Handbook for Spies

by Foote Alexander

My first port of call was, of course, the Soviet Embassy in the Rue de Grenelle. I approached it somewhat circumspectly as I did not know conditions in Paris, whether it was likely to be watched or whether the arrival of a stray person there would be conspicuous. I need not have worried: the place was in complete chaos. I was quite unable to discover anyone who knew anything, who or where anyone was, or what anyone was supposed to be doing; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that I found anyone who could understand any known Western language. The entire ground floor of the embassy was occupied by a seething mob of Russian ex-prisoners of war whose main object in life appeared to be attempting to cadge cigarettes off me. At last I managed to make linguistic contact with one of the less ferocious-looking types in the place who realised that I wanted to see some high official and he gave me an address in the Rue de Prony where he alleged there were some Russian officials who might be the ones I wanted. It was obviously useless to stay where I was, and anyway my stock of cigarettes was running low, so I went off to the address. There I found that the Soviet Military Mission had just arrived in the building (the former Lithuanian Legation) and was busy installing itself.

The doorkeeper below luckily spoke French, as he had been fighting in the Maquis for part of the war, and I told him that I wanted to see "the chief' as I had important news from Switzerland. After only a short delay I was ushered in to see Lieutenant Colonel Novikov, who appeared to be in charge at that time.

Novikov was a tall fair flying officer with more than the usual share of Slav charm. Unfortunately for me, this was his first visit outside Russia and he did not appear to have much knowledge of intelligence work. Things were not made easier by the fact that he was at this interview willing to talk only Russian and the conversation had to take place through his adjutant, who acted as interpreter. At first he was reluctant to accept me at my face value and to take any action regarding my request that he get in touch with the Centre about me. He told me later that before leaving Moscow he had been warned to be on his guard against agents provocateurs and had been instructed to treat all unknown visitors as such until the contrary could be proved. Fortunately, during this first interview, when conversation was at its stickiest, the Soviet naval attaché from London came into the room and took a hand. He was evidently an old hand at the game, and after a few questions he seemed convinced that I was genuine and advised Novikov to treat me as such. I feel sure that he himself had worked at some time for the Centre, as both Rado's and my cover names seemed familiar to him, and when he asked the cover names of our main sources the answers seemed to give him satisfaction- as if they tallied with his recollection.

Once confidence had been established, my first request to Novikov was to be put in touch with Rado since, as he had left Switzerland for Paris some weeks before, I felt quite sure he had arrived and made his number by that time. Novikov assured me, however, that he had not yet shown up. He then agreed to send off a cable to Moscow about me, giving my cover names and also the cover names of other members of the organisation such as Albert (Rado), Cissie, Pakbo, Lucy, etc., and ask for the control questions so that they could be put to me. He also agreed to send off the voluminous information that I had brought with me from Pakbo and Lucy.

This information was in French and German and Novikov explained that his cipher was designed only for messages in Russian. He therefore asked me to stay on legation premises and help with the translation. This took a day and a night, with me translating the material into English and Novikov's adjutant retranslating it into Russian. As a result, I had not finished this task till the morning of November 11, and I was then told that a reply to their telegram about me to the Centre could not be expected for about six days. They kindly offered me the hospitality of the legation in the meanwhile, but I refused as this would have meant being cooped up in a room all the time till the answer was received. I preferred to go to a hotel outside and take a chance that the fact that my papers were not in order would not be spotted. I therefore arranged a rendezvous with Novikov's adjutant for a week ahead, under cover of darkness, at the corner of the Rue de Prony.

I had some difficulty in finding a hotel, as all the big ones had been taken over by the Allies and most of the small ones were unwilling to let rooms for a period as they could make more money letting their rooms by the hour to soldiers and their companions, the usual establishments having all been closed by the police after the liberation on the grounds of collaboration. After a couple of failures I found a room with the aid of a couple of packets of cigarettes as a douceur. Accommodation was always a difficulty since, having neither an entry visa for France nor a permis de sejour for Paris, my papers, to say the least, were not in order and I would be liable to arrest if I were picked up in a police raid or reported by a zealous hotel manager. As a result I moved my hotel every few days until in the end I found an obliging hotelier who, realising that I was phony, blandly increased his charges tenfold in recognition of the fact that I remained there unmolested till I left the city.

I had chosen the right day to see Paris, as Churchill and Eden were with General de Gaulle at the Armistice Day celebrations. The enthusiasm of the French on seeing Churchill was tremendous and it was a memorable occasion for me also, since it was the first time I had seen the great war leader who, when I left England, was still in political outer darkness.

The adjutant kept the rendezvous a week later and told me that Novikov had received a reply from the Centre but that I was to come again the next evening as all the telegrams for me from the Centre had not yet been deciphered. Accordingly I presented myself at the rendezvous again the next night and after the control questions had been put and correctly answered the atmosphere mellowed considerably and we all settled down to an enormous dinner liberally washed down with vodka and wine.

The Centre had sent a whole series of questions for me to answer, most of them pertinent and most of them not unnaturally concerning the fate of the organisation. One or two, however, were rather odd; for example: "Were agents of the Abwehr present when you were interrogated by the Swiss police?" I assume that they thought my arrest had been entirely the result of Abwehr tip-offs and that there was a much closer liaison between the Bupo and the Abwehr than in fact was the case; unless, of course, it was a trick question of such subtlety that I failed to see the point. The director was also very much concerned over the fate of Rado and asked Novikov to find out discreedy whether he had not perhaps been arrested by the French police.

In my first message to the Centre I had pointed out that the network in Switzerland was completely intact and that all it needed was a means of communication and funds; it could then continue exactly as before. I had suggested that a new transmitter be installed either in Geneva or just over the frontier in French Communist- controlled Annemasse, with the local French and Swiss Communist parties running a system of couriers from the main cut-outs in Switzerland. The director preferred the second plan and I was instructed to work out a detailed organisation for this.