Not everyone who tried to help Germany during the Second World War had arrived from abroad. Some were already living in Britain, going about their lives while looking for ways to help the enemy.
In early 1942, MI5 gave Eric Roberts, who had already been involved in undercover intelligence work, a new assignment. He was to pose as a representative of the German secret police and identify people who were willing to help Germany.
Roberts had previously worked as a clerk for Westminster Bank and he lived in Epsom, Surrey. Using the name Jack King, he pretended to be organising a network of people who could secretly help Germany.
One of the people he contacted was Marita Perigoe, a woman with strong pro-German sympathies. She was eager to help the German war effort and believed Roberts was genuine. She introduced him to other people.who shared her views.
Roberts began meeting his contacts at a flat in London's Edgware Road, where MI5 had secretly installed microphones to record their conversations.
One of those contacts was Hans Kohout, an Austrian-born naturalised British citizen who worked for John Dickinson, a company involved in secret Admiralty and Air Ministry contracts.
Kohout supplied information about 'Window', a wartime development that used strips of metallic foil to confuse German radar. He had also managed to obtain details about the Mosquito aircraft. At the same time, he was serving in Civil Defence, helping with Britain's wartime protection efforts.
Other contacts supplied information about fuel storage sites, aircraft technology and an amphibious tank undergoing secret trials.
The people handing over these details believed they were helping German intelligence. Instead, their information was reaching MI5, which could investigate those involved and prevent the material from reaching Germany.
Roberts had been instructed not to encourage people to commit acts against Britain. His job was to identify individuals already willing to assist the enemy.
Although the operation continued for several years, MI5 concluded, after consulting the police, that prosecutions were not feasible. Defence lawyers could argue that the undercover methods had encouraged the very activities being investigated.
I find it particularly disturbing that people like Hans Kohout could be carrying on with their ordinary lives, even serving in Civil Defence, while secretly trying to pass British military information to Germany. It makes me wonder how many people living alongside them had any idea what they were doing.
Had you heard about this MI5 operation and the people involved?
Source: MI5 - Eric Roberts' Undercover Work in World War II.
Image info:
British Ministry of Information wartime poster, The National Archives, INF 3/270. Public domain.
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