AGENT ZIGZAG: Eddie Chapman

i saw a programme a while ago were the germans released uk prisoners in jersey to spy for money on the uk.

amazingly the germans didnt realise that they were acting as double agents.

how scilly.

anybody know much about this

cheers...

 

Eddie Chapman, alias Zigzag, was considered the most flamboyant double agent during the war.

The Nazis even gave one double agent a medal


An ex-con recruited by the Germans when they captured Jersey, he was highly trained as a saboteur.
However, as soon as he was parachuted into Britain he walked into a local police station, declaring he was a loyal British citizen but also a German spy who wanted to work for MI5.
MI5 took him on and created fake pictures and news coverage of a raid on the Mosquito bomber plant, a plane the Nazis were in awe of and wanted Zigzag to sabotage.
The Germans were so impressed they awarded the double agent the Iron Cross.

 

i think thats the bloke ive heard off from the programme

 

From: A first-class double cross - Newspaper Edition - Times Online


AGENT ZIGZAG: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy by Ben Macintyre
Bloomsbury £14.99

ZIGZAG: The Incredible Wartime Exploits of Eddie Chapman
by Nicholas Booth Portrait £12.99


Secret intelligence attracts oddballs, some hugely talented. Many practitioners go mad, because they inhabit a world in which loyalties are confused, trust usually mistaken, means and ends problematic. During the second world war, British “humint” (information about the enemy gathered by spies) was poor. London never recruited agents of value in either Berlin or Tokyo. However, this failure paled into insignificance alongside two great triumphs. One was MI6’s code-breaking operation, based at Bletchley Park. The second was MI5’s “double-cross” system. To a man, German agents who landed in Britain were captured. Some 40 were then “turned”, and used to transmit false information back to the Nazis, above all in support of the June 1944 Fortitude deception plan. For weeks after D-Day in Normandy, Hitler remained convinced that the allies also intended to land in the Pas de Calais. Even if the German secret service was amazingly credulous, the orchestration of its phoney spy network represented a historic achievement by the British.

The most exotic of MI5’s “doubles” was Eddie Chapman. His story would defy belief, were it not supported by a massof documentation in both German archives and newly declassified MI5 files, of which Ben Macintyre and Nicholas Booth make splendid use. Booth’s version of the story is less well written, but profits from the assistance of its subject’s widow, who has provided some racy detail.

Chapman was born in 1914, the son of an improvident Durham publican. In trouble from an early age, he spent some months in the ranks of the Coldstream Guards before deserting and drifting into crime. He became well known to the police as a safe-blower and fraudster. He became equally well known to a host of pretty girls as a looker and spender, with an irresistible line in chat. When the Germans occupied the Channel Islands in June 1940, among the flotsam they inherited was Chapman. On the run from the British Continued on page 46t Continued from page 45 mainland police, he had decamped to Jersey with a pretty blonde teen-ager named Betty Farmer, jumped through a hotel window to escape after being identified in St Helier, and committed further robberies until he was caught and jailed. From his cell, he offered his services to the German Abwehr. After some hesitation, they recruited and exhaustively trained him in France. In December 1942, he was parachuted into Britain with a wireless set and the promise of £15,000 if he carried out some sabotage operations.

On his muddy arrival in Cam-bridgeshire, Chapman demanded to be taken to the British secret service. “Name?” demanded the policeman booking him. “George

Clarke will do, for now.” “Trade or profession?” “Well, put me down as independent.” That bit was true, anyway. Most wartime attempts to enlist crooks in the service of their country failed miserably. For instance, a confidence trickster parachuted into France by SOE simply disappeared, taking with him a large wad of cash intended for the resistance.

But Chapman persuaded MI5 of his halfway honourable intentions, and began to transmit to his German masters. Bletchley intercepts showed that the Abwehr swallowed his story. An elaborate pantomime was devised, for an explosion to take place near the de Havil-land Mosquito factory at Hatfield, of which hints were prominently reported in the press. When the Germans bought this, too, Chapman offered the British a new scheme: he would return to his Nazi masters, and kill Hitler.

The latter proposal was thought to be a bridge too far, but in the summer of 1943 Chapman was indeed shipped back to the Abwehr, via Lisbon. The Germans welcomed “their” man with open arms, presented him with the Iron Cross, and took him off to Norway for several months’ holiday with yet another beautiful girl, and plenty of cash, some of which he used to buy a sailing boat.
In the summer of 1944, he was again parachuted into Britain, to an even warmer welcome from MI5. He spent the rest of the war exchanging friendly messages with the Abwehr, some designed to deceive the enemy about the targeting of their V-weapons. “Tin Eye” Stephens, British custodian of the double-cross agents, wrote afterwards: “Fiction has not and probably never will produce an espionage story to rival in fascination and improbability the true story of Edward Chapman, whom only war could invest with virtue.”

There are endless delightful twists to the tale. For instance, the policeman who escorted Chapman to London in 1942 was able to confirm his identity because the two men had served in the same Guards platoon. During 1943-45 (and maybe even after the war, thinks Macintyre) British intelligence was funding Chapman’s London “fiancée”, Freda, and their daughter. Meanwhile, German intelligence paid a regular stipend to his Norwegian lover in Oslo. Although MI5 yearned to believe Chapman was a patriot, in truth he seems simply to have been one of those people who live for thrills. The fastidious Sir John Masterman, director of the double-cross operation, was obviously thinking of Chapman when he wrote later that there are “certain persons who have a natural predilection to live in that curious world of espionage and deceit, and who attach themselves with equal facility to one side or the other,so long as their craving for adventure of a rather macabre type is satisfied”.

One of the occupational hazards of intelligence is that its officers become so consumed by the intrinsic beauty of an operation that they lose sight of what it is, or is not, achieving. Both sides invested heavily in their exotic plaything Chapman. How much he contributed to the British war effort is debatable, however, save by keeping the Abwehr amused. He assisted MI5’s purpose of keeping alive in German bosoms the delusion that they possessed real spies, at liberty on enemy soil. But he was much less important to British deception operations than other great double-cross agents such as Tricycle and Garbo.

In 1945, Chapman returned to the underworld with some cash from MI5, and an immunity deal for prewar misdeeds. Amazingly, he married, and stayed married to, Betty Farmer, the woman with whom he had fled to Jersey in 1939. Although he often appeared in court, he never went to jail again, maybe because he profited from all that British and German training. The couple ended up running a health spa, at which he once entertained his former Abwehr controller.

Picaresque is an inadequate adjective to describe Chapman, or indeed MacIntyre’s and Booth’s books about him. Both offer splendidly vivid portraits of the man and the British and German spooks with whom he dallied. Chapman, who survived until 1997, must have possessed extraordinary powers as a fantasist, to live a lie for months on end, in the hands of the Nazi intelligence machine. His survival must also have owed something to the Abwehr’s yearning, common to all spymasters, to believe in “its” man.
In truth, he was nobody’s man — simply a rogue possessed of astonishing chutzpah, which carried him through one of the most notable odysseys of the war. One puts down his story fascinated by the man, but glad never to have met him. He would have had the watch off your wrist while shaking hands.

 

His story was first told in "The Eddie Chapman Story" published in 1953. I remember we had a paperback edition back in the 50s. I wonder what happened to it?

Jim

PS - I've just found this 1954 article from US Time magazine Portrait of a Hero -- Monday, Jan. 18, 1954 -- Page 1 -- TIME - he was a pretty celebrated rogue, and a thorn in the side of the War Office at the time :p it seems!

Jim

PPS - Just clicked on the link I gave you - don't be put off by the b***dy annoying Hitachi popup that fills the screen - zap it!!!

 

Jim,

any article that starts off with "Eddie Chapman is a gay dog" has to be good

p.s. no probs with pop-up (my blocker seems to work ),

Cheers
K

 

Was'nt Chapman a petty criminal who convinced the Germans he could help them.Was'nt thought of too highly by our side and in the end was largely ignored as long as he was not a danger to the British.

To establish his bona fide position with the Germans,a little mischief was enacted at Hatfield airfield which was given publicity in the newspapers to convince the Germans they had "a man" in England.

To my knowledge,he was neveremployed by the SOE.He would have not been allowed that sort of role.

Now Harold Cole was a different matter and was a similar sort of man.

Incidentally, I think I am right in saying that Masterman broke cover from the Official Secrets Act in the mid 1970s when he published the book,(off the top of my head) "The 20 Committee" which related the double cross system. The 'double cross system', ie 'the double x ' becoming the 20 Committee,the group who managed the deceit.

 

Yes, but Harold Cole was a traitor involved in the deaths of his compatriots, whereas Chapman may have been a knave, but still stuck it out with the British.

Eddie Chapman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Cole:

Conscript Heroes - Couriers

Albert Guerisse (Pat O'Leary)

He was in the news all over the shop a week or so ago for the assasination suggestion wasn't he? Was all that triggered by the publicity buildup for this book?
Homepage @ EddieChapman.Com

Probably - but The Times probably called it a scoop!!

 

In truth, he was nobody’s man — simply a rogue possessed of astonishing chutzpah, which carried him through one of the most notable odysseys of the war.


I read his autobiog, probably the one that Jim mentions, many years ago. Call me naive, but if he had no principles and no patriotism at all, why did he put himself through all that danger? He could have had a safe war in prison in Jersey. Or if he wanted out of prison so badly that he was prepared to join the Abwehr, he could have either stayed working for them, or just disappeared from view of both sides when he was parachuted into Britain.

A fascinating character at least.

Adrian

 

Yes, but Harold Cole was a traitor, whereas Chapman may have been a knave, but still stuck it out with the British.

Eddie Chapman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conscript Heroes - Couriers

Albert Guerisse (Pat O'Leary)



Probably - but The Times probably called it a scoop!!

Agreed,but Cole had the same disposition and personality traits.Cole's traitorous deeds went unchecked and he survived the war but did not survive to tell his tale.

Not intending to categorise Chapman with Cole regarding his loyalty to the British and yet to read the book review, I feel the book may be a embellishment of Chapmans activities in his contact with the Germans.

 

I think most of the double/triple cross agents had to be real characters to survive, and don't forget that the Germans were desperate for spies in Britain. And they never twigged that every agent sent to Britain was either shot or turned and were working for the British.

The fact that the book review states that he "must have possessed extraordinary powers as a fantasist, to live a lie for months on end, in the hands of the Nazi intelligence machine." sounds a tad overblown, but the evidence for Chapman's activities seem to be there.

 

McIntyre's book is being serialised (abridged, of course!) as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week this week (09:45 repeated 00:30 - and probably on 'Listen Again' on t'tinterweb).

Read by Damien Lewis - oo-err, missus - first episode suggests it's written as a rollicking yarn rather than 'History', so if that's not your thing, beware.

Jim

Oh yes, nearly forgot - Radio Times suggests this is a 'previously untold story'. Hmmmm.....

 

According to Masterman, Chapman,after his sabotage act at de Havillands was allowed to escape.He "escaped" to neutral Lisbon from Britain in January 1943 on board the City of Lancaster posing as a steward.For the next 18 months or so,nothing was heard from him.

So what was Zigsag doing.He never contacted British Intelligence.

Fortunately for the British,Ultra never let them down,heralding his first appearance as a German spy from the skies above Ely in December 1942 and then from above the Cambridge skies again in June 1944.

Looking at his time in Britain; by the effectiveness of British Intelligence, Zigzag was a "boxed up spy"

 

Hello,

I listened to this on Radio 4 last week, and really enjoyed it, it's readings from the book by Ben MacIntyre on Eddie Chapman/Agent Zig Zag

Click on each day (Mon, Tues, Wed, thurs, Friday) and listen to each installment, this is only available for one week so please don't miss it!

BBC - Radio 4 - Book of the Week

Soren

 

Have you seen the other new SOE book. It's called The Grand Prix Saboteurs and has just been published.

By the way, Harry Ree is a very interesting pseudonym. A great man...

 

Have you seen the other new SOE book. It's called The Grand Prix Saboteurs and has just been published.

By the way, Harry Ree is a very interesting pseudonym. A great man...


My Mother could have called me Winston but she did n't, she could have called me Donald or Dennis but father forbad those names.His mother, my genteel grandmother as a English rose in her time as any, settled it.Give him a mans' name. My grandmother liked the name having lost one of the same name of flu in 1918 aged 10 years. Grandma had her Tom,Dick and Harry amongst her boys.

 

To get back to Eddie Chapman, I was surprised at two reviews I read because both embelished his role in the espionage game .Utter rubbish.

What Mastertman said was nearer to the truth.

'By a fortunate coincidence,an old friend of the XX Committee was sent to England at this same time to report the fall of the V1s.His name was Edward Chapman, and his XX Committee code name, "Zigzag," was an apt description of his career.A former Coldstream Guardsman and safe blower,he had deserted in 1939 and had been captured by the Germans in 1940 while hiding on the Channel Islands.He volunteered for work with the Abwehr as a sabotage agent in England and because of his knowledge of explosives,he was accepted.After extensive training at the Abwehr espionage school in a chateau near Nantes,he was given a contract worth £15000 to sabotage the de Havilland aircraft works at Hatfield Airfield in Hertfordshire.An aircraft was laid on to drop him near Ely in December 1942 but the British (through Ultra) were waiting for him.Through Ultras,the security authorities were able to follow the movements of enemy agents.including Zigzag,well before they arrived in England.Masterman would write "we knew a great deal about Zigzag before his arrival and elaborate preparations had been with regional and police authorities to secure him quickly and without advertisment as soon as he arrived"

Zigzag was collected as soon as he stepped out of his parachute shrouds;but upon interrogation,he proved to be on the side of Britaim rather than Germany, and he (agreed in return for a pardon) to work for the XX Committee.A violent explosion was rigged at De Havilland,( together with suitable damage,arranged by some special effects and scenery experts from the Old Vic Zigzag reported his coup (as did the British press, which was allowed to breathe fire at the ineptitude of the security services ) by wireless ; and then arrangments were made for him to "escape". This he did in January 1943, posing as a stewart aboard the steamer City of Lancaster bound for Lisbon.

Nothing more was heard of Zigzag until ther middle of 1944 when ,as Masterman put it ,"News ...... trickled through to us of a mysterious figure in Oslo... a man speaking bad German in a rather loud pitched voice,clad in a pepper and salt suite,displaying two gold teeth and enjoying the amenties of a private yacht.We thought this was Zigzag and so it was.

Zigzag returned to England out of the night sky near Cambridge at the end of June 1944,with two wireless sets,cameras,£6000, and a contract with the Germans for £100.000 to report the fall of shot of the V1s.

The XX Committee promptly put him to work passing doctored information.But then he was overheard by MI-5 officers telling his story in a public house and he was quietly locked up, although the XX Committee continued to use his wireless,cipher and security checks to relay the doctored information.

Zigzag did not reappear until after the war, when he was seen the possession of a Rolls Royce and a health farm.

There were others who served the British better and whose stories have not been given the same publicity as Eddie Chapman

 

I know that Peter normally flags these up, however this is an old one:

Eddie Chapman - Telegraph

 

He was the East End thief who Mad Frankie Fraser talks about so fondly