Editing Double-Cross System (section)

== Early agents ==
Following a July 1940 conference in [[Kiel]], the [[Abwehr]] (German intelligence) began an espionage campaign against Britain involving intelligence gathering and sabotage. Spies were sent over from Europe in various ways; some parachuted or were delivered by submarine. Others entered the country on false passports or posing as refugees.<ref name=Macintyre34/> Public perception in Britain was that the country was full of well-trained German spies, who were deeply integrated into society. There was widespread "spy-mania", as Churchill put it. The truth was that between September and November 1940 fewer than 25 agents arrived in the country; mostly of Eastern European extraction, they were badly trained and poorly motivated.<ref name=Macintyre34/>

The agents were not difficult to spot, and it became easier still when the German [[Enigma machine]] encryption was broken. MI5, with advance warning of infiltration, had no trouble picking up almost all of the spies sent to the country. Writing in 1972, [[John Cecil Masterman|John C. Masterman]] (who had, later in the war, headed the Twenty Committee) said that by 1941, MI5 "actively ran and controlled the German espionage system in [the United Kingdom]." It was not an idle boast; post-war records confirmed that none of the Abwehr agents, bar one who committed suicide, went unnoticed.<ref name=Macintyre34/><ref name=Crowdy77/>

Once caught, the spies were deposited in the care of Lieutenant Colonel Robin Stephens at [[Camp 020]] ([[Latchmere House]], Richmond).<ref name="TerrorBasedInterrogation">{{cite book | title=Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents Volume 109: Terror-Based Interrogation | publisher=Oxford University Press | author2=Huk, Aziz Z.| author3=Lovelace, Douglas C. | author1=Boon, Kristen E. | year=2010 | pages=372 | isbn=978-0195398144}}</ref>{{refn|group=Note|Nicknamed "Tin Eye", Stephens' success as an interrogator was due to his abilities as a linguist, his thorough preparation and his ability to mix sympathy with firmness. Violence of any sort was forbidden at Camp 020.<ref name=TerrorBasedInterrogation />}} After Stephens, a notorious and brilliant interrogator, had picked apart their life history, the agents were either spirited away (to be imprisoned or killed{{clarification needed|date=August 2024}}) or if judged acceptable, offered the chance to turn [[double agent]] on the Germans.<ref name=Macintyre34/><ref name=Macintyre4/>

Control of the new double agents fell to [[Thomas Argyll Robertson]] (usually called Tar, from his initials), a charismatic MI5 agent. A [[Scot]] and something of a playboy, Robertson had some early experience with double agents; just prior to the war he had been case officer to [[Arthur Owens]] (code name Snow). Owens was an oddity and it became apparent that he was playing off the Germans and British, although to what end Robertson was unable to uncover. Robertson dispatched an ex-[[Royal Naval Air Service|RNAS]] officer called [[Walter Dicketts]] (code name Celery) to neutral Lisbon in early 1941<ref name= P&Sbook>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pg 108</ref> to meet Owens' German spymaster, [[Nikolaus Ritter]] from the Abwehr, to establish Owens' [[bona fides]]. Unknown to Dicketts, Owens had betrayed him to the Germans before Dicketts entered Germany to be interrogated by experts from the Abwehr in Hamburg.<ref name= P&Sbook4>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 181-186</ref> Although Dicketts managed to get himself recruited as a German agent (while continuing to report to MI5), Owens claimed that Dicketts' survival meant he had been 'turned' by the Germans. When both agents returned to England, Robertson and his team spent countless hours trying to establish which agent was telling the truth. In the end Owens was interned for endangering Dicketts' life and for revealing the important information that his German radio transmitter was controlled by MI5.<ref name=P&Sbook4 /> The whole affair resulted in the collapse of the entire Snow network comprising the double agents Owens, GW, Biscuit, Charlie, Summer and Celery. The experiment had not appeared to be a success but MI5 had learned lessons about how Abwehr operated and how double agents might be useful.<ref name=Macintyre34/>

Robertson believed that turning German spies would have numerous benefits, disclosing what information Abwehr wanted and to mislead them as part of a [[military deception]]. It would also discourage them from sending more agents, if they believed an operational network existed. '''Section B1A''' (a subordinate of B section, under [[Guy Liddell]]) was formed and Robertson was put in charge of handling the double-agent programme.<ref name=Macintyre38/>

Robertson's first agents were not a success, Giraffe (George Graf) was never really used and Gander (Kurt Goose; MI5 had a penchant for amusingly relevant code names), had been sent to Britain with a radio that could only transmit and both were quickly decommissioned. The next two attempts were even more farcical; [[Gösta Caroli]] and [[Wulf Schmidt]] (a Danish citizen) landed, via parachute, in September 1940. The two were genuine Nazis, had trained together and were friends. Caroli was coerced into turning double in return for Schmidt's life being spared, whilst Schmidt was told that Caroli had sold him out and in anger swapped sides.<ref name=Macintyre38/>

Caroli quickly became a problem; he attempted to strangle his MI5 handler before making an escape, carrying a [[canoe]] on a [[motorcycle]]. He vaguely planned to row to Holland but came unstuck after falling off the bike in front of a policeman. He was eventually recaptured and judged too much trouble to be used. Schmidt was more of a success; codenamed 'Tate', he continued to contact Germany until May 1945. These eccentric spies made Robertson aware that handling double agents was going to be a difficult task.<ref name=Macintyre38/>