Plane schedules forced an overnight layover in London on the way to Uganda. Not that I minded, there are 4 segments to the trip from St. Croix - St. Croix to San Juan, San Juan to Miami, Miami to London, London to Entebbe. Taken in one itinerary it amounts to 63 hours travel time, too long for someone of my vintage to take in one fell swoop. A reservation at a Heathrow-adjacent hotel fixes that problem nicely. On the morning of the evening I was to fly the London to Entebbe leg, I decided to take the Underground into London and visit the Imperial War Museum.

I had read on-line they had a nice exhibit on wartime espionage, long a subject of more than casual interest for me. So I hopped the Piccadilly line to the Piccadilly station, changed to a southbound train and exited and Lambeth North. A five minute walk on a bright but chilly day brought me to the Museum. I wandered around the display of restored military vehicles, spoke with another museum visitor who happened to be a veteran of the British military who had flown PBY's from the Shetland Islands during the war, then made my way upstairs to the spy exhibit.

I took these photos of radios used by agents from WWII into the Cold War. There was little technical information supplied, maybe you know something about them and could share it with the rest of us. If you do please comment by clicking on the tab below.

 

 

The information card on this one says it is suitcase wireless transmitter seized by MI5 from German spies. This set is reported to have belonged to agents Jose Waldeberg and Karl Meier who were captured in Kent shortly after landing by sea on September 3, 1940. Their career as spies ended when they were executed in December, 1940.

In case you don't know the difference, MI5 is Britain's internal security service, like our FBI. MI6 is their foreign intelligence service, like our CIA.

From a more contemporary era, MI6 provided this "Tithe" suitcase transceiver. Its technical designation is TRM 4180 Portable High Speed Data Station. Designed by Racal, it is touted to be easy to use, secure, reliable and able to withstand a nuclear weapons pulse. MI6 considered it a highly successful component in their arsenal of suitcase radios.

 

This Mark 2 transceiver (below) was used early in the war by Norwegian spy Reed Olsen. He reported on German shipping, escaped capture by slipping into neutral Sweden then on to England. In May, 1944 he parachuted back into Norway where he continued to send a stream of detailed intelligence reports until his final escape back to Sweden in December 1944. For his actions he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross with Sword and the British Distinguished Service Cross.

 

 

 

Stan Martin was a civilian radio enthusiast recruited by Britain's Radio Security Service during WWII. This secret organization, initially under the control of MI5, monitored enemy radio traffic. Its primary purpose was to listen to, and locate, transmissions from German agents operating in Britain, but it also enjoyed considerable success locating enemy clandestine stations abroad.

 

His HRO receiver was US made but issued to some members of the Radio Security Service. The papers on top are wireless message forms used by Stan Martin.

 

In 1940 Ib Riis was recruited by German military intelligence in Denmark. He was landed by submarine in Iceland on April 6, 1940. He soon gave himself up to Allied authorities who turned him and made him part of the British "Double Cross" stratagem. By the end of the war, he had transmitted more than 500 bogus messages to Germany. He supplied false information on Allied shipping and gave deliberately misleading meteorological reports.

First patented in 1919 the Enigma machine was adopted by the German Navy in 1926, by the Army in 1928, and by the Air Force in 1935. It was also used by a wide range of government departments including the German intelligence and security services.

British, French, and Polish codebreakers had known about the Enigma machine since the early 1930's. The threat of war encouraged them to increase their efforts to understand the machine and discover its secrets. This example shown below was used by German forces of occupation in Norway during the war.

 

The machine used three rotors picked from a set of five according to a strict protocol which also specified their order and individual settings.

 

I've a few more photos I'll share in the next post. Why not consider subscribing? Just put your email address in the subscription box at the top of the page and you will automatically be notified when a new entry is posted here. I promise never to share your email with anyone and never send spam.