The Book
Spy! Six Stories of Modern Espionage. Richard Deacon and Nigel West. British Broadcasting Corporation, London. 1980.
Background
Given how much controversy the 1980 Spy! television episode on Camp 020 aroused… I thought I would try and track down the accompanying book, written by Richard Deacon and Nigel West. I found one online and read Chapter 4: Double-Cross: Camp 020 in one sitting.
I was kind of expecting a rather grim portrait of Camp 020’s commandant, Tin-Eye Stephens but… nothing like that. In fact, Stephens gets very little air time in this book, with Dr. Harold Dearden coming out the hero!
I was a bit leery of another Richard Deacon book who, under his other name, Donald McCormick, has produced some rather sorry examples of historical non-fiction. Specifically… the Murder by Witchcraft book about Bella in the Wych Elm. But… I thought the Spy! book was worth a read… although, at this point, I’ve only read the chapter on Camp 020.
Published in 1980, this book is naturally going to suffer from a lack of access to historical records. Much of what is recounted in the Camp 020 chapter likely relies upon anecdotal stories from TATE and perhaps Major T.A. Robertson. Memory being what it is, the details of their accounts may not have been the most accurate.
Summary
In the Preface, Deacon notes that “Each of [the seven spooks] has been a central figure of the BBC Television series called ‘Spy!’. These dramatised documentary films, most carefully researched for detailed background, provided an admirable combination of entertainment, thrills and accurate reportage. The purpose of this book is to try to fill in some of the inevitable gaps between the programmes and the often lengthy stories that lie behind them.” The book tells the tales of:
- Chapter 1 – Sorge: The Tokyo Ring – this is Richard Sorge, Russian spy
- Chapter 2 – The Venlo Incident – Captain Sigismund Payne Best & Maj Richard Stevens
- Chapter 3 – CYNTHIA – the story of Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, an American
- Chapter 4 – Double Cross: Camp 020 – the story of TATE (mostly)
- Chapter 5 – Stashinsky: The Murder Machine – this is Bogdan Stashinsky, a KGB assassin
- Chapter 6 – John Vassall – Brit civil servant who spied for the Soviets
The Camp 020 chapter starts with the story of Caroli’s arrival and notes that his mother had been German. That is an interesting tidbit and needs further research. According to the book, Caroli’s parachute landing did not go well as he was knocked out by the radio strapped to his chest.
“When he recovered he hid his parachute and made his way to a lane beside the field. There he was immediately spotted by a farmer’s daughter who, only the day before, had been warned by the local police constable about keeping an eye open for strangers in the area. She was suspicious of the man, partly because he was wearing an overcoat on a warm autumn day, and she called the police”.
This story doesn’t match the other accounts in which Caroli, groggy after being knocked unconscious, dragged himself to a hedgerow and fell asleep. A passing farmer saw his legs sticking out the hedgerow.
Caroli was one of a series of LENA spies who were to scope out England prior to the German invasion. They were under the charge of Major Nikolaus Ritter of Abt. I of the Abwehr in Hamburg. In the very next sentence, the authors note that Ritter’s organisation came under Abwehr II of Colonel Erwin von Lahousen, which is not accurate. The book notes that the Abwehr’s plans had already been infiltrated by the British Security Service thanks to the arrest of George Owens (Arthur G. Owens a.k.a. SNOW) at the start of the war. The story of SNOW has been simplified in the extreme and has several inaccuracies in it. According to the book, the Brits knew, through SNOW , that Caroli was expected and had alerted the Chief Constables of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to expect him.
The chapter tells the tale of the birth of the Double Cross system and then returns to the story of Caroli. Apparently the B1a (B2a at the time) officers took him back to the field where he had landed so that he could show them where he had hidden his parachute. “Caroli had visibly wilted and shown a willingness to co-operate”.
Caroli was taken to Camp 020 which was run by “Colonel ‘Tin-Eye’ Stevens [sic], a fearsome, monocled, commandant who struck terror into his own men, let alone the prisoners.” Clearly the secretaries of Camp 020 were not as terror-struck as the men, recalling Stephens with fondness for being a fair man. The “interrogations took place on the ground floor, conducted by a team led by Stevens [sic] and his deputy, Major ‘Stimmy’ Stimson, [I do believe, Stimson was camp administrator and Sampson was actually the deputy of Stephens] aided by the resident medical advisor, Dr. Harold Dearden, the well-known criminologist and psychiatrist.”
According to the book, “after a fairly brief talk a bargain was struck: [Caroli] agreed with Major Robertson… that he would co-operate with the British on the understanding that he was saved from the hangman. To clinch the issue he made another offer. If MI5 would agree to make the same bargain for a comrade of his, he would give full details about his projected arrival in Britain in a few days time.” As I recall, Caroli was actually quite difficult to break. He did let slip that another agent was due to arrive and and only caved when interrogators promised that they would not execute his friend and fellow spy, Wulf Schmidt (TATE).
Wulf Schmidt apparently came of a German father (who had served in the Luftwaffe) and a Danish mother. His parents had married in 1911 in Nykobing in Denmark and returned to Germany shortly afterwards. Apparently his mother took Wulf back to Denmark at the outbreak of the First World War. Schmidt was a highly intelligent cosmopolitan and an incorrigible adventurer. He had travelled widely in Europe, Africa and elsewhere and, while his English was passable, he still spoke with a foreign accent. When Ritter asked him what name he wanted on his forged British identity card, he chose Harry Johnson [other sources says Harry Williamson]. According to the book, Schmidt passed his parachute jumping tests with ease… although it is my understanding that none of the LENA agents ever practised parachute jumping prior to their missions.
During his parachute descent, Schmidt apparently drifted dangerously close to an anti-aircraft battery at the end of an airfield. In landing, he hit a tree and twisted his ankle climbing down to the ground. After spending the night under a hedge, he wandered into a small village, bought a new watch and a copy of The Times and had some breakfast. He then washed his swollen ankle in the village pump which attracted attention and he was questioned and then detained by the local Home Guard. This is all more or less accurate but the he next section is a bit questionable.
According to the book, the interrogation officers had waited for him to arrive.
“From a nearby barn an Army officer and a corporal had heard the aircraft approach in the darkness. Their information was that a ‘drop’ would be made in this area and, as the officer remarked to the corporal, ‘luckily we know that Jerry can put these agents down in a precise position. It’s very rarely they are off target.” [Definitely not accurate.] “It was the corporal who suddenly spotted a parachute and saw it disappear into a clump of trees [spotted this at night?]. They were anxious not to act precipitately: it was important to be sure whether this was the man they were expecting before they confronted him. [Because another man might be a legitimate parachutist?] Also they wanted to watch what his first moves would be, where he would try to go and whether he wold attempt to contact anyone, so he needed to be kept under observation.”
This entire little section is quite unbelievable: (a) that they Brits knew with precision the date and time of a spy’s arrival, Schmidt’s flight was postponed several times, (b) that the Germans could land spies with pin-point precision, unless it was their intention to drop Schmidt down on top of an airfield and/or anti-aircraft battery, (c) that the Brits would follow a spy to see what he did. This information would, however, add fuel to the fire of those who theorize that Jan Willem ter Braak was under observation by MI5 from the moment of his arrival in November 1940 and that he was assassinated by the Brits in an air raid shelter in Cambridge in March 1941. I have never, however, come across any information that would support this story of Schmidt’s arrival.
Schmidt was arrested and bundled off to Camp 020. He was, apparently quite shocked at being arrested so quickly and being handled “in a relatively polite manner, polite at least compared with Gestapo tactics”. “No time was lost in interrogating Schmidt. He was confronted by two Army officers and Dr. Harold Dearden.” Schmidt wasn’t so easy to break however and with time being of the essence, ” the interrogating officers consulted with Dr. Dearden as to how he visualized the problem in terms of Schmidt’s psychological reactions.” Dearden then shared some of his insights into Schmidt and noted that “there was, however, one thing about Schmidt on which they must play… his sense of humour. On this factor he might be turned. That was Dearden’s advice. Colonel T.A. Robertson… reacted instantly to Dr. Dearden’s comments by exclaiming, ‘My God, how right you are! D’you know, I kept asking myself who Schmidt reminded me of. Now you mention a sense of humour, I know who it is. He is very, very like Harry Tate, the music hall comedian. So, if we do turn him, I suggest his code-name be TATE.’ ” There is, however, no account of how Schmidt’s sense of humour helped turn him into a double agent…
As for his handling at Camp 020, the book notes that “Schmidt was impressed by the relatively mild treatment he had received and the patience of his interrogators, their politeness and the fact that there had been no hints or threats of torture, if he did not comply. It was, he reflected long afterwards, ‘all very civilised and friendly – at least sometimes there were friendly jokes, often at my expense.’ Although, “at least one of his interrogators was beginning to lose his cool and to risk losing a potential convert in the process.” I’m not sure if this is a reference to Stephens or to Colonel A. Scotland from MI19 who roughed up Schmidt in his cell.
The book then covers the early months of Schmidt’s activities as double agent TATE, branching out in May 1941, with the story of Carl [sic] Richter who arrived with more money for TATE. The book notes that 29-year old Richter was an “old colleague” of TATE’s and an SS Obersturmführer, which is complete nonsense.
We then learn of TATE’s wartime activities which are, more or less, accurate but should be taken with a grain of salt. The book notes that “Gunter Peis has suggested that the Germans knew TATE was double-crossing them from sometime in 1943 onwards. This, however, is not borne out either by Abwehr reports or… their continued reactions to his messages.” Again, this is not accurate. There is ample evidence that the Germans had their suspicions about TATE, perhaps as early as 1941.
After the war, Caroli was sent back to Sweden while TATE was given permission to stay in England. “Today he lives within three miles of the Tower of London where several of his co-agents were executed as spies during the war.” Only Josef Jakobs was executed at the Tower of London during the Second World War.
Review
I haven’t read the entire book, just the chapter on the Double Cross system and Camp 020. I would have to say that the chapter is primarily the story of double agent TATE and there is actually not all that much information on Camp 020. Stephens is only mentioned once or twice in passing. It is, surprisingly, Dr. Harold Dearden who plays the starring roll in breaking Schmidt! I’m sure Stephens would have something acerbic to say about that. There is also no evidence in the book of Stephens acting violently with TATE as was shown in the Spy! Camp 020 television show. It is clear that the book was published after the TV show aired, so perhaps the authors decided to tone things down a bit. Or perhaps the TV show just decided to add some drama where none was warranted.
There are numerous inaccuracies in the chapter and, while it reads quite well, it should not be taken as historically accurate. As noted above, the authors were working without any direct access to Security Service files and relying upon anecdotal accounts from TATE, Robertson and perhaps others. The chapter includes several photographs of MI5 officers accompanying Karel Richter to the farm field in which he hid his parachute and other gear. The photographs are credited to “Mrs. Harold Dearden”. Harold Dearden passed away in 1962, but it is always possible that Mrs. Dearden had some stories to tell about his time at Camp 020.
Review Score
3 out of 5 – a good outline of the double cross system but dated and inaccurate.