The Hornet's Sting_ The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum - Mark Ryan [51]
Gregory agreed that the valour Tommy had shown in order to bring the British this precious intelligence had been truly exceptional. So much so that Sneum later claimed: ‘Otto Gregory told me that if I had shown such bravery in a combat situation, I would probably have been recommended for a Victoria Cross. He said he thought I deserved one for what I had done.’
While such an accolade was gratifying to hear, Tommy was already thinking of his colleagues back home, and how he could help them. His stock had suddenly risen so dramatically that he sensed it was the right moment to renew his plea for a Sunderland sea-plane. His wartime report stated the following:
I informed the British that I had collected together a bunch of Danish aviators, who wished to take part actively in the fight against Germany; and that, because of a promise I had received in Stockholm, I wanted to pick them up as soon as possible, even if it meant me parachuting down into Denmark and collecting them for pick-up at the appointed place, Lake Tissoe.
Perhaps Tommy was a victim of his own success. Although his audience showed a pleasing enthusiasm for the plan, they were far more interested in what he had achieved (and what he might achieve in the future) as a spy than in any friends he had back home. Gregory would doubtless have made all the right noises about seeing what he could do to get the Danish pilots picked up. But he would already have been consumed with other, more pressing questions. Who in Britain should be granted access to Sneum’s gold-mine of intelligence? And how could one British covert organization recruit such a valuable man without the other British covert organization knowing anything about it?
Being from the Air Ministry, Gregory was attached to the Secret Intelligence Service (or MI6, as it is more commonly known nowadays, the branch of the British Secret Service responsible for overseas security), rather than the newly formed Special Operations Executive, which had been created to cause chaos behind enemy lines in occupied Europe. So he and his masters in SIS set about trying to keep Sneum and Pedersen to themselves, at least until a further plan of action could be devised.
But none of this potentially damaging interdepartmental rivalry would become clear to Tommy and Kjeld until much later. Having made his fresh request for the pick-up of his colleagues back home, Tommy just wanted to get out of the Royal Patriotic School and find his way into the thick of the wartime action.
His hopes were raised when Gregory, brandishing his Air Ministry credentials, cut straight through the red tape and released both newly arrived Danes immediately. Sneum and Pedersen were escorted to a hotel in central London, and waited to see what would happen next. At least they were free.
The following day, however, Gregory turned up at the hotel looking worried. He said they would have to go back to Battersea to ‘take care of a few formalities.’ When they arrived, it was clear that they were at the center of a tug of war. Sneum explained: ‘The commanding officer at the school was furious because we had been taken away without his permission. We had to go back and sleep one more night there while it was all cleared up. So then it was Gregory’s turn to be furious, and I was just as angry. But I controlled myself and just told everyone that I was sure it would be perfectly OK in the end.’
As he lay on a rock-hard bed, Sneum wasn’t sure what to make of the British any more. He mused later: ‘It seemed to me that for the most part the British were disorganized, deeply incompetent, and hostile to all foreigners, even