Softly Softly by Tony Matthews

Author:Tony Matthews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Big Sky Publishing

When asked at Camp 020 why he had not revealed that he was an espionage agent to any of the police, diplomatic personnel or secret service he had met in Spain or Gibraltar, Brodersen had no real answer other than to state that he had maintained his cover as he had been instructed. He pointed out that there was more secret ink in his trousers and that the ink material could be felt with the fingers. It would feel like ‘a couple of small corns’, he told them. He also told Lieutenant-Colonel Hinchley-Cooke that in payment for his work in England, his family was to receive 800 Norwegian kroner per month. Brodersen was expected to be able to support himself without any further payment by joining the Norwegian Armed Forces.75.

Arrangements were quickly made to have Brodersen transferred from Camp 020 in London to another top secret holding camp for spies known as Camp 001, or the ‘Oratory Schools’, at Stewarts Grove, also in London.76.

A closer examination of Brodersen’s documents revealed an additional interesting fact. Brodersen had been born in 1904, but on the documents he carried with him, when he crossed the Spanish border, his date of birth was given as 1903 and there was a very important reason why the change had been forged on the documentation. At that time the Spanish, as a ‘neutral’ country, maintained a policy of detaining and incarcerating any male ‘refugees’ aged under forty years. Those younger than forty could find themselves in prison camps for years and certainly until the end of hostilities. Therefore it was important that Brodersen’s documentation be changed to show that he was over military age. When asked about this, Brodersen lied and stated that he had made the alteration himself, but it was clear that it had been made by an experienced forger.77.

Brodersen’s clothing and equipment were closely examined by Reginald Ernest Hedger, MI5’s scientific officer. Hedger later stated that he had found secret ink adhering to both sides of the blade of Brodersen’s penknife; two pieces of the ink in his knickerbockers and traces of more in the decayed tooth. Additionally, there was further evidence of secret ink secreted beneath the lacing of a pair of field-boots. The boots and a number of items of personal clothing or possessions, including Brodersen’s expensive knickerbockers, were actually ‘tested to destruction’ during these extremely thorough examinations — a point that greatly angered Brodersen.78.

Brodersen’s personal ‘character’ was also closely appraised while in custody and it was determined that he was a somewhat ‘vacillating’ individual, an evaluation made after considering his ‘chequered’ career. He had never stayed in one job or remained in any one part of the world for any length of time, and was considered to have been a bit of a ‘rolling stone’. ‘This drifting individual was almost certainly headed for trouble during the German occupation of Norway,’ the appraisal continued, and that he would have been marked down as a possible espionage recruit who might easily be blackmailed or otherwise coerced into doing the bidding of the Germans.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.