Spycatcher – Peter
Wright
It's
easy to forget the impact Peter Wright's book made. His memoirs of
his career as MI5's first scientist is unique. A born scientist,
Wright's childhood was happy – his father was a Marconi engineer
who made breakthroughs intercepting German signals in the Great War.
Things changed in 1931 when his father was a victim of circumstances
– wireless research budgets were, unbelievably, slashed and Wright
senior took to drink. As war approached, however, Wright's father was
again sought out and his signal plans for D-Day were crucial to its
success. The Second World War faded into the Cold War. Now recruited
by MI5, Wright was put to work to solve a mystery. The bug in the
Great Seal of the US Ambassador's Office was of a new type, unknown
to Western scientists. Working under strict secrecy, Wright managed
to uncover its secrets and scored a major triumph for Anglo-US
Relations. Our stock with the rising star of US intelligence was up.
Over
the next 25 years, he rose to become a legend within British
intelligence – starting with Bread and Butter jobs planting bugs,
hunting Soviet spies and, ultimately hunting for the Mole at the very
top of MI5. Wright's memoir is compelling, remarkable and
occasionally tainted with bitterness at his shabby treatment by MI5.
A comparable employee at the NSA or FBI would have retired wealthy.
Predictably, the Thatcher government tried it's best to ban
Spycatcher – but this
descended into farce when Scottish bookshops discovered they could
legally sell copies. Scottish newspapers happily reported the
debacle. Finally published in England in 1988, Peter Wright's book
became a global best-seller. He died, a millionaire, in 1995.
One
Girl's War – Joan Miller
Another book the British government tried to ban, Joan Miller's
wartime memories cover her time as secretary to MI5's eccentric
Maxwell Knight. Her first job was to penetrate a Fascist group, which
she did successfully. The book itself collects a fairly odd group of
disparate characters – spies, occultists and foreign agents who all
add colour to the book, none so much as the enigmatic Knight himself.
A popular postwar naturalist, photos of Knight invariably show him
with a bird or animal of some description. Miller alleges he was both
an occultist and homosexual. A remarkable young woman, Miller's book
is by turns odd and informative, endearing and captivating. She died
at her Malta home in 1984.
Ian
Fleming's Commandos – Nicholas Rankin
The
saying 'Knowledge is Power' never rings stronger than in time of war.
Fleming's appointment to Naval Intelligence is well-known, but only
more recently has the story of 30AU been told fully. The idea of a
small group of commandos to go in ahead of (or alongside) the main
force to gather intelligence was Fleming's main contribution to the
war effort. Perhaps it's finest hour was the capture – in its
entirety – of the entire
German naval archive at Castle Tambach. Rankin's book is a
fascinating look into a fledgling world of military spying, with
amateurs, dreamers and professional soldiers co-existing – not
always in harmony – to defeat the Axis.
Double
Cross – Ben Macintyre
Spaniards,
Croats, Slavs, Lesbians and Germans – a motley assortment of
characters from all walks of life. Under the auspices of the
ultra-secret Twenty Committee, a subtle game was played against the
masterminds of German intelligence. The Roman numerals for Twenty,
'XX' give the first indication of the purpose of this shadowy
organisation – a Double Cross. A Double Agent is an agent who,
ostensibly is spying for a country when, in reality working for
another. These highly courageous and complex people were working for
the Allied cause feeding the Germans false and misleading
information. Often laced with 'Chickenfeed' – low grade, but
factual intelligence, to bolster the credibility of the agent, this
stream of misinformation acted to convince the highly professional
Abwehr that whole
fictitious spy networks were operating in England. The culmination? -
using all the agents in a co-ordinated campaign, misleading the Nazis
into beelieving the impending D-Day landings would take place in the
Pas de Calais and not those (now legendary) beaches in Normandy. Ben
Macintyre's books have two common features; a massive amount of
intelligence, facts and information with tremendous readability.
Page-turners every one.
Agent
ZigZag – Ben Macintyre
Eddie
Chapman's story is true. It happened. It's worth keeping that in mind
as you read through Macintyre's exceptional biography. (The first Ben
Macintyre I read, ZigZag remains
a favourite.) Born in Durham in 1914, Edward Chapman was
'intelligent, but lazy, insoleent and easily bored.' Underage, he
joined the Coldstream Guards, going awol – over a girl – and was
dishonourably discharged. Drifting from job to job in London's
notorious Soho it wasn't long before he turned to petty crime,
specialising in blackmail. In prison he met a safebreaker and, before
long the 'Jelly gang' (Named for their use of gelignite) was
notorious. Now able to mix in society, Chapman became friends with no
less than Nöel
Coward, Ivor Novello, Marlene Dietrich and the young Terence Young.
(Young would go on to direct the first two Bond films.) Caught in
Scotland, Chapman fled to Jersey, where he fell for a girl named
Betty. Trouble was his habit, as always and while he was in custody
there War broke out. Interrogated by the German occupiers, Chapman
convinced them he was an ardent anti-British and Pro-German, assisted
no doubt by his grasp of the language – he had learnt to speak it
from his fianceé.
Chapman was recruited and trained as a spy, and in late 1942 Agent
'Fritz' was dropped by parachute into Cambridgeshire.
After a perilous descent, a bloodied Chapman went straight to the
nearest house – and asked for the Police!. When they arrived, he
handed them a pistol and requested to be put in touch with British
Intelligence. After careful interrogation, Chapman was eventually
declared ideal for Double Cross operations. A long period followed
with a frustrated Chapman under close guard, now codenamed 'ZigZag'
he sent coded messages to mislead the Germans into believing –
amongst other things, that he had sabotaged the De Havilland aircraft
factory, which produced the famous Mosquito bombers. The legendary
(there is no other word) Magician Jasper Maskelyne altered the
appearance of the factory to suggest it had, indeed been attacked. In
1943, Chapman returned to Germany via Lisbon. After the usual
suspicious routine of questioning, Chapman was reunited with his old
spymaster in Norway, where he fell in love... with an agent of the
Norwegian resistance!. By this time he had become the only UK citizen
to be awarded the Iron Cross, so high was his stock with the Abwehr.
Amusingly, Chapman realised than Von Groning, his handler was onto
him and didn't care – so long as he kept up the charade. Life in
Norway was better than the Russian Front and profitable too; Von
Groning was skimming the funds the Abwehr was throwing at Chapman.
All good things... Germany was losing U-boats and had no idea why.
German Intelligence had only a hazy idea of possible British
scientific developments; Agent Fritz was tasked to investigate. With
a shortage of spies, every branch of the German forces wanted a piece
of Chapman; by the time he was dropped over England he had a
veritable shopping list of objectives memorised. Of course, he
contacted his MI5 handlers and gave them his own list of suitable
German targets in Norway. After sending some subtle misinformation
about the accuracy of the V-1 flying bombs and Britain's submarine
hunting equipment, Chapman fell foul of his new case officer. This
new man, perhaps best described as a 'Tosser' (English Vernacular)
was determined to have Chapman kicked out of MI5.
Inevitably,
Chapman started drifting back to crime – albeit now with an
unofficial pardon from the Home Secretary. Using some fairly dubious
skulduggery, the new case officer had Chapman sacked; Agent ZigZag
was no more. Going into partnership with the underworld boss Billy
Hill, Chapman resolved to find his old Jersey flame, Betty, whom he
had last seen in 1939. After an incredible million to one
co-incidental meeting, he found her. They were husband and wife for
fifty years. Eddie Chapman became a newspaper crime columnist, stayed
a crook and drove a Rolls Royce. He died in 1997 aged 83.
The
Spying Game – Michael Smith
Describing this book alongside the others here makes it seem rather
dull. A comprehensive book covering British espionage from the dark
days of the Elizabethans to, well the dark days of the Elizabethans –
this book is a concise and informative overview of MI5, MI6, GCHQ and
Military Intelligence. From the Bolshevik threat through the World
Wars to the Northern Ireland conflict the book covers everything
right up to the present day conflicts in the Middle East.
Indispensable, even if my vignette makes it seem otherwise.
The
Big Breach – Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson was born in New Zealand in 1963 to English parents.
They returned to rural Cumberland in 1968. Exceptional by any
definition, Tomlinson won a scholarship to Cambridge where he was
talent-spotted by MI6. For four years, Tomlinson was an Intelligence
Branch Officer; in real-life James Bond would be one, but without the
gun or the Aston Martin. Dismissed mid-operation, Tomlinson left
under a cloud for reasons that remain unclear and was arrested for
breaching the Official Secrets Act. He was prosecuted, hounded and
harassed over his plans to publish this book and – Deja Vu – it
was printed in Scotland. The book contains some unique and
fascinating glimpses into the World of modern spies, covering as it
does the transition from the old Century House to the world-famous HQ
building immortalised in the recent Bond films.
A
word of caution; I have been told, by a source I cannot divulge, of
some deliberate 'inaccuracies' contained within The Big
Breach. As MI6 themselves aren't
likely to set the record straight, I shall simply urge the reader to
use a pinch of salt and their own discretion.
A
Spy among Friends – Ben Macintyre
Yes,
him again.(This is the
book I am reading at the time of writing). Harold Adrian Russell
Philby? - you've never heard of him. Kim?, Kim Philby? -
the spy?. If you want a
biography of Philby – the Cambridge Communist who betrayed his
country – there are plenty to choose from. This book sets out,
boldly, cleverly to bring the World around the man to life through
the focusing lens of those around him. Step by step, the picture is
sharpened, re-focused and viewed from two principle angles; that of
Philby's MI6 colleague Nicholas Elliott and James (Jesus) Angleton of
the CIA. These three men cut their teeth in the intelligence war
against the Nazis, Elliot and Angleton were Philby's closest friends,
men whom he worked alongside and who – unwittingly were sharing
their secrets with a Soviet spy. A complex character – Philby was
inconsolable over a dead pet fox, but sanguine over the spies he sent
to their deaths – Kim Philby betrayed them all for his belief in
Communism. The irony was that his intelligence was mistrusted by
Moscow Centre. This only changed over time and when he had proved
himself genuine.
The
book covers the period from just prior to World War II through the
Cold War. Ben Macintyre has produced a masterwork – on one level a
new type of history, on another a story of Cold War espionage that
entertains as much as any Le Carré.
The picture that emerges is that of the three men, bound by treachery
and their shared notions of Britishness. The photographs in the book
show the trio as they age, a curious vulnerability emerging in Philby
with age. (In one shot, Elliott manages to resemble George Smiley –
or is it the other way around?.) No Espionage library is complete
without A Spy
among Friends.
BRIXMIS
– Tony Geraghty
Imagine a form of legal spying, designed to ensure neither side in
the Cold War was secretly breaking the rules. The British Commander
in Chief's mission to the Soviet Forces of Occupation in Germany,
shortened to BRIXMIS was a military unit set up in East Germany to do
just that. As well as the official mission, BRIXMIS teams kept an
unofficial eye out for new Soviet equipment, weapons and any secrets
they could sketch, photograph or steal. So vital were these eyes and
ears on the ground that at one point they were the ONLY warning of a
possible imminent invasion by the Soviet Union. There were nine
indicators of impending hostilities and when Brixmis signalled all
nine, GCHQ dismissed their reports as they had heard nothing over the
airwaves. The Soviets had moved in total radio silence – an
important lesson in the value of human eyes and ears over technology.
Starting with old staff cars and even horses, Brixmis soon raised the
game, using souped up Opel Käpitan
saloons and RAF Chipmunk training aircraft which occasionally
returned to base with bullet holes in the wings or fuselage after
overflying a sensitive area. Ingenuity, inventive thinking prevailed;
one NCO used an apple to take an impression of new Soviet equipment.
Brixmis was mirrored by SOXMIS in
West Germany, but on the Allied side there were also American and
French Missions. By and large, if the teams stuck to permitted areas
they would be followed by the Stasi in their awful Wartburg cars,
often losing them when required. Teams risked a beating if caught in
prohibited areas, perhaps even shot and deaths were not unknown.
Brixmis is a
fantastic, original work and worth the price for the photographs
alone. Must have reading.
