Arrest of Portuguese spy altered history

Kyt · Mar 4, 2009

globeandmail.com: Arrest of Portuguese spy in 1942 altered history

LONDON -- Newly released British intelligence files reveal how a Nazi spy was snatched from a boat on the high seas before he could warn Germany that an Allied convoy was steaming ahead to invade North Africa.

It was a little-known episode that changed the course of the Second World War.

Gastao de Freitas Ferraz, the radio operator on a Portuguese cod-fishing vessel, was secretly feeding Germany information about the movements of Allied ships in the North Atlantic.

The story of his capture, a week before the invasion by U.S. and British forces, is contained in previously secret documents from the MI5 security service released today by Britain's National Archives.

Cambridge University historian Christopher Andrew said the file "changes our understanding of British history" and offers new information on Britain's intelligence battle against the Nazis.

On Nov. 8, 1942, British and U.S. troops under General Dwight Eisenhower landed in Morocco and Algeria, which were occupied by the troops from Germany and the pro-Nazi Vichy French regime.

The French forces were quickly overcome, but German troops under General Erwin Rommel resisted. After fierce armoured desert battles lasting into 1943, the Germans were defeated. It was a turning point in the war that helped lay the groundwork for the D-Day invasion of 1944.

But all that might have changed if Mr. de Freitas Ferraz had not been captured.

Portugal was neutral during the war, but the files reveal that in 1942, British spies had become suspicious of "unnatural behaviour" by Portuguese fishing boats, including ones with elaborate communications equipment.

Mr. de Freitas Ferraz's boat, the Gil Eannes, was searched while in port at St. John's, and MI5 decided the radio operator should be arrested.

But the documents show the detention was bungled. Mr. de Freitas Ferraz was finally arrested in a mid-Atlantic raid by HMS Duke of York on Nov 1, 1942, and taken to Gibraltar and then Britain for interrogation. The MI5 file includes a first-person biographical statement and confession.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Arrest of Portuguese spy altered history

Kyt Άρης

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Arrest of Portuguese spy altered history

Thread Tools

Kyt Άρης

Share This Page

Useful Searches