cover-address in Portugal and therefore could not exchange urgent messages, nor be expected to travel. MI5’s other most promising double agent case was T
RICYCLE
, who had arrived in London under MI6’s sponsorship in December 1940 to recruit a network that would include B
ALLOON
and G
ELATINE
. As a Yugoslav lawyer, Dusko Popov was ostensibly employed by his government-in-exile, had the means to travel to meetings with his Abwehr controllers in Lisbon, but his fortunes would be dependent on his cover-story and the vagaries of émigré politics.
Accordingly
, S
NOW
’s network continued to represent MI5’s best window into the Abwehr, and the enemy’s only full-time master spy in London.
Eventually Owens and Dicketts flew back to England by plane, and
messages
from Dicketts sent before his departure revealed that he had been taken to Germany. Initially, MI5’s verdict of Owens’ behaviour in Portugal was that he had acted with great intelligence, having been informed by the MI6 station in Portugal that it was sorry to see him go as he had been a useful ally. However, it was also remarked that Owens had been enjoying himself and that his position may have gone to his head.
MI5 arranged to have Owens and Dicketts undergo an ostensibly routine customs search upon their return, and Owens, who underwent the first inspection, claimed that he had been to Portugal to buy sardines, a story completely at odds with his original cover-story that he was a manufacturer’s agent. He was asked why he did not have a consular endorsement on his passport, and when he could not give a satisfactory answer he was asked to produce all his documents and money. When they were inspected, Owens was told that they were unsatisfactory and that he would need to be searched. At this Owens asked to be allowed to have a word in private, which was when he disclosed that he was in fact working for Major Robertson of MI5, and suggested that he should be telephoned for confirmation. Owens could not understand why he had not been met at the airport, and revealed that C
ELERY
was carrying important papers. It was then explained to Owens by the airport authorities that it was impossible to get in touch with Robertson immediately and so, in view of his curious behaviour, he would have to undergo a thorough search. Thereupon he was strip-searched and found to be carrying £10,000 in banknotes. His pockets contained two fountain pens in leather cases and Owens told the officers that the pens were in fact
explosives
and very dangerous. A search of his baggage revealed further explosive devices.
When Dicketts was searched he was very nervous and objected, but by the time the officers had completed their work Robertson’s men had arrived to placate him. Dicketts claimed astonishment when he heard about the
explosives
found on Owens, and insisted he had no knowledge of them. He also asked that some information of an operational nature that he had acquired should be passed on to Robertson. He had learned that three 12,000-ton transports with troops would be leaving the Elbe on the morning of 28 March. The troops, he said, would then proceed to the Netherlands. Owens and Dicketts were then taken away to be questioned separately. Much would hang on the results of the interrogation, for this was MI5’s opportunity to settle, once and for all, some of the mysteries of S
NOW
’s true loyalties.
Evidently he and Dicketts had survived their prolonged encounter with the Abwehr in a neutral country, but what exactly had happened to them both while in the hands of the Germans over a period of weeks?
O
WENS WAS QUESTIONED
on Friday 28 March 1941, and although he was not well at the time he seemed not to resent his treatment at the airport. The interrogation was led by T. A. Robertson in the presence of John Marriott and Miss I. E. Marsden who took down the conversation on a stenotype machine so an accurate record would be retained.
Robertson’s interrogation of Owens provides a remarkable insight into the early days of the double-cross operations. Although these would ultimately prove to be among the most successful intelligence operations of all time, at this early stage those running them still had an enormous amount to learn. It is clear from the interrogation that Owens taught MI5 a great deal about how to handle the double-cross agents, many of whom would be just as tricky as Owens himself. What is also clear, and was to provide Robertson and the rest of his team with a good deal of confidence that the double-cross plans would work, was quite how desperate the Abwehr were to obtain intelligence on Britain, to the extent that they were prepared to trust virtually anyone. No one better demonstrated the Abwehr’s naivety in their willingness to believe in agents who were ultimately completely unreliable than Owens.
Robertson’s tactics were to ask as few questions as possible, and to let Owens tell them what had happened in his own words. As he began to explain,
‘The whole thing was most mysterious. I walked right into it. I got into Cintra in the afternoon. We arrived there in the afternoon. Got a taxi into town and checked in at the Metropole Hotel. Some man paid my taxi fare. I don’t know who he was.’
‘You had no money?’ asked Robertson.
‘I had ten pounds, but what’s the good of that there? Then I contacted the Hotel Duas Nacoes and left a message there and went back to the Metropole. In the evening I got a telephone call from Duarte [the name then was Guarty]
that I had to be outside the hotel at a quarter-past nine. Well the time had changed it’s different over there anyhow. I waited an hour you see. Eventually he walked up to me and said “You’re Mr Orrington. Will you come with me?” I said yes. So we walked along the street, got into a car. The Doctor was there. “Now” he said, “We’ve got a very important talk. It had better be done at once. You’d better come with me; we’re going to take you opposite the main police station in Lisbon, where you will be well looked after, because the police are in our pay and you needn’t worry.”’
‘Was he pleased to see you?’ inquired Robertson.
‘Yes, he was definitely pleased to see me,’ replied Owens. ‘We got there and went up into this place. It was the same place where B
ISCUIT
went – where it is I don’t know, because it was dark.’
‘It was dark?’ challenged Robertson. ‘Was that the night after you arrived?’
‘Yes, that was the same night. So he sat down, and he said “I’ve got something rather important to tell you. I want a truthful answer.” I said, “Okay, you know me.” He said, “We have information that you are in contact with the British Intelligence.” I said “That’s perfectly true. I’ve been trying for two and a half months to tell you that. I’ve sent a lot of stuff over the radio. I sent that SOS (which I didn’t) but your operators were so lousy in Hamburg so you didn’t get it.” He said “How did you manage to get here?” “Well,” I said “somebody gave me away in England and they walked in on me two and a half months ago, and they said “We know all about you. We’ve got two propositions, and if you help us we’ll see you are okay – if you don’t…” So I said – what else could I do? – I said I’d help them, because I wanted to get in contact with them. That’s why I’m here today.’
‘“Well” he said, “that’s what we know. We know all about it. We’ve got the story, but we expect you to give the details, and we’ve outlined a plan of what we want you to do.” That plan is this: the transmitter at home is still to be carried on. The messages sent through correct will go through ordinarily. Any fake messages I’ve got to – I’ve got in my book what’s got to be put down with the messages, and they’ll understand it’s a fake message.’
‘I understand,’ said Robertson. ‘In general you put down certain words in the message to show it is a fake message.’
‘Yes. Now the next thing that’s got to be done is I’ve got to get C
ELERY
or another man over to the Channel Islands with instructions how to contact the military commander, he will then pick up another radio set which will be installed secretly in this country. At the same time the boat, I understand from C
ELERY
that he has instructions to find that and to use it to get agents, explosives and any messages to England, until the radio is installed.
‘Now the next thing, which I think is very, very important. I didn’t know that C
ELERY
wasn’t in Lisbon at the time. I do know that he was in Lisbon a day
before we met, and they know he was there. Immediately I met C
ELERY
, I said “I suppose you have just arrived.” Well, I know now he had arrived the day before and had been out that night.’
‘That would be a week or so after you arrived?’
‘At least a week. There’s no question about that.’
‘You left on 14
th
February. That would be about 24
th
February approximately?’
‘I think so. I think he’s got his hotel receipt, and they can check up. As soon as I got hold of him I had a talk, and said “These people know all about it, and it is very very dangerous. I’m in a very dangerous position.” I said, “What do you think about it?” He said, “I think it will work alright.” I said, “You understand I’m one hundred percent for the Doctor?” and he said, “I’m with you, and with them one hundred percent.” Right. Immediately he arrived in the hotel and checked in, I took him up to my room to give him a drink, because he was all in, and had a nasty trip. He hadn’t been in the room more than an hour when a telephone call from Duarte came.
‘Oh, the previous night the Doctor had waited over and had given up several important appointments in Berlin and Hamburg specially to meet C
ELERY
because he said he’s an important man and I must meet him.
‘After we had been in the room an hour this telephone call came through from Duarte and he said “Your friend’s here. He arrived yesterday.” Well, he said, “The Doctor decided to stay over to meet him and he’s stayed on, as it’s necessary to meet him.” Well now, was it that evening – yes it was that evening. A meeting was arranged in another apartment in Lisbon with the Doctor and him. They went through all the details there, and he told them that he had been told that when he got back he was going to be given a staff appointment in the RAF and said he could be of tremendous use to them, and that he was to be decorated with the OBE. And God knows what. Then they went through all kinds of details about the different things – I wasn’t listening, as I wasn’t
interested
. Arrangements were made for C
ELERY
to go to Germany on the Friday.’
‘Where did that suggestion come from?’ asked Robertson. ‘Did it come from you or did C
ELERY
put that up himself?’
‘I don’t know,’ replied Owens.
‘You didn’t say anything to the Doctor about C
ELERY
going in?’
‘No, in any case he’d have known off the radio messages. You remember that message that was sent.’
‘You were all in the same room?’
‘Yes.’
‘What arrangements were made to go to Germany that evening?’
‘I don’t know. I know nothing about it, because they were talking together. Anyhow, later Dobel (Duarte) said to me, “You know how C
ELERY
is going?” I said, “I haven’t the faintest idea.” “We’re having a special embassy car to pick
him up at 6 o’clock,” he said “We’ve got a German passport for him, and he’ll be Dunkler or something, and we’ll take him through to Madrid and he’ll fly from Madrid to Berlin.” And he went to Berlin, and he had an apartment at the Adler Hotel, which I’ve never had. He went to Hamburg, and he had the best hotel there, and he was treated like a king. It was remarkable to me. I thought it damn funny.’
‘He told you all this after he came back?’
‘Yes.’
It is not clear whether Owens was genuinely jealous of C
ELERY
here or if he was just trying to emphasise how well C
ELERY
seemed to be getting on with the Germans. On his return from Germany Dicketts had been
accompanied
by a man known only as George and he had told Owens how Walter Dicketts had spent his time in Germany. When Owens had the chance to speak about Dicketts, he did not take long before moving on to one of his favourite topics, money.
‘I said to this man C
ELERY
,’ continued Owens; ‘“You’ve had a marvellous time.” He said “Of course I’ve had a marvellous time. Why not?” I said “By the way, did you get any money?” “I got £200,” he said. “The other man got £450 and he is to call on me for £5,000 for what he requires.”’
‘George was a German who was sent back from Hamburg with C
ELERY
to bring him back?’ asked Robertson.
‘Yes, they stayed in Madrid as far as I know, two days, then he came to Lisbon. They had a special car to meet them at Madrid and bring them back. I went up and I saw your man at the embassy and he told me that they had got
information
through one of the German agents, that a cable had been sent from Madeira to this effect: That they wanted to get information regarding a ship called
Cresado
because one of their best men was on it, who had given them a lot of information. You see, this was C
ELERY
who was a major in the Air Force. They added that in the telegram. They told me themselves they know about C
ELERY
in Germany alright. They knew he was there.’
‘Who knew he was there?’ asked Robertson.
‘The Doctor knew he had been in Germany before. Now when C
ELERY
came back to Lisbon he said “You’re going to get a decoration.” I said “What for?” I said, “I don’t need any decoration.” He said that was the situation. “You’re going to get a decoration,” he said, “and I get a staff appointment.” I said, “I don’t want a decoration.” Well, he said, “The point is this should be done. I’m a hundred percent for the Doctor. Are you a hundred percent for the Doctor?” I said “I am a hundred percent pro-Germany” and so did he. He’s an extremely dangerous man. Very dangerous; he’s money mad and he takes dope.’
‘Now, when did he come back to Lisbon?’ asked Robertson. ‘Do you
remember
that? How long was he away, in fact?’
‘He was away about two or three weeks. He left on the Friday at six o’clock in the morning. I know it was Friday morning.’
‘That was three or four days after your first meeting?’
‘Yes, about three or four days after he arrived. He arrived approximately a week or ten days after me. So it must be the 28
th
February.’
‘And he was in Berlin for a fortnight?’
‘Well, Berlin and Hamburg and Stuttgart.’
‘Then about the fourteenth of March he returned to Lisbon?’ asked Robertson.
‘Well, he was away two or three weeks,’ replied Owens.
‘Now, all this time you were in bed, were you?’
‘Part of the time. My temperature was 104 and the doctor said I had to go to hospital. Nobody speaks English in Lisbon. Eventually I got a young lady to look after me, but I still felt like Hell, all the same. But the point is this, what I can’t understand. He was supposed to have caught the Lisbon fever and couldn’t do this and that. But he was out at night and asked me for 100 escudos and I knew he had a thousand escudos on him. He’s had a lot of money for something, what it was for I don’t know. He must have got it from other people. He didn’t have much when he left. He had only about £10.’
Owens then claimed that Duarte had offered him the opportunity to go up into the mountains outside Madrid in order to recuperate, but Owens was more concerned with what was happening with C
ELERY
and decided not to go.
‘When C
ELERY
arrived he said that he had been in company with Doctor Schacht’s secretary and he’d been in touch with Goebbels’ secretary and had given them dope on improving their propaganda over here, especially over the radio and that he’d had a proposition right from headquarters and that I’ve got to go with him to see Winston Churchill and get the war settled! He took some papers and got them sealed at the embassy in Lisbon. They wanted to see what the papers were and he wouldn’t let them, as he said they were too secret. He said “We must go back immediately, even if it’s a case of a special plane.”
‘He’s got particulars about a new secret weapon which will finish the war in two days, if it’s used. He has certainly been places in Germany. I’m absolutely positive he’s got into places I’ve never been asked to go and never saw. I have an extraordinarily good standing over there, as you know, but I’ve never had treatment like that and it’s most extraordinary to me, that a man like C
ELERY
who comes straight from the blue has no hesitation at going into Germany. I should never have gone. But there was absolutely no hesitation. The man’s a
double-crosser and he cannot be relied on. Take it from me, he’s working for Germany.’
Owens and Dicketts had plenty of time to discuss what they were going to say to MI5 on their return to Britain but from what Owens was saying about Dicketts they do not appear to have put together a story that showed them both in a particularly good light, or if they did then at this first interrogation Owens was not sticking to it. MI5 had not heard Dicketts’ side of the story yet and there is the possibility that Owens was getting his side of the story in first. During the interrogation Owens made it clear that he felt it was important that Dicketts should not know his side of the story. In particular he was keen that Dicketts shouldn’t know about the explosives that were discovered on him when he came through customs.
‘He must know nothing about that,’ continued Owens, ‘because it’s better he doesn’t know anything about it. That came from the other side of the
organisation
, run in Lisbon by a man called Don Rigo. I had two very long meetings in Estoril in extremely large places, and I gave all the dope to your man in Lisbon and he is checking up on that.’
‘I would like to have that dope now, so that we can have your story on it,’ said Robertson.
‘There’s another thing, very, very important. Sunday, the twenty-third of March C
ELERY
said to me, “I’m going to Estoril today. I’ve got an appointment with Doctor Rosso.” Doctor Rosso, as far as I know is one of the German Admirals in the last war, a very important man in the diplomatic service in Lisbon. He said he’d like to see you and I said “Okay. I’ll come up with you.” And we went up there and had a drink with him and he said “There’s lots of things I want to talk over with C
ELERY
and I have some special packages for C
ELERY
here, sealed by the German diplomatic staff, to hand over to him tonight.”’