Espionage Commandments April 11, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary , trackback
Beach ran several years ago a series of spying commandments from the end of the Great War. He thought he would follow this up today with some espionage commandments from the Second World War. These come courtesy of Bernard James Barton or (aka ‘Killer’ Barton or John Barton), a twenty-four year-old British major who, in 1944, was sent into Italy by parachute to kill a German general. The British did sometimes indulge in murders or kidnapping behind the scenes. Barton himself had, in 1943, been sent to a Yugoslav island, Brac, to end the life of a German commandant, a mission he had successfully carried out after sneaking past German guards in shepherd clothing. British operatives seized General Kreipe on Crete, a meeting that led to an unusual poetic exchange. Then, of course, there was Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of the dreadful Richard Heydrich in Prague by two Czech patriots, who had been parachuted in by the British. As it happened Barton failed in 1944. He couldn’t find his general, probably Von Vietinghoff, but after a long hike through the Italian countryside to get to Allied lines he wrote a series of commandments for British agents. These were rules that members of SOE, trying to set Europe alight, could usefully follow while traversing German occupied territory with half friendly and half deadly resident populations. Some of these are specific for Italy in 1943-1945, for example, the young men being by definition illegal as they are avoiding the German/Salò call up, others have more general applications. All are interesting.
1) Never remain in one place: no more than one day and night in a single house.
2) Avoid children but if you see them pretend to be German.
3) Trust no one.
4) Poorer houses are more likely to be friendly than richer houses. [In Italy the wealthy were more likely to be Fascist sympathisers.]
5) Women working in fields are typically safe.
6) A farmer who sees you and brings you food is safe: if he doesn’t bring you food run…
7) Farms with young men might be havens, as these will probably be illegals avoiding enrollment.
8) If on a cycle carry a pistol, a pistol is the only weapon that works while biking.
9) If challenged by a sentry don’t talk just shoot.
10) If you stay in a house you can go back: the inhabitants will not tell on you because the house will be burnt down should the authorities find out.
What is the bet that young Barton left several corpses behind him as he traversed northern Italy? Other saboteur commandments? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
NB these are taken from Stafford, Mission Accomplished, 255
