TRUE TALES OF SECRET SERVICE

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 6 (Supplement)

TRUE TALES OF SECRET SERVICE

| DONALD CAMPBELL)=:|

I &o. 10.]

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND: TEUTON V. GAUL.

' When France was setting her house in order after the disastrous FrancoPrussian war of 1870-71, she - also reorganised her General Staff, and then came into being that celebrated "Second Bureau" which has since played'sue! a great part in military and political history. A large and efficient secret service system was built up, and Commandant Sandherr, an Alsatian with a very distinguished career, eventually was placed in charge in IS9O.

At that period the Second Bureau employed a' number of men known officially.as Agents of the Ministry of .War. They were mostly chosen, from intelligent and educated non-commis-sioned officers in the. Army, and they formed a useful backing to the speciallytrained staff officers who were sent out on "unofficial missions."

. The relations between France and Germany we're always strained. Germany never relaxed her espionage, while France gradually placed her own agents throughout the Fatherland, especially in military centres. The vast ramifications of espionage all over. Europe were shown iip in the sensational Dreyfus case, now happily forgotten. It was a matter of common knowledge that there was a complicated spy service both in France and Germany, but most people who heard even a little of the truth shrugged their shoulders, not realising the intense work of the Epies on both sides and the risks they ran. • . .

Monsieur E. Lajoux, who was for years a confidential agent of the Second Bureau, has left a very eloquent diary, which, if somewhat marred by the expression of his own likes and dislikes in the French service, nevertheless gives a vivid picture of the plots and conspiracies vliich were prevalent for years before the Great "War. Sandherr received Lajoux, who had been recommended by his former commanding officer, and employed him on probation. that he was satisfactory, he then sent him on a mission on which many French agents had been employed already and who had all failed. The.mission was to discover the organising chief of the German secret service ,for France. It was known that this individual had his main headquarters in Belgium, probably' in Brussels, which was then happy hunting ground for Germans of'all sorts-and conditions. ' ". Recruiting the Spies. ' At this time there began the system of recruiting spies by "In various well-known -Continental papers There appeared advertisements asking for correspondents for journals and periodicals. If the applicant could sketch, or was related to any prominent official or senior officer, he or she (preferably "she") invariably, received an offer for spare time .work:;' Sometimes'the innocent applicant would be "nursed" l"6r months, receiving nice little sums for pinmoney, and then she would receive a questionaire or a request to make sketches of certain place's. ■ Later, when photography became .popular, photos were asked for.; Thus.unconscious spies •were recruited, also beginners, -'men and women, who might be in financial straits and who made the fact known to the generous foreign gazette which enc'our-fl-ged their journalistic'outpourings.

Now iLajous did not answer any of these advertisements. He went straight up to" Brussels, and by a most miraculous stroke of luck he met the very man who Was placing:these advertisements in the various; Continental.'.papers. On arrival 'in Brussels he-was accosted by a French detective who had'been attached to the .War DepartSiient; an, -jgiiorant. fellow like ijnany of iis kind in those days. Lajoux ".hacTwords with hinyand, thoroughly dis:gusted.!with the'man's -imbecility in .'recognising-him in. public, went into a :cafe for a .-drink. A good-looking man, •■well'dressed and obviously tired of Sis own' cqnipany, got into conversation with him. and commiserated,with him over the incident at jthe station. "-"•.'•• v "X haft trouble with that man when •we served in the" army, and now lie is trying to advantage of his'official position," said the quick-witted Frenchman. ■*-.'. Employed as a Spy. •■•'-,.• who had entered into conversation with Lajoux then introduced^himself as Cuers. Hβ was in business in Brussels, ho said, but really only-dabbled in things in order to avoid the idleness engendered by a small income. Without definitely saying so, he inferred he was a.. Frenchman who had some political trouble at home. As there were thousands in ii parallel case, this, was nothing out of the way. Cuers, when he became confidential, always lamented the fact that he had not been allowed to take an,.army commission. He was extraordinarily wellinformed in all military matters from infantry equipment to'.the latest developments in frontier fortification. He invited Lajoux to his hoine-a-nd entertained him •well. Cuers was a man who could , drink cnovmously without'becoming intoxicated or beastly. He also had a delicate appreciation of the arts.

Tie offered Lajoux employment writing reports for him for a certain newspaper with which he was connected, not actual news, but Ion" inlormatory articles o£ the . type, then current in the Continental Press. Uradiwlly he employed the Frenchman in other ways,,: testing him carefully .ajoux was not quite certain .whether l ners.was really an important" German aeent or not,-but he was taking no risks. It was.now Xajoux found himselt actually employed as a spy. • Slowly he worked .himself into" Guers' confidence until he became his" ri"ht hand man and discovered that Cuers was the chief organising agent of Germany in France and Belgium. He «-ot to know Major von Wencker, the autocrat chief of the German military information- -department," arid: "-Pierre Thiessen, a-major in the. Belgian civic ana id who did five 'years'' imprisonment in Franca and then ueeaiiie chief. Belgian agent for the • Germans.'He-aiso' met a foolish young French officer" who was absent without leave in Brussels,' and who was cleverly'used by German njronts- and then -left to starve. Lajoux found he was very much handicapped by the orders pfhiff own department. In those days, no French secret service agent was allowed to make himself known to any French .Ambas-

sador, consul, or diplomatic official abroad unless specially instructed- to do so. The Germans acted in a totally different manner, and were in constant touch, with.. their national representatives. It was when a German officer named Schmeider came "to Brussels on Ms way to France, where he was to become a • commercial traveller named Forgeron, that Lajoux determined. lie had better "return to Paris, where lie made a voluminous report and received the congratulations of his superiors. - Five Years for a Spy. ' ■ ■ !

"Forgeron" was arrested near Bordeaux and interrogated by Captain Burckhardt, an Alsatian in the French secret service who asked for Lajoux's assistance. Through an accident in going into the wrong room, Lajoux stumbled across "Forgeron," who swore vengeance, so the French, agent decided to go the whole hog, and forged a telegram in "Forgeron's" name ' to Cuera at. Brussels. The answer duly arrived, and served to convict the German agent who was sentenced' to five years' Imprisonment for espionage. But the German had not shot his bolt. He prevailed upon the prison chaplain, a very aged priest, to post a letter to "his dear old father," but Lajoux was on the watch and fortunately managed to intercept this letter which denounced "Krantmann," which was Lajoux's name on the pay list of the German service with which lie had not parted company, being on special leave which he had managed to obtain through. Cuers' good offices. After the imprisonment of "Forgeron," Sandherr at the French. War Office discovered that the Germans were seeking the secret of the new French powder. Together with this came the information that Cuers had installed himself in Paris in the- guise of a . wealthy medical research, student of Dutch nationality. Cuers. really lov ( ed Paris and its Latin Quarter.' He sneered openly at the Prussians, their arrogance and lack of manners. Like Heine, he far preferred France, though, unlike the poet, he worked against her. He was a complete enigma, this handsome, artistic man of the world, who hated his own trade. He had a heart and human sympathies.The arrival of a special secret envoy from Berlin in the person of a haughty young Guards officer named Lieut. Von Arvcnden caused Cuers to busy himself once more in an attempt to, procure the secret of the new. French powder. A packet of the new cartridges was sold to him by the good offices'of Lajoux, biit these cartridges much annoyed the German chemist to whom they were submitted for aiialysis. They were made for the occasion'. '.";'.', ' ■ ■'■ ... On the German Frontier.

In 1593 the French Intelligence authorities were much alarmed by a report to the effect that Belgium was secretly allied to Germany, and more agents were added to the strength. Lajoux was sent on active espionage, and spent N some dangerous weeks .on the frontier. • Italy was also-giving trouble. The Germans were.using a number of Italian officers and officials as agents in Paris, and these had to be shadowed without giving . offence.-to the Latin kingdom. Then Bachir, the faithful doorkeeper of the private entrance to the Second Bureau, was found poisoned! He was a gigantic Senegalese, devoted to Sandherr and of herculean strength. By a tragic coincidence his beloved master.was to die poisoned, also' by a spy disguised as a waiter on the Brussels-Paris express.

That stupidity that sometimes counteracts the cleverest work came into evi.denco when Commandant Sandhcrr attended a wedding. The announcement appeared in "Le Figaro," France's society daily newspaper, that Commandant Sandherr, "Chief of the Army Information Service," was among those present. How the Germans must have chuckled, for the French had been keeping this department entirely secret. In fact, very little wa,s really known of it until the-revelation of the disastrous Dreyfus case, which played such havoc among , .the higher ranks of the French army. It is not my intention to write- of that case here, except to say that the former Captaiii Dreyfus is now a -Major and artillery adviser in the French army, and that all German agents who knew of the case stated that ho was entirely innocent of the charge of treason brought against him —and spies occasionally exchange confidences when they meet on neutral ground. . Lajoux then was put on to the Far Eastern section, and had to deal with the Japanese, whose methods were also subtle. They were endeavouring to get information concerning the Russians through the French, who then were in alliance with the Muscovites.

Master' Spy Sent to France. . Germany sent a. vaster-spy to France in the person of Colonel Schwartzkopfen, who organised a thorough system of espionage , among the French high coirK maud. He spent money like water, but never, wasted it. He played a great part behind the scenes ill the' Great War, but never allowed his identity to be known, nor has he vet written a book of reminiscences. 'It "is a pity he has not, but perhaps too many reputations would be ruined. ' •

'-.Monsieur Lajoux's diary sliows tho cor-; nipliou that was prevalent in espionage before tlie war, and how cosmopolitan rogues often managed to make a good living out of pretending to be spies and selling false or semi-accurate information! There was an Englishman who made money in this way once upon a time, and -actually . swindled' General Bullor by a story of a War Ollice conspiracy to disgrace liiin. This Englishman had previously sold "information" to the.French and then to the War Ollice in London. He was recognised by a French ullicer who was haying a drink with an English colleague in a 'well-known West iEnd bar. As, -if result of this our

"information" merchant left.the country and was asked not to.come back again. But with the over-changing- aspect of war and the tremendous strides made in the dread science of killing-, it isdoubttul whether spies of the old ''.übious type could find employment nowadays. Lajoux foresaw "this, and deplored the employment ■ •.o£_..;adventurers whose sole capability was to write lying reports so as to obtain moreVmonev. ;,He had a -singular contempt fpi-tho civilian detective. This was undoubtedly because he himself had hnished his three years' military service as "a warrant officer and a trained topographist, an art which in those days was absolutely essttitiaUo the military secret aieiit; because aviation was unknown and loiliticalions-were mostly above ground.

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