WORK OF A SPY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 13, 15 July 1943, Page 3

WORK OF A SPY

FACTS IN HIS HEAD

"TOO MUCH LOOSE TALK" Rec. 1 p.m. CANBERRA, July 15. A German who came to1 Australia in 1938 prepared sketch maps of Australian defence installations while he was in an internment camp. Inis German, Karl Oswald Thierfelder, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Criminal Court to two charges of having obtained and recorded information in a manner likely to prejudice the defence of the Commonwealth. He has been remanded for sentence. News of the trial has been released by the Australian Director-General of Security, Brigadier Simpson, who said that before the war Thierfelder worked as a mechanic for a German motor organisation. He acquired a great deal of information about Australia's defence positions and installations, and about some measures of a secret nature. After the outbreak of the war Thierfelder was interned, but the knowledge he possessed was gained in such a thorough manner that he was able to prepare carefully annotated sketch maps, showing many of these installations. "While much of Thierfelder's information could have been gained from observation, some of the vital facts in his possession were obtained by listening to idle chatter," declared Brigadier Simpson. "There is still far itoo much loose talk. People must develop a security sense.'" Brigadier Simpson announced that another internee from an overseas country had pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing documents containing information of military value which might be useful to the enemy. The case is being heard in camera.