In the early morning hours of May 12, German spy, Karel Richter landed by parachute near London Colney. Originally a Czech citizen from the Sudetenland, in 1938, Karel suddenly found himself a defacto German when the Sudetenland was appropriated by Nazi Germany. A seaman by trade, Karel abandoned ship with the declaration of war in […]
Clearing up Memories of German Spy Karel Richter Read More »
On 23 July, 1941, German spy Josef Jakobs was transferred from MI5’s secret interrogation centre (Camp 020) to Wandsworth Prison. Given that Josef was going to be tried by a military court martial, he needed to be kept in military custody. After much discussion, it was decided that a cell at Wandsworth Prison would be
The Red Caps who Guarded Josef Jakobs Read More »
N.B. I posted a blog in April 2019 with new information that seems to confirm his real name was Kurt Karl Goose Back in December 2015, I wrote a blog post about Double Agent GANDER who descended by parachute near the village of Bozeat. I had discovered the recollections of John E. Forth (the son
Follow-up to Double Agent GOOSE/GANDER Read More »
A few weeks back, I ordered the Army Personnel Record for Robert/Robin William George Stephens, former Commandant of MI5’s wartime interrogation centre, Camp 020. I’ve discovered quite a bit about Stephens through other sources, but his date of death still eludes me. Given that Hinchley-Cooke’s Army file noted his death, I had hopes that Stephens’
Another Dead-End with Tin-Eye Stephens Read More »
In the early years of World War II, particularly 1940 and 1941, MI5 was inundated with reports of suspicious people, flashing lights, strange markings on telegraph poles and spies dressed as nuns. In the middle of June 1940, MI5 appointed Regional Security Liaison Officers (R.S.L.O.) to the headquarters of the two Civil Defence Regions seen
RSLO Cambridge – Cyril Egerton Dixon Read More »
A few years ago, two prescriptions from the estate of London chemist H.A. Rowe went up for auction. One was for Rudolf Hess, who was held at the Tower of London in May 1941 and the other was for Josef Jakobs, who was executed at the Tower in August 1941. The Tower of London was
Lt. R.W. Taylor – Doctor at the Tower of London Read More »
In December 2015, I made a significant breakthrough with Lt. Col. William Edward Hinchley Cooke, receiving his birth registration from the archives in Dresden. While searching on Ancestry for his mother’s relations, I realized that a whole swath of new indexed German records had become available on Ancestry. Not only for Dresden, but also for
False Alarm with Clara Bauerle Read More »
At the end of World War II, Brigadier Oswald Allen Harker, Deputy Director General of MI5 asked Lt. Col. George Frederick Sampson to write a brief history of Camp 020. In late September 1945, Sampson submitted his report to Harker and then retired from the Security Service, taking a job with the United Nations. At
Two Histories of Camp 020 Read More »
For the past several months, I’ve been digging underneath the brick wall that surrounded the birth and parentage of Lt. Col. William Edward Hinchley Cooke. My two previous blogs can be found below: Britain’s Spy Catcher Mysterious Origins of W.E. Hinchley Cooke Britain’s most famous World War II spy catcher had enigmatic beginnings but the
Breakthrough on Lt. Col. William Edward Hinchley Cooke Read More »
Recently I’ve reestablished contact with Martyn, grandson of Horace Jaikens, the police officer who was in charge of the Ramsey Police Station when Josef was captured. Martyn is a war history buff and a great source of information on Ramsey and the surrounding area. Last week, Martyn sent me some information from a book that
German Spy equipped with Two and a Half Pounds of Chocolate Read More »