21 Oct Penetration
Security Memo concerning enemy agents who might be in a position to compromise the American interned airmen.
When I was going through sixty-year-old files and boxes from WWII OSS Stockholm at the National Archives this past week, I found several references to “Penetration” of the USAAF Internees by German agents. Since Sweden was a neutral country, there were people milling around from every country, Allied and Axis.
The counterespionage section of the Office of Strategic Services (known as X-2) kept files of anyone and everyone suspect. For example, I found pertinent remarks, occasionally with a home address, on each waitress who worked at one of the restaurants frequented by the Nazis. For example: “Lilly O. Quite intelligent. Has direct contact with the Gestapo. Often seen off duty with Germans.”
The U.S. Internees were instructed to be extremely cautious. The OSS worked with the office of the Air Attaché, Colonel Felix Hardison, to have a security officer appointed for each group of airmen. Each flyer would make a report with the names and particulars of persons with whom they came in contact, together with any suspicious activity which they may have observed.
I found many such reports written up by my Dad, Lt. Herman F. Allen. This was one of his responsibilities in the Air Attaché office in Stockholm.
The Grand Hotel in Malmö is where the airmen who were working on repairing the interned airplanes stayed. Liberty Lady crew member Donald S. Courson stayed at the Grand Hotel for many months. He tells me that he doesn’t remember running into any spies but “Who knows?”
Joy
Posted at 16:31h, 21 Octoberwhen you say the OSS worked with Hardison to appoint a security officer for each ‘group of airmen’, which groups does it refer to? every body living in a given place (pensionate, etc) together, everybody in a given ‘camp’, people who were on leave and visting the cities, each crew or some other type of group? Was this person known, for them to report information to?
Pat
Posted at 06:57h, 22 OctoberGreat question. Yes, each group (such as, the airmen staying at a particular internee camp or airport) must have had someone appointed to take care of this. For example, Charlie Huntoon, a pilot who was stationed at Satenas airport, was the security officer for the other men stationed there. If someone reported anything suspicious to him, Charlie would travel to Stockholm and give the information to my Dad.