BRITAIN'S WAR WITH SPIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 161, 9 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

BRITAIN'S WAR WITH SPIES.

SECRET SERVICE REVELATIONS. TENSE DRAMAS OF HIDDEN HISTORY — BATTLE OF WITS FOR WELFARE OF NATIONS.

(By an Ex-Secret Service Officer,.—All Eights Reserved.)

(XO. I.) j ! Decode legion through official histories of all nations, but the heroilm the '• I SγSllenci th 6 aChleVßments ° f thc Secret Service remain behind j ; A former British Secret Service officer, in a series of articles the first of f ; which appears bejow, draws aside the veil which envelopes the work'of this areat ' organisation In the momentous war days, revealing, in tensely gripping narrative ! ; ,ts darmg and dece.t, Us horror and heroism, its wit and its wisdom its felonv' ' \ rocr^Ser^r^Th'e-'^red ß^^ 9 "MW th ° '"•«■-- ™,i,E . f ?'?S! j

War was but a few hours ofd when the "spy clanger' , was being discussed by everyone. We were not prepared, they said. The Germans had hundreds of spies in Britain. Behind them were the master spies. Every foreign waiter, barber and domestic servant was a spy. For years they hul been sending to their own country valuable information regarding most closely guarded secrets. Germany had been preparing for yeare and our intelligence system was but a second rate imitation of the real thing. People said these things were wrong, but the authorities could never "tell them so. Hours before war was declared the German spy system in Britain had received a. terrific blow. It was uot fatal, for the "beast ,, was strong. It was a dragon with many heads, and throughout the war the spy -was always with us, but the dragon was tottering to its ultimate death even before it realised that its existence -was really known or the danger it represented was understood. How was this first and nearly crushing blow delivered? Behind it lies the story of a few men who appreciated the danger and built up an organisation which played a great, if- little known, part in winning the war. Even now the names of these men cannot be mentioned, as several of them are still "on active service." A Club Romance. It is necessary to go 'back to those now halt-forgotten pre-war days when a few, a very few, army officers were chatting together at their club. Almost by chance they discovered; that each had realised that there was! at work a sinister spy system with its headquarters in Germany. Army officers are popularly supposed to possess no initiative, but for these men to realise the danger was the signal for immediate action. They "got together and from those early conferences wae born the greatest intelligence system the world has ever known. It was in full operation before the first rumblings of the approaching storm were heard. Secretly, efficiently, and quietly these men set to work to counteract the almost feverish activities ; of German agents in the country.

Known as Military Intelligence, the department was divided into several stibdepartments. Each had ite own- particular work to do. Ml.—was the "give-nothing-away", title of the branch with whose counter-spy activities before, during and after the war I will deal in this and other exclusive articles which are to follow. These men who understood the danger of the German spy system were quietly allowed to leave their ordinary army work. They went on "special duty," and gradually others were recruited. Two or three years were devoted to building up M.l.—with a staff which was eworn never to divulge a eingle word of what was being done. It became what wae to all intents and purposes a detective, agency with sources of information in every corner of the kingdom. Results began to pour m. Reports were received from all over the country, each one showing how grave was the menace with which the department was dealing. The reports gave full details of those who were anxious to acquire information likely to be of use to Germany in time of war. Suddenly the German epics found their activities checked. Women agents—and there were many—discovered that information was not so easy to obtain despite all their .fascination. Reports on their way to Germany began to go astray. Headquarters on the other eide wanted to know why, but there was no answer known to the spied. M.I. — was at work, but they did not even know of its existence. War _ grew nearer. Then it became a question of hours and M.l— struck. Giant cardindexes which contained details of all the known German agents were consulted. The aid of the Naval, military and civilian police was sought. Messages were sent out, orders were given and MX— ; having thrown out its nets, sat biick to await the result. The catch was heavy. Many agents of all grades of usefulness to their masters at Potsdam were caught and promptly sent to places where they could do no harm. The First Victory. But the department did not rest. Spies, big and small, had managed to wriggle through the meshes of that net. Others "bobbed up" apparently from nowhere. They were either the very few so clever that even M.l.— did not know of them, or men and women who began their activities only when war was actually declared. The department settled down to a war on its own. It was a lierce and .sometimes terrible battle waged in secret. There was little honour and no medals to be won, but M.l.— just "earned on with its task of dealing shattering blows to the German spy system.

Within a month the value of that great "round up" of agents who had been shadowed and watched for years was dramatically illustrated. In the meantime Germany had discovered that the British were not such fools as they had fondly supposed. Temporarily, at any rate, their spy system had been broken up. Those wiio were left soon found that channels which had previously been used to send information to Germany had been mysteriously closed. New methods had to be found and new waye of obtaining information discovered. . If M.l.— had done nothing during the war, the time and money expended on building u|> the organisation in pre-war days would have been justified by just one thing. During the vital period when Germany was clamouring for information and her remaining agents were helpless, the British Expeditionary Force had crossed to France without .a single casualty. Had there been no M.l.— with it<3 cast iron system of preventive information from Rohm abroad, it is almost certain that enemy submarines would have been waiting for the transports. There was. however, plenty of work for M.l.— to do, and until the "Cease Fire" was sounded on Armistice Day the department worked hand-in-hand with other organisations. They were the special intelligence departments or the Admiralty, the War Office and the Home Office, whose co-operation gave them tie services of the police forces all over tn* '■''•J!,:.' 'formed the "Bis Five" of the anlieny camnnign. with M.T.— always at Che head. Valuable "help was. too. frequently forthcoming from the departments ot cable and postal censorship., and tlie number of letters and messages wnicn poured in showed that the public was alive to the menace in its midst. Thousands of Prisoners. Within throe months after the outbreak of war the British Statute Book was packed with emergency legislation, later to be known as "Dora." In secrecy anl without any fuss M.I.- "'as given Star Chamber" powers to deal with tho. national menace. Later. when env iivsteria set in, the department became ..' military dictatorship acting in secret

Hr ! J n constitutional mask of the Homo Office. Powers were obtained to enable the "Big Five" to clear all potentially dangerous people from areas of military or naval importance. Arrests could be made without warrants, and the discretion of trial by court-martial was given—-with one penalty, death. Xine thousand Germans and'-Austrians of military age were handed over by the police and incarcerated as -prisoners of war. People who kept homing or carrier pigeons were registered. The houses, clubs and places of business of all suspect enemy aliens" were searched for firearms, and in consequence a number of Beoplo were imprisoned. M.l.— now had the necessary powers, and. aided by the other members of the "Bie Five," the department got to work. Next week the author deals with "Women and the Wan Secrets," telling a dramatic story of beautiful spies landed on the coast by night, and describing how officers from the front were lured to West End hotels and subjected to all the wiles and charm of cultured women to disclose any information regarding the fighting forces.