Suspected Traitors in the UK during WW II
- Thread starter Bill Smy
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 8,827
- Points
- 1,360
Thats an interesting read, I wonder what the descendent's think about it being released now that most people on it are probably dead and unable to defend themselves?
Nobles and admirals on war 'Suspect List'
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 12/10/2004)
A full list of suspected wartime traitors, including the Duke of Bedford, Sir Oswald Mosley and many other members of the British upper classes who would have been arrested in the event of a German invasion has been released for the first time at the National Archives.
The "Suspect List", which fills hundreds of pages of dog-eared papers kept in thick files, was one of the most closely guarded of wartime secrets and even now, 60 years to the day after it was formally closed, is still shrouded in mystery.
In the list of more than 400 people drawn up by MI5 and Special Branch, coal miners and hairdressers rub shoulders with dukes and retired admirals, while bank managers are collected together with doctors, dentists and ladies of leisure.
Britain in early 1941 was terrified by the prospect of invasion, and the Suspect List was drawn up so that people who had not already been interned as Nazi sympathisers could be seized to prevent them acting as spies or saboteurs for the Germans.
The country was divided into regions, with a commissioner appointed for each. The list for each region is included in the documents released except, inexplicably, London - which almost certainly contains the names of more Establishment figures.
The files show that the first task of the post-invasion regime was the seizure of people on the Suspect List, who would all be put into prison or internment camps without trial.
Dr Graham Macklin, an historian at the archives in Kew, west London, said: "Clearly the state was prepared to act at the drop of a hat."
The names bring the light of official history tantalisingly close to involving the British Royal Family in the struggle of pro-German agitators.
At least five people on the list are named in MI5 reports as associates of Anna Wolkoff, a dress designer and leading figure in British fascism who was a close friend of the Duchess of Windsor.
The Duke, who had abdicated in 1936 to marry the then Wallis Simpson, had been causing embarrassment to the British government in the immediate pre-war years by cultivating contacts with Hitler and his regime.
In a number of cases the Suspect List quotes leading British fascists as expressing the hope that a victorious Nazi invasion would place the Duke back on the throne.
One example is Adml Sir Barry Domville, a former head of Naval Intelligence. At the invitation of Himmler, the file says, he attended the 1937 Nuremberg rally and was given a tour of the Dachau concentration camp.
Domville, who was the founder of the fascist organisation The Link, was to be picked up from his home in Hampshire at the first sign of invasion.
Part of the MI5 report on him says he had told the inmates of a home for ex-servicemen that Hitler "would soon be in this country, but that there was no reason to worry about it, because he would bring the Duke of Windsor over as King and conditions generally would be much improved".
Domville and Maj Gen John Fuller, a close friend of Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, were both linked to the Duke of Bedford through membership of Capt Archibald Ramsay MP's Right Club.
In the event of invasion, the files say: "Fuller is likely to covet a position not dissimilar to that of Marshal Petain [puppet ruler of Vichy France] and to assist the enemy if given a suitable opportunity."
Philip Tonstall Farrer, from Dunsfold, Surrey, was an associate of Fuller and Ramsay and Prince Henry of Pless (a German aristocrat who was interned on the Isle of Man throughout the war).
He was regarded as a particular threat because he had been private secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords and the Marquess of Salisbury.
The file says of Farrer: "He is described as a hopelessly unbalanced individual and addicted to drink."
Next to him in the list is William John Bartlett, a coal miner from Whitfield in Kent, whose presence there seemed to be attributable to the fact that he had expressed views that the Germans were the victims of the war.
The entries of Mosley, head of the British Union of Fascists, and his wife are short, because it was hardly necessary to ask why the two most famous advocates of a Nazi state in Britain should be locked up in the event of invasion.
But many of the other names on the Suspect List are people of little influence who happen to have had fascist sympathies before the war.
The majority are either former members of Mosley's Blackshirts or people with German and Italian ancestry whose neighbours and work colleagues had reported them as uttering pro-German sentiments.
Others are Welsh, Scottish or Irish nationalists thought likely to seek to profit from British troubles.
Nobles and admirals on war 'Suspect List'
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 12/10/2004)
A full list of suspected wartime traitors, including the Duke of Bedford, Sir Oswald Mosley and many other members of the British upper classes who would have been arrested in the event of a German invasion has been released for the first time at the National Archives.
The "Suspect List", which fills hundreds of pages of dog-eared papers kept in thick files, was one of the most closely guarded of wartime secrets and even now, 60 years to the day after it was formally closed, is still shrouded in mystery.
In the list of more than 400 people drawn up by MI5 and Special Branch, coal miners and hairdressers rub shoulders with dukes and retired admirals, while bank managers are collected together with doctors, dentists and ladies of leisure.
Britain in early 1941 was terrified by the prospect of invasion, and the Suspect List was drawn up so that people who had not already been interned as Nazi sympathisers could be seized to prevent them acting as spies or saboteurs for the Germans.
The country was divided into regions, with a commissioner appointed for each. The list for each region is included in the documents released except, inexplicably, London - which almost certainly contains the names of more Establishment figures.
The files show that the first task of the post-invasion regime was the seizure of people on the Suspect List, who would all be put into prison or internment camps without trial.
Dr Graham Macklin, an historian at the archives in Kew, west London, said: "Clearly the state was prepared to act at the drop of a hat."
The names bring the light of official history tantalisingly close to involving the British Royal Family in the struggle of pro-German agitators.
At least five people on the list are named in MI5 reports as associates of Anna Wolkoff, a dress designer and leading figure in British fascism who was a close friend of the Duchess of Windsor.
The Duke, who had abdicated in 1936 to marry the then Wallis Simpson, had been causing embarrassment to the British government in the immediate pre-war years by cultivating contacts with Hitler and his regime.
In a number of cases the Suspect List quotes leading British fascists as expressing the hope that a victorious Nazi invasion would place the Duke back on the throne.
One example is Adml Sir Barry Domville, a former head of Naval Intelligence. At the invitation of Himmler, the file says, he attended the 1937 Nuremberg rally and was given a tour of the Dachau concentration camp.
Domville, who was the founder of the fascist organisation The Link, was to be picked up from his home in Hampshire at the first sign of invasion.
Part of the MI5 report on him says he had told the inmates of a home for ex-servicemen that Hitler "would soon be in this country, but that there was no reason to worry about it, because he would bring the Duke of Windsor over as King and conditions generally would be much improved".
Domville and Maj Gen John Fuller, a close friend of Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, were both linked to the Duke of Bedford through membership of Capt Archibald Ramsay MP's Right Club.
In the event of invasion, the files say: "Fuller is likely to covet a position not dissimilar to that of Marshal Petain [puppet ruler of Vichy France] and to assist the enemy if given a suitable opportunity."
Philip Tonstall Farrer, from Dunsfold, Surrey, was an associate of Fuller and Ramsay and Prince Henry of Pless (a German aristocrat who was interned on the Isle of Man throughout the war).
He was regarded as a particular threat because he had been private secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords and the Marquess of Salisbury.
The file says of Farrer: "He is described as a hopelessly unbalanced individual and addicted to drink."
Next to him in the list is William John Bartlett, a coal miner from Whitfield in Kent, whose presence there seemed to be attributable to the fact that he had expressed views that the Germans were the victims of the war.
The entries of Mosley, head of the British Union of Fascists, and his wife are short, because it was hardly necessary to ask why the two most famous advocates of a Nazi state in Britain should be locked up in the event of invasion.
But many of the other names on the Suspect List are people of little influence who happen to have had fascist sympathies before the war.
The majority are either former members of Mosley's Blackshirts or people with German and Italian ancestry whose neighbours and work colleagues had reported them as uttering pro-German sentiments.
Others are Welsh, Scottish or Irish nationalists thought likely to seek to profit from British troubles.
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 410
A while back on the History Channel,there was a program about what if Britain had been invaded and it was a success.
Old Churchill had a organised Resistance movement in place,with preplaced weapons,explosives etc.
These Cell's also had hit list's of citizen's that would be eliminated if the Germans had gained a foot hold in Britain.
Old Churchill had a organised Resistance movement in place,with preplaced weapons,explosives etc.
These Cell's also had hit list's of citizen's that would be eliminated if the Germans had gained a foot hold in Britain.
S
Storm
Guest
Spr.Earl said:
I remember seeing the tail end of that. It would have been one hell of a resistance, but thankfully it never had to come down to that.
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 410
I have also heard the theory that MI had the King "abdicate" because his sympathies were already suspect and the collective wisdom in the defence/security community was that there was going to be more trouble with the Germans. Interesting idea. As well, I believe that while exiled, the Duke is reported to have stated words to a neutral diplomat to the effect of "Oh-just bomb their cities and they'll give up" in reference to his former subjects.
It is worth noting, though, that Fascism and its ilk had quite healthy roots in almost all of the countries that the Germans invaded, as well as Britain and the US. The Fascist or extreme right-wing movements in Poland, Finland,Norway,Holland, Belgium, France, Slovakia and Croatia come to mind. The Blackshirts in the UK, the "America Firsters" (as well as more sinister types) in the US, and a few homegrown fascists in Canada (predominantly in Quebec IIRC...) were also quite pro-Nazi to varying degrees. The sad fact is that in most of the occupied countries, a significant number of people collaborated. France(both Occupied and Vichy) was a particularly egregious example, with the police and security forces in both actively assisting the Germans to round up and deport Jews. Even in the Channel Islands (the only part of the "UK" to be occupied) there was little or no real resistsance-most people collaborated. The Germans were also able to recruit fairly effectively in most of their occupied territories.
Read "SS GB" by Len Deighton: it's fascinating alternative history. Cheers.
Similar threads
