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CHAPTER 48: REWARDS AND MEMORIES

Note 1: Page 328, Lines 16-17: ‘It wasn’t a question of “stealing SIS’s thunder,” as one historian claimed,’ ... That was how EH Cookridge put it in his excellent book “Inside SOE.”

Note 2: Page 329, Lines 11-12: “ . . . Turnbull, who was able to say later: Turnbull made these remarks during interviews with Mark Ryan between 1999 and 2003.

Note 3: Page 332, Lines 3-14: Dialogue reconstructed with the help of Tommy Sneum, whose memories of this conversation with Gyth—and their showdown later than night—remained consistent from 1998 to 2006.

CHAPTER 49: COMING HOME

Note 1: Page 337, Line 1: “ . . . Reichsmarschall Herman Goering.” On 31st January 1943 105 Squadron became the first Mosquito unit to bomb Berlin. They disrupted plans for Goering and Goebbels to address parades in the morning and later Goering expressed his fury in a way that only boosted the standing of the Mosquito. Goering’s humiliation that day was compounded by a boast that had come back to haunt him. He had insisted that Allied planes would never fly in the skies above Berlin and leave in one piece. Now he had to admit he was wrong.

Note 2: Page 340, Line 12: “ . . . Kastrup airport,” RV Jones clearly thought he had succeeded in arranging this, because he wrote in his book, “Most Secret War,” ‘ . . . I persuaded the Royal Air Force to let [Sneum] lead his squadron into the airport at Copenhagen as the first of the Allied Forces to take it back from the Germans.’ Sneum insisted to Mark Ryan that this had never happened, however honourable Jones’ intentions had been.

Note 3: Page 340, Line 17: “ ... Hiroshima and Nagasaki . . . ” The bombs were dropped on August 6 and August 9, 1945. Around 140,000 had died on Hiroshima by the end of the year as a result of the bombing there. On Nagasaki the figure was closer to 80,000. But around 250,000 people had lost their lives on the tiny island of Okinawa alone that summer, during fierce fighting between US and Japanese forces. Therefore it was deemed that the use of the atom bombs would save lives in the long run, even though the world was shocked by their destructive force.

Note 4: Page 340, Line 32: “ . . . doing similar work for us during the German occupation.” This document is in the author’s possession.

Note 5: Page 341, Line 16: “ . . . posted to 1 Squadron . . . ” From Kjeld Pedersen’s official RAF record.

Note 6: Page 342, Line 14: “ . . . their favourite tale time and again . . . ” Sneum’s story was still being told on internet websites dedicated to flying, by former RAF Acklington servicemen among others, at the start of the 21st century.

EPILOGUE: THE HORNET’S STING

Note 1: Page 343, Lines 6-7: “ . . . with the following news:” War Office Files, National Archives, London.

Note 2: Page 344, Line 25: “ . . . Duus Hansen.” Having been appointed chief of clandestine Danish radio-communications with England in the summer of 1943, Duus Hansen was always going to become a marked man sooner or later. On December 6, 1944, his private Copenhagen home at Klosterrisvej 8 was blown up by the German police. In January1945 Duus Hansen made it to England via Sweden for a round of technical consultations. While in England he was made a lieutenant in the Royal East Kent Regiment—better known as “The Buffs.” This was the regiment that most Danish soldiers and would-be agents joined during the war. Finally he returned to Denmark via Sweden, despite the obvious risks. Tommy Sneum’s finest recruit survived the war.

Note 3: Page 345, Line 12: “R.V. Jones wrote later:” In his acclaimed book, “Most Secret War.”

Note 4: Page 347, Lines 29-30: “ . . . when he answered a letter from the historian Jorgen Hastrup.” The author Mark Ryan still has a copy of this letter.

Note 5: Page 350, Lines 1-7: “Sure enough . . . bomb was built.” Richard Rhodes gives a compelling account of that momentous day in his magnificent book, “The Making of the Atom Bomb.”