Operation Garbo (31 page)

To explain her strange association with the ‘Brothers in the Aryan World Order’ she was represented as the mistress of an Indian (Agent No 7(4)), a member of this Brotherhood.

No sooner had she been recruited than she found herself conscripted into the WRNS, and on account of her predilection for Indians she did all in her power to ensure that she would be posted to India. She was first sent to a WRNS Office in London and later to a training school at Mill Hill, and finally to the WRNS camp near Newbury, where she studied Hindustani, which she had already learned from her Indian lover, and was trained in secretarial work. This
training
covered the period from January–July 1944, when, during a period of embarkation leave in London, she was trained by Agent No 7 in secret writing and given a cover address in the UK, to which she was instructed to send her reports from Ceylon, where she was about to proceed.

Her first letter from Ceylon was forwarded by
GARBO
to his Lisbon cover address in September 1944. She continued to write until early in 1945, when she met with a car accident. It was then considered necessary to bring her activities to an end, since a close similarity in her reports and those of other agents controlled from Ceylon had been noticed by the enemy and aroused slight suspicion. The speedy termination of hostilities did not give us an opportunity to bring her case to a tidy close.

This individual had joined the ‘Brothers in the Aryan World Order’ to uphold his fanatical belief in the superiority of the Aryan race.

Since his occupation was that of a poet, he was presumably able to win the affections of his English mistress, 7(3).

He was recruited together with the other members of this Brotherhood, and in February 1944 he was established in the Brighton area to operate as an observer for the
GARBO
organisation. He
continued
to send in a stream of high-grade military reports until April 1945, when he confessed that he had tired of his association with the Welshmen, to which he had been attracted mostly on account of their association with 7(3). On her instructions,
£
500 which had accrued to her for services rendered were entrusted to him to hold for her until they were able to meet again.

Though he was a member of the ‘Brothers in the Aryan World Order, and a relative of 7(2), it became apparent that he was either less
intelligent
or less fanatical than the other members of this Brotherhood. This came to notice when he failed to establish himself in the Exeter/Plymouth area where he had been instructed to proceed as an observer. In fact, it was undesirable that he should have been
successful
, since the cover plan did not provide for reporting from this area, though it would have looked suspicious had no attempt been made to cover it. 7(5) did get as far as Taunton, from where he produced reports, and in May he entered the prohibited area around Exeter in spite of the continual police check-ups on documentation. He was, however, arrested a few days prior to D Day. He was only sentenced to one month’s imprisonment for the offence of having entered a restricted area without permission. The true nature of his mission there was not discovered or suspected.

On his release he returned to his family in Swansea but his narrow escape had completely demoralised him; he had lost his nerve and he became useless as an agent. He was given a pension from September 1944 until March 1945, when he was finally paid off.

As the Treasurer of the Brotherhood it was recommended that he should be given an important allocation in the
GARBO
network, and therefore he was situated in the Harwich area, which
GARBO
believed would become one of the most important areas at the time of the opening of the Second Front.

He established himself in residence in the Ipswich/Harwich area prior to the imposition of the coastal ban, and his first report, which
GARBO
received in April 1944, was one of ten pages of secret writing that, though unsubstantial in part, tended to show the importance of this area, which had for some while been relatively neglected by the
GARBO
network. The details contained in this report not only showed the thoroughness of the agent but also introduced a style that would permit the inclusion of apparently minor, though significant details in subsequent reports.

He continued to report from this area in considerable detail, in particular on the notional 34th US Army, which he, in due course, located in this area. Later, he extended the area of his control further north so as to cover Northern Command.

He was one of the agents who continued to operate until VE Day.

This agent, though recruited on the strength of his association with the ‘Brothers in the Aryan World Order’, turned out to be a very
low-grade
spy. Though he accepted his mission he did not want to leave his employment in Swansea to travel. Since an observer was needed in South Wales (which area the Germans had asked us to cover) his offer of services to operate from Swansea was promptly accepted. In fact, it was inconsistent with the cover plan for
OVERLORD
that we should pass reports on military activities in South Wales, and therefore it was admirably suitable that this agent should not only be working part-time, but also that he should turn out to be a low-grade reporter.

GARBO
first pointed out the low category of his reports in March 1944. He was used in a rather half-hearted way to implement Plan
IRONSIDE
, a threat to the Bordeaux coast. When the operation did not materialise the information passed did not tend to discredit the
GARBO
organisation, since the Germans had been forewarned that this agent was not a high-grade reporter.

In January 1945 the agent was put on half pay and in March we finally terminated with his services.

The above agent stories can be found at the National Archives at Kew in file KV 2/41

‘The reader should bear in mind that none of these people actually existed.’

Sir Michael Howard

British Intelligence in the Second World War, Volume V, Strategic Deception