Acknowledgements
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks to Heather McCallum, managing director at Yale University Press, for commissioning this book and for being so enthusi- astic about the project; also to Marika Lysandrou of the editorial team for her excellent insights and sharp observations, which have significantly enhanced the book, and Rachael Lonsdale and staff at Yale for their profes- sional advice, patience and expertise in publishing the book. These senti- ments are echoed, too, for my copy editor, Clive Liddiard, who has been meticulous. I am very grateful to my incredibly hard- working and dedi- cated agent, Andrew Lownie, for his support for my projects, particularly this book, and for understanding what makes me tick (thus enabling me to write the books that I feel drawn to write). This book could not have been written without the generous support of veterans and their families: to the veteran who wishes to remain unnamed – a real gentleman, who has discussed his memories of the London Cage over coffee and lunch in wonderful restaurants in London – thank you. Also to Second World War veteran and MI19 secret listener Fritz Lustig for trans- lating extracts from the original German; Lucy Sheffel; Mrs Pamela Coate (widow of Randoll Coate); Geoffrey Marx; the late Marika Rotter; Peter Leon; Nigel Morgan; Barbara Lloyd, granddaughter of Colonel Thomas Joseph Kendrick; and Carol Curties, granddaughter of Bertie Acton Burnell. A huge amount of support has been given to me by Mark Birdsall and Deborah McDonald of Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine. They have also kindly provided photographs for the book. From museums and archives, I am indebted to Fred Judge and Joyce Hutton for giving access to unpub- viii 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd vviiiiii 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix lished material at the Military Intelligence Museum, Chicksands, and also to staff at the National Archives and Historic England. A number of colleagues, fellow historians and researchers have advised and shared the fruits of their research. Sincere thanks to Derek Nudd for material relating to Naval Intelligence and MI19 from his own research; historian and expert on SOE, Steven Kippax; MI5 expert and historian Phil Tomaselli; Lee Richards, historian of psychological warfare (psywar.org); military historian Dr Roderick Bailey; Julian Putkowski, Mark Scoble, Peter Lawrence, Colonel John Starling and Norman Brown of the Royal Pioneer Corps Association; and Dick Smith for information on Camp 21. Sincere thanks to a number of friends – too many to list – who support me throughout my work, but especially Alexia Dobinson, James Hamilton, Daphne and Paul Ruhleman, Frank Gent and Brana Thorn, Stanley Gilbert, Alan Perkin, Claudia Rubenstein and Trudy Gold. Sincere thanks to my family, who are a constant support and who enable me to carry out my research and writing. And finally, to my crea- tive, artistic friend Louisa Albani, without whom this book would not have happened. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd iixx 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM x 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd x 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 1 A photograph of Nos. 8 and 8a Kensington Palace Gardens, taken in 1938 by ‘the German Section of the Foreign Office, Hayes’ during the search for suitable premises to requisition ‘for special purposes’ after the outbreak of war. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd A 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 2 The northern gatehouse entrance to Kensington Palace Gardens, taken by ‘the German Section of the Foreign Office’ in 1938. On the left can be seen Nos. 6 and 7 which later became the London Cage during the Second World War. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd B 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 3 Floor plan of the basement rooms of No. 8 Kensington Palace Gardens in the 1930s when the building was leased by Lord Duveen. During the war these basement rooms were soundproofed and used for interrogations and various other treatments of prisoners. One of these rooms was kitted out as ‘Cell 14’. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd C 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 4 Colonel Alexander Paterson Scotland. 5 German prisoners of war newly arrived at the Kempton Park ‘cage’, being briefed by British soldiers about their status and camp discipline. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd D 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 6 German prisoners being searched after the Bruneval raid, 1942. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd E 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 7 Major Lovatt’s forces marching for embarkation upon the raid on Bologne, accompanied by an intelligence officer from the London Cage. 8 Interrogator Randoll Coate. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd F 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 9 Interrogator Kenneth Morgan, sketched by a German prisoner at the London Cage. 10 A Second World War intelligence poster. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd G 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 11 Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who was befriended by Colonel Scotland while being interrogated at the London Cage as a possible war criminal. 12 Nazi war criminal SS General Kurt Meyer, interrogated at the London Cage. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd H 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 13 An RAF aerial photograph of the paddock of Kensington Palace which became a temporary annexe camp alongside the London Cage, ‘for secret purposes’, in preparation for the increased numbers of prisoners captured after D-Day. It is possible to see the forty-nine bell tents and ancillary buildings used for the canteen, wash facilities and some preliminary interrogations. The camp has a triple barbed wire fence around it. This photograph was taken in 1946 just after the camp annexe was vacated by the War Office. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd I 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 14 The special entry pass to the London Cage held by Major Bertie Acton Burnell of MI19. 15 Members of the battalion of SS soldiers who carried out the massacre of surrendering British soldiers at Le Paradis, France, 1940. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd J 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 16 SS Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Knöchlein, the commander who gave the order to shoot the captured British soldiers at Le Paradis, which constituted a war crime. 17 The farmhouse where the Le Paradis massacre took place, the bullet holes in the wall still chillingly visible. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd K 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 18 SS General Sepp Dietrich. 19 The site of the Wormhoudt massacre, 1940. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd L 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 20 A rare news report, one of the few to ever emerge about the London Cage during its existence, which appeared in the Evening News, 7 March 1946. The prisoner has not been publicly named. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd M 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 21 The written statement by Major- General Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke made during his time at the London Cage, August 1946. 22 Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt interviewed at the London Cage in connection with war crimes. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd N 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 23 The War Crimes Investigation Unit outside the London Cage. Seated in the middle of the front row is Colonel Alexander Scotland. He is flanked on his left by Miss Metzler, and on his right by Lucy Haley. On the back row, third from left is Gary Leon, and furthest left is Martin Eversfield. 24 The Russian Embassy today, Nos. 6–7 Kensington Palace Gardens. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd O 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM 25 At his desk, Ian Fleming, who recruited Antony Terry, senior interrogator and deputy at the London Cage, to work for the foreign section of The Sunday Times from 1949–80. 55449_WEB.indd449_WEB.indd P 115/07/175/07/17 77:44:44 PMPM.