Evening star., 1950-09-28
! Fought Spies--vIll
Number Is Betroys German Spy Who Aided
Operatives in Their Search to Locate Him
By Col. oreste Pinto

ecopyright. 1850. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
He was q worried and scholarly
little man. He did not look like
o hero. His fingers shivered as he
unbuckled the leather box from his
thin shoulders. Dark cats OF fear
stretched claws in his stomach.
The Gestapo men had been
seeking him for 20 hours. That
is long time to crouch alone
among foreign sand-dunes, suck a
salted soup cube for food, pray
that soon the Observation-Disclosures
might move their wireless detec-
ton van further towards Zee
brugge, give time for his tiny ra-
dio to chatter it's important, fur
tive message across the dark sea
to England.
He looked again at his wrist
watch. He did not want to die.
But death would hurt less, when
that message had been sent.
Slowly. he inched up the dulled
metal ribbon that was his trans
mitter aerial, until it protuded
clear Of the dune crest.
The rustic of his Morse key was
no louder than an insect in the
Invasion Plan Mentioned.
In London that same early
morning of September, 1910. the
little Thames boats of the recent
Dunkirk rescue unveiled their torn
sails and bullet holes to a new
days sunshine.
Smoke drifted over the tumbled
craters of the previous nights
Luftwaffe bombardment.
1 had spent the night in my Of
fee. Yawning. I began to shave.
A young intelligence officer bus
tied in. "A message for you, SIR, :
he said.
I held it up to the pale dawn
window light to read.
"U-boat departs Zeebrugge to-
night 21-30 hours carrying four
spies instructed land England be-
fore daylight South Coast map
position 432925, these men care
fully selected and trained for spe-'
cial mission regarding German
Operation Sealion."
Operation Sealion-the German
code word for invasion of Britain!
Four spies to be landed by U-boat
on the South Coast tonight. -.
Churchill Gave Details.
The situation as it was then
known to us was later described
in precise detail by Mr.. Winston
Churchill in his Second World
War-Vol. 2, from messages OF
our agents in Occupied Europe:
"On September 7 the informa-
ton before u.s." Mr.. Churchill was
to write, showed that the westerly
and southerly movement OF barges
and small ships to posts between
Ostend and Havre was in prog
reSS. -.
"The striking strength Of the
German Air Force between Am-
sterdam and Brest had been IN
creased by the transfer Of 1901
bomber aircraft from Norway; and
short-range dive bomber units
were observed on the forward air. |
fields In the Pas de Calais area.
s.Four Germans captured a few
days earlier after landing from a
rowboat had confessed to be-
ing spies, and said they were to
be ready at any time during the
next fortnight to report the move
ments of British reserve forma-
tions in the area between Ipswich
London-Reading- Oxford.
Stood on Brink of Peril.
Moon and tide conditions be-
tween the 9th and 10th were
favorable for invasion on the
southeast coast.
ION this, the Chiefs OF Staft
concluded that the possibility OF
invasion had become imminent"
All these now historic messages
passed to Mr.. Churchill and his
Chiefs of Staff, had come from
Military Intelligence. I had seen
them. I knew we stood upon the
brink of peril.
But on this particular morning
of September, was ahead OF Mr..
Churchill.
The map reference was that OF
a lonely ribbon of beach in a small
crescent shaped creek on the
south coast. Cliffs lowered over
it. Not even a solitary farm or
lonely fisherman's cottage, for