Lucas Delattre - A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich

of Crosica in October: The liberation of Corsica took place from September to October 4, 1943. It was the first French department to be liberated. Corsica had been annexed by Italy on November 11, 1942. Four Italian divisions had occupied it, joined in July 1943 by a brigade of the Waffen-SS and in September 1943 by a German division transferred from Sardinia.

twelve days went by: Bern, undated internal document of the OSS, probably from immediately after the war, on the activities of the Bern office, National Archives.

correspondents in the OSS: National Archives.

cables to President Roosevelt: “From early July 1944 forward, General Donovan sent many of the Dulles reports to President Roosevelt verbatim, but aside from the case of Sunrise [the Wehrmacht surrender in Italy], there is scant record of White House reaction. Nor was Dulles’s input discussed by FDR and Churchill. One searches in vain for a single instance in which the riches of Bern’s intelligence on Germany made a difference on the high policy level.” Neal H. Petersen, “Allen Dulles and the Penetration of Germany,” in George Chalou, ed., The Secrets War: The Office of Strategic Services in World War II (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), p. 287.

revelations from “George Wood”: Document no. 1 of the Boston series, National Archives.

qualities for the position: “Although officially a member of the party, Pohle agreed to transmit my messages to Ernst Kocherthaler. Beginning in the spring of 1944, he went to Bern six or eight times,” Fritz wrote in an autobiographical document composed in Berlin in January 1947. “Several German diplomatic officials had to help. Most of them did it by friendship for George and by hatred against the Nazis, others because they liked George’s presents of cigars and chocolate which he brought home from his trips to Switzerland.” “The Story of George.”

some to Karl Ritter: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.

the surgeon the truth: “Sauerbruch was never in the inner circle. I had always his whole confidence and trusted him completely, but it was not necessary to let him into my affairs. Of course he knew that I was dealing with the Allies, but I gave him neither details nor names except the name of Dr. Kocherthaler.” Letter from Fritz Kolbe to Allen Dulles, May 29, 1945 (written in Hegenheim), personal archives of Fritz Kolbe, Peter Kolbe collection.

one typed single-spaced: Kappa message received in Washington February 23, 1944. See also Anthony Quibble, “Alias George Wood,” Studies in Intelligence (a CIA publication), Spring 1966, vol. 10.

confessed after the war: Autobiographical document, May 15, 1945.

“may explain the inconsistencies”: Kappa message, February 25, 1944.

“April and June 1944”: Kappa message, April 17, 1944 and Boston document no. 284. The source was Hans Thomsen, envoy of the Reich in Stockholm.

spies based in Ireland: Boston document no. 154.

“no other card available”: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe. The postcard is preserved in the National Archives.

his personal secret code: Fritz Kolbe had devised a secret code that he considered very secure and he had shown it to a specialist in the Foreign Ministry. Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.

German legation in Switzerland: The Americans were very surprised at receiving this postcard, which had taken three weeks to reach them. After some investigation, it was confirmed that an Edgar H. Yolland, who had worked for the American intelligence services in Turkey until August 1943 (when he had been dismissed), was in the process of approaching the Germans in order to obtain a German passport. In exchange, he offered to reveal the information in his possession. It is impossible to tell whether Edgar Yolland was neutralized in time. For Berlin, Yolland’s defection could not have come at a better time. A few weeks earlier, the Vermehrens, a couple of Abwehr agents based in the Reich’s consulate in Istanbul, had defected to the Allies. The event had brought about the definitive disgrace of Admiral Canaris in Germany, a prelude to Himmler’s seizure of control over the Abwehr.

Soviet regime in Germany: Kappa message, April 27, 1944 and Boston document no. 259. A little later, in November 1944, the Germans regretted the departure of Marcel Pilet-Golaz, whom they considered “their last support in the Swiss Federal Council.” Boston document no. 604.

letter received in February: German diplomatic cable, January 22, 1944, microfilm, National Archives.

the fall of 1943: A month later, in late February 1944, Jean Jardin tried to meet Allen Dulles, who at first refused to see him. On Jean Jardin, see the biography by Pierre Assouline, Une éminence grise (Paris: Balland, 1986), p. 125: “Laval and Pétain intended to make Jean Jardin into a veritable go-between with Allen Dulles.”

(the Abwehr) in Switzerland: Kappa message, March 13, 1944.

was located in Zurich: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.

on January 22, 1944: National Archives.

we know the answers: Message from London to Bern and Washington, Kappa series, January 28, 1944.

document into the wastebasket: Quibble, “Alias George Wood.”

a former Chicago lawyer: The department headed by Alfred McCormack (Special Branch) had nearly four hundred employees. It was the largest military espionage unit, specializing in the interception of enemy signals (SIGINT). McCormack’s investigation was carried out in close cooperation with the British. See Quibble, “Alias George Wood.”

intelligence and counterespionage: Memorandum Re Procedure for Handling Kappa Intelligence, August 7, 1944, and Method of Control of Boston Series Material, February 29, 1944, National Archives. See also Quibble, “Alias George Wood.”

in late February 1944: Boston document no. 111 and Kappa message, March 29, 1944.

and the Far East?: Message from OSS Washington to Allen Dulles, March 22, 1944, National Archives.

of the Japanese administration: In August 1940, American military espionage had succeeded in cracking the Japanese diplomatic code. This decoding system was given the name Magic. Thanks to Magic, the imminence of a diplomatic break between the United States and Japan was known before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But the information was not treated as it might have been, for want of relevant analysis.

when the opportunity arose: The episode of the Japanese postcard is recounted in detail in the following: “The Story of George”; the biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe; Morgan, “The Spy the Nazis Missed.” Allen Dulles often told the story in his postwar writings. See, for example, The Craft of Intelligence (New York: Harper & Row, 1963).

prime minister of Hungary: Unpublished memoir by Allen Dulles, Allen W. Dulles papers (box 114, file 11).