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‘ICA members and Friends take evasive action’ Agatha Christie, the American Civil War, George Crosses, V-1 ski ramps, WWI German military intelligence officers, Communist agents and secret tunnels all had walk-on parts in a recent ICA (SLAM) stroll through North London’s Belsize Park. The colourful walk, decidedly at the red end of the spectrum, finished at the Hampstead Training Centre where collective memories added further dimensions. Lester Hillman devised the walk attended (amongst others) by fellow-Friends Tony Hetherington, Chris Yates, David Elvy and Dave Farrell who masterminded the administration. Agatha Christie From the bright sun at Belsize Park tube station,…

For some time I have been exercised by statements made about Enigma and have wondered ‘what was their source?’. Every schoolboy knows (to quote Macaulay) that Churchill described the workers at Bletchley Park (B.P.) as his ‘geese’ and the Enigma product as his ‘golden eggs’. He also supposedly made what were, by any standards, derogatory remarks about the appearance of what could be found under stones; presumably hinting at frogs or toads. (He wasn’t actually good-looking himself!) Do we know he actually made these remarks; if so, how do we know? Since these remarks were never recorded in any official…

Memories of National Service Paul Croxson I was approaching 18 and National Service loomed as it did for all of us males. Since I was studying for my entrance exams to the Library Association I asked for deferment in order to take them and it was granted – surprisingly easily. In the meantime I received my call-up papers and attended the medical, confident that I would fail since I still suffered the after effects of polio. At school ‘Excused Games’ was one of the more kindly meant nicknames; I had lousy eyesight (‘Four Eyes’) and not a muscle in sight…

DRAMATIS PERSONAE TICOM TEAM 1 PERSONNEL *Oeser, O. Wing Commander RAFVR. (Chief TRO) A Cambridge psychologist and friend of Winterbotham, he had joined Hut 3 in the summer of 1940. In 1941 he was Hut 3 Dep. Air Advisor. By June 1942 was Head of Hut 3(Air) and by late 1942 he was head of the newly formed Hut 3(L) where he made Enigma and Fish priority decisions. He became professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne. By the age of 27 he had graduated from four universities in three countries and had gained doctorates in two disciplines. *Campaigne,…

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by René Dee, 2015 The beginning of this recollection appeared in Sub Rosa winter issue, p. 4. It is relatively rare to receive a recollection by someone who did boys’ service in the Corps. As you will read, the author had mixed experiences. Ed. It was May 1962 when this young teenager found himself at Tonfanau Halt in what was then called Merionethshire. Scores of boys of my age between 15 and 17 disgorged from the train onto a platform that was singularly bare and uninviting. At the end stood an equally uninviting sergeant major who looked at his motley…

For six months and 11 days the Germans enjoyed an even speedier, more across- the-board intelligence source than Britain’s Ultra in the Desert campaign. It was what Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, called ’die gute Quelle’ (the good source). It also was known as “the little fellows” or “the little fellers”, a play on the surname of its unwitting provider, Brevet Col. Bonner Frank Fellers, the U.S. military attaché in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Together with what has become known as the Seebohm affair, it was a major contributor to Rommel becoming the legendary “Desert Fox”. General Cesare Amè, head…