BRITAIN FIGHTS SPIES

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1932, Page 10

BRITAIN FIGHTS SPIES

WOMEN AND WAR SECRETS LANDED ON THE COAST BY NIGHT. i - OFFICERS FROM FRONT WAYLAID. HANDSOME COLONEL'S CONQUESTS (.By an ex-Secret Service Officer. No. 2.—Copyright.) Britain’s .Secret Service in all its'activities connected with German agents in this country, always found itself most handicapped when it came to dealing with women,, who revealed an intense love for the FatherlancL The department was also hindered by tho fact that the Englishman is most considerate towards women. Incidentally, despite all rumours to the contrary, the British did not shoot women spies. The French did, and used to tell us that we were too gallant or tender-hearted, and that in either case we were fools.

Had poor Mata Hari, the famous dancer who turned spy, been captured in this country she would not have been shot. She died tied to a post at Vincennes. To the last moment even she could not believe that the French, really intended to shoot her. 'Suddenly, when the war was little more than a year old, M.I. found itself faced with the fact that information of the utmost value to Germany was leaking out. Investigations followed, night and day, and eventually it was discovered that there was a new menace in this country, particularly in London. WEST END SIRENS. Women, all pf them beautiful and utterly unscrupulous, were being extensively used by the Germans for the sole purpose of extracting valuable information from officers home on leave or engaged on confidential work in this country. . Somei of these women were found to have been in this country in pre-war days. Others had arrived, it was never quite known how. A few, possibly, were landed on desolate parts of the coast, having made the journey in U boats and been landed under cover of night by means of / collapsible craft. Others used the age-old weapon and managed to reach England in other ways, some being literally “smuggled” ashore.;

They operated in all grades of society, and it was strongly suspected that some central clearing house for information was used by them, but it was never located. Alany lived in luxurious surroundings in flats or hotels in the heart of the West End. A decision which revealed more than a touch of the grim humour of M.I. was the employment of handsome young officers to defeat the “sexual poison gas” the enemy was using. One young colonel proved to be particularly valuable, in dealing with the beautiful German agents who were scatr tered all over the West End and throughout the Home He and his colleagues posed either aS officers on leave or men attached to the Staff in this country. “CAT-AND-MOUSE.” The move was almost immediately successful. They were apparently men of the world, but .possessed of little or' no real brain when it came to dealing with women anxious to hear those little scraps of gossip which meant so much to their masters in Potsdam. Always these men were willing to (babble “valuable secrets” into the- ears of the spies, who in their turn appeared to be equally foolish and to take not the slightest" notice of what was being said. It was really a game of cat and mouse, but the “cat” concerned never realised—-with one exception—that she was really the “mouse.” The information the men gave, generally after spending substantia! sums on the women, was duly communicated to Germany. M.I. often obligingly cleared the way for the messages to go through. Stories of the date, place and sailing time of troop-ships, of warship movements, of new weapons and the disposition of troops in France found their way to the enemy. Submarines cruised about hopefully or attacks were launched by the German troops, while in London the welldressed officers still played cat-and-mouse with beautifully gowned women. The submarines found that something had gone wrong. Instead of transports the grim shapes of destroyers came rushing towards them. In France thousands of Germans were killed because the information received by the High Command was incorrect. Failure followed failure from the German point of view. The headquarters of their spy system got busy, the information was traced back to its source, and eventually the inevitable happened.

A CLEVER ACTRESS. These women spies found that no more money was coming through. There was only" one result. A woman who ■ has been living in luxury by the rpethods these female 'spies had adopted cannot long keep the secret that her income has vanished. Those who found their resources dwindle to nothing approached the still friendly and smiling officers. They even suggested that mon-, ey should be forthcoming on terms which would presumably be satisfactory to both parties. The officers asked time to think matters over and went aw-ay. Then they gave the signal for which M.I. had been waiting. The women soon found themselves visited by other men, who' did not smile or entertain, and the career of one more spy had finished for “the duration.” ■ . ’ One day I was suddenly instructed to go to a certain well-known West End Hotel and .to hold in conversation a woman who was believed to be engaged in enemy activities. Aly chief gave me the name under which she was posing, and a full description of her. He warned me that her pose as a French woman of culture was perfect, and thait her ability as an actress would result in the utter defeat of any young officer she sought to entangle. I went to the hotel, and soon saw the woman for whom I was looking. Pre-

viously I had changed into a uniform suitable for the part I had to play. I spoke to her in French, and it was not long before we were on perfectly friendly terms. She was a woman of about 30, extremely beautiful with huge black eyes and a mass of raven hair, and she was exquisitely dressed. After about an hour a page-boy informed me that Major Hargreaves—the name I had been . told to assume—was wanted on the telephone. At the other end of the line I heard the somewhat agitated voice of the handsome young colonel who specialised on “boudoir” work for the department. His voice certainly gave me the impression that he was annoyed that I should have been sent to talk to the lady, and he told me that he would be along in a very few minutes. “YOU PACK OF FOOLS!” I went back to the lounge and rejoined my charming companion. In less than ten minutes the colonel sauntered in and greeted the woman, who introduced us. I made an excuse and left them together. • r . That evening I met the colonel, who told me that our beautiful acquaintance was one of the most dangerous enemy agents in London. Her method was to make friends with young officers on leave, talk to them of her hatred both of war and the Germans, make them fall in love with her, and then extract every possible scrap of information. Her. clyef desire was to know the activities of our flying, men and their method of co-operation with the gunners. ~

For weeks the colonel had played a subtle game with her, supplying “information,” and occupying so much of her time that she had no chance to get real news from any other officers.

It was decided that she was too dangerous to remain at large, and she was actually arrested when the colonel was chatting to her. He had fondly believed that . she had been quite deceived by him, but he received the shock of his life.

When the woman realised. that the game was up, she had just one chance of avoiding the consequences of her actions. Had she remained silent she might have defeated the department, but she was determined to have the last word.

Some of those who were present thought she had lost her nerve, but personally I don’t believe she had any to lose. The woman must have seen the other men coming towards her, and realised what was going to happen. Jumping to her feet, and pointing at the astonished colonel, she screamed: