The Hornet's Sting_ The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum - Mark Ryan [141]
[Volle] Gyth admitted that it was out of revenge (you cannot call it a precautionary measure) that they tried to have you blacklisted in England.
The smear campaign against Sneum used whatever tools it found handy. At the end of summer 1942, Mogens Hammer sent the British the disturbing news that a German-run spy was operating in London. Of course, one of the last things Tommy had done in Denmark had been to instruct Duus Hansen to link up with Hammer, the SOE radio operator, in order to strengthen the resistance network in Copenhagen. So it was thanks to Sneum that Hammer was now up and running. Yet his important communication, relayed via Sweden, could have been the final nail in Tommy’s coffin.
On 1 September 1942, Commander John Senter, director of SOE’s Security Section, wrote to Dick White of MI5:
The following is an extract from a telegram received yesterday from Stockholm:
‘German Intelligence received message some time ago about impending arrival of paratroops in Denmark ... German Intelligence also knew these men had held goodbye feast on 22nd July in London. There is evidently a traitor in London.’
The hunt for that traitor was on, and it wouldn’t be long before Sneum’s name found a prominent place on the list of suspects. The shadow of the noose loomed large again. Tommy needed a friend like never before.
Chapter 43
POWERLESS
WHEN BRITAIN’S FIRST AGENT into Denmark was frog-marched into the governor’s office at Brixton Prison, he feared yet another interrogation. Instead, he was astonished to see Squadron Leader Otto Gregory of the Air Ministry and SIS sitting in the governor’s chair. Mr Benke had apparently been told to make himself scarce.
‘What the bloody hell are you doing here, Sneum?’ The dashing squadron leader looked genuinely baffled.
‘I’ve been here for months. Where the hell have you been?’
‘My dear boy, I had no idea you were here. I’ve been away.’
It was true: Gregory had been on SIS business in Russia, and there had been plenty of changes in his absence. On his return he had discovered that a message had been left for him at the RAC Club. He had heard about Tommy’s imprisonment and here he was, though he had to admit that he was powerless to do very much. From what he could gather, the ‘security people’ still weren’t satisfied with some of Tommy’s answers, and it would suit the political climate to keep him exactly where he was. Gregory suggested that it might even be safer for Sneum to stay inside.
Tommy recalled: ‘Gregory told me: “Watch your back if you get out. There are people who want to liquidate you.” He had risked his career to come and see me, but if someone threatened his friends he would do anything to stop them. He wasn’t a big man but he was a man of courage. He was probably the best friend I ever had in England.’
Back in Copenhagen, it was Christian Michael Rottboell’s radio operators who needed to watch their backs as the Germans closed in for the kill. On the night of 4 September 1942, the Abwehr sealed off the entire area around 8 Vinkelager, where Paul Johannesen, one such radio operator, was transmitting to Britain. As the house was stormed, Danish police were ordered into the front line, but the Abwehr’s Alsatian dogs alerted Johannesen to his imminent capture. He had time to pick up a pistol and open fire as the door flew open. A Danish policeman named Ostergaard Nielsen was killed and several others were wounded. Tragically, Nielsen was himself a member of the Danish resistance, but he had found no way to avoid carrying out German orders on that particular night.
Seeing himself hopelessly outnumbered, Johannesen shouted, ‘You won’t get me alive.’ Then he ran into another room and swallowed his ‘L’ pill, supplied by SOE in London. As the cyanide went to work on his body, Johannesen screamed, ‘Forgive me,’ and died in agony. It is not known whether he was talking to God or trying to apologize