BLONDE SPY

Evening Star, Issue 23726, 6 November 1940, Page 2

BLONDE SPY

ATTRACTIVE GERMAN WOMAN “ MARRIED " TO FRENCH SAILOR Some time before the war 1 was instrumental in exposing a eo-callcd matrimonial agency that was running the “ marriage racket ” on an extensive scale (writes Ex-detective-1 nspector Harold Brust, in a London paper). This organisation, which had it* headquarters on the Riviera, was engaged in getting hold of weak or unscrupulous Englishmen, ranging from simple merchant seamen to eons of well-to-do families. By means of bribes or threats the men were persuaded tp go through the formalities of marriage with alien women of undesirable character. The woman, having thus obtained British citizenship, could then carry on in England without fear of being deported. " FIFTH COLUMN.” While engaged in these investigations I discovered, quite by chance, that the same “ racket ” was being applied by the Nazis in a more subtle way and for an infinitely more sinister purpose# In short, Hitler’s agents were trafficking in German girls for the purpose of establishing their “ fifth column "l in Britain, France, Belgium, and 'Holland. It was in Marseilles that' my sus- . pieions were first aroused. Keeping watch on one of the low drinking bouses of the Old Town, I noticed an attractive blonde going inside in the company of a French sailor. She seemed rather superior to the average typo of woman who frequented that district, and 1 could not help being interested. As they passed me I caught a few words of. their conversation. It was v quite unimportant, but my knowledge of French enabled me to detect thafi the woman spoke with a faintly gut- . tural accent. A few days later I had an appointment to meet an inspector of the Paris Surete in the vestibule of one of the better-class hotels. While I was sitting waiting for him, idly sipping an aperitif, I saw the same woman. This time, smartly dressed, she was accompanied by a naval officer. When my French detective friend arrived she glanced at him out of the coi-ner of her eye and immediately stopped talking. Shortly afterwards she made a hurried departure. “ Who’s the blonde?” I asked my friend. - “ t don’t know her,” he ' replied, “Why?” “ It might not bo a bad idea for you to make inquiries about her,” I suggested, and told him what I had observed. * Next morning, when I called at his office, he met me with a smile. “ That blonde you were asking about is the wife of a French quartermaster on one of our big liners,” he said. “We have nothing against her at all.” SET HIM THINKING, “ She speaks French with a strange accent,” 1 commented. “ Naturally,” ho replied. “ She .wad born in Germany.” “Perhaps that js why-she is so interested in French sailors,” I remarked# The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders, but I could see that I had set him thinking. That night he rang me up at my hotel. “ That blonde is a spy!” he said excitedly. “ She has been collecting information. We have found it hidden in her home. Her husband knew nothing about it, poor fellow. We are 1 most grateful to you, Monsieur Brust.” j