Into the Lion's Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov: World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond Read online

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  Copyright © 2016 by Larry Loftis.

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  eBook ISBN: 9780698197664

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Loftis, Larry, author.

  Title: Into the lion’s mouth : the true story of Dusko Popov : World War II

  spy, patriot, and the real-life inspiration for James Bond / by Larry Loftis.

  Other titles: True story of Dusko Popov, World War II spy, patriot, and the real-life inspiration for James Bond

  Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Berkley Caliber, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015039212 | ISBN 9780425281819

  Subjects: LCSH: Popov, Dusko. | World War, 1939–1945—Secret service—Great

  Britain. | World War, 1939–1945—Secret service—Germany. | Spies—Great

  Britain—Biography. | Spies—Germany—Biography. |

  Espionage—Germany—History—20th century. | Espionage—Great

  Britain—History—20th century.

  Classification: LCC D810.S8 P6 2016 | DDC 940.54/8641092—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015039212

  First edition: June 2016

  Jacket design by Daniela Medina.

  Front jacket photograph of man © Michael Dos Santos/Gallery Stock.

  Illustration of swirl © Miloje / Shutterstock Images.

  While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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  [H]e had the steel within, the ruthlessness and the cold-blooded courage that enabled him to go back to the German Secret Service Headquarters in Lisbon and Madrid time and time again, when it was likely that he was blown; it was like putting his head into the lion’s mouth.

  —LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER EWEN MONTAGU

  British Double-Cross Committee (1940–1945)

  My own life is much less important to me than that of my family. . . . I hope to continue to be useful to our common cause and to be able to help within my modest means to bring the victory which alone will bring me happiness.

  —DUSKO POPOV

  Letter to Major Tar Robertson, August 9, 1941

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  EPIGRAPH

  MAP

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  PREFACE

  1 »FORGING THE ANVIL

  2 »EXITING FEET FIRST

  3 »SPYING FOR HITLER, KILLING FOR CHURCHILL

  4 »MAGIC

  5 »THE BEE HIVE

  6 »TOO MANY DEVICES

  7 »PASSION AND ADDICTION

  8 »DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON

  9 »“HE’S NOT DEAD”

  10 »TARANTO AND THE TARGET

  11 »CASINO ESTORIL

  12 »PEARL HARBOR WARNING

  13 »COVER-UP

  14 »I’LL KILL HER

  15 »BUTTERFLIES AND CARNAGE

  16 »BLOWN

  17 »INCOMPLETE CANVAS

  18 »THE ART OF THE SILENT KILL

  19 »“TURN AROUND SLOWLY”

  20 »TICKING

  21 »FIVE LIVES

  22 »SHOTS RANG OUT

  23 »TRUTH SERUM

  24 »AUF

  25 »D-DAY

  26 »NAKED AND SHAVED

  27 »ULLA

  28 »PARTISAN POLITICS

  29 »JOHNNY

  EPILOGUE

  SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  APPENDIX 1: AUGUST 19, 1941, TRANSMITTAL LETTER FROM E. J. CONNELLEY TO J. EDGAR HOOVER WITH PEARL HARBOR QUESTIONNAIRE

  APPENDIX 2: POPOV OPERATIONS

  APPENDIX 3: IAN FLEMING’S BOND AND POTENTIAL MODELS

  APPENDIX 4: LIVING CASABLANCA AND DR. NO

  NOTES

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  INDEX

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  TRICYCLE NETWORK DOUBLE AGENTS

  Marquis Frano de Bona » FREAK (Popov’s radio operator; German, GUTTMANN)

  Friedl Gaertner » GELATINE (German, IVONNE)

  Johann Jebsen » ARTIST

  Dickie Metcalfe » BALLOON (German, IVAN II)

  Dusko Popov » TRICYCLE, SKOOT (German, IVAN)

  Ivo Popov » DREADNOUGHT (German, PAULA)

  Hans Ruser » JUNIOR

  Eugen Sostaric » METEOR

  Stefan Zeis » THE WORM

  MI5 (SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE) STAFF

  Guy Liddell » Section B chief

  William Luke » Dusko Popov case officer (initial)

  John Marriott » Assistant to Colonel Tar Robertson

  Colonel T. A. “Tar” Robertson » Section B1A (Double Agents) chief

  Ian Wilson » Dusko Popov case officer

  MI6 (SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE) STAFF AND AGENTS

  Kenneth Benton » Agent, Madrid

  Major Desmond Bristow » Agent, Lisbon

  Colonel Felix Cowgill » Section V (Counterintelligence) chief

  Major Frank Foley » Section V (Counterintelligence)

  Cecil Gledhill » Lisbon station chief following Colonel Ralph Jarvis

  Major Peter Hope » Agent, Paris

  Colonel Ralph Jarvis » Lisbon station chief

  Major-General Stewart Menzies » Director; “C”

  Major Walter Wren » Trinidad station chief (and part of Popov’s New York support team)

  DOUBLE-CROSS COMMITTEE

  Rear Admiral John Godfrey » Director of Naval Intelligence (boss of Montagu and Ian Fleming)

  Professor J. C. Masterman » Chairman, Double-Cross Committee; Oxford don

  Lieutenant-Commander Ewen Montagu » Naval Intelligence (working closely with Popov)

  BRITISH SECURITY COORDINATION (NEW YORK)

  Colonel C. H. “Dick” Ellis » Assistant to Director Stephenson (transfer from MI6)

  Captain H. Montgomery Hyde » MI6 Security Officer, Bermuda Censorship

  William Stephenson » Director (code name, INTREPID)

  ABWEHR STAFF

 
Abwehr I » Foreign Intelligence (I H = Army)

  Abwehr III » Counterespionage

  Admiral Wilhelm Canaris » Director

  Albrecht Engels » Agent, Rio de Janeiro station (code name, ALFREDO)

  Colonel Georg Hansen » Replaced Pieckenbrock as head of Abwehr I

  Oberstleutnant Hans Kammler » I H West, Berlin, Spain, Portugal

  Major Albert (Ludovico) von Karsthoff » Lisbon station chief

  Lieutenant Fritz Kramer » Abwehr III, Lisbon

  Colonel Gustav “Papa” Lenz » Madrid station chief

  Colonel Ernst Munzinger » I H East chief, Balkans

  Colonel Hans Pieckenbrock » Head of Abwehr I

  Elisabeth Sahrbach » Secretary/mistress of Major von Karsthoff

  Major Aloys Schreiber » Head of Abwehr I H West, Anglo-American Section

  Lieutenant Colonel Martin Töppen » Financial supervisor

  Major Helmut Wiegand » Paris station chief

  SD AND GESTAPO STAFF

  Major Adolf Nassenstein » SD agent, Lisbon

  General Major Walter Schellenberg » Nazi Foreign Intelligence chief, head of SD

  Major Erich Schroeder » SD agent, Lisbon chief following von Karsthoff

  SD » Sicherheitsdienst (Nazi Security Service, branch of the Gestapo)

  Dr. Warnecke » Gestapo specialist

  FBI STAFF

  E. J. Connelley » Assistant Director, New York (initial Popov supervisor)

  Percy “Sam” Foxworth » Assistant Director, Security Division (Counterintelligence); Assistant Director in charge of New York Division, head of Special Intelligence Service (Popov supervisor)

  J. Edgar Hoover » Director

  Charles Lanman » Special Agent, New York (Popov case officer)

  OTHERS

  Victor Cavendish-Bentinck » British Foreign Office; Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee

  William “Wild Bill” Donovan » Director, Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA)

  OKW » German Armed Forces Supreme Command

  King Peter II » King of Yugoslavia

  Terry Richardson » Popov girlfriend

  Simone Simon » Hollywood actress, Popov girlfriend

  SOE » Special Operations Executive (British commandos)

  PREFACE

  He knew he’d have to kill him.

  It was late July 1943. In a luxury villa salon on Portugal’s Riviera, British double agent Dusko Popov waited for his German controller, Major Ludovico von Karsthoff. By now his Abwehr minder had more than enough evidence to believe Dusko was doubling for the Allies.

  British Colonel Tar Robertson had warned him not to return. How would Popov explain his complete failure to provide the Germans with anything useful in the last fourteen months? How would he answer for the FBI radio messages sent in his name? How would he justify not visiting the Pearl Harbor naval base as instructed? When Dusko replied that the Germans probably wouldn’t kill him right away, his case officer, Ian Wilson, said, “You might wish they had.”

  The odds were good—far more than even—that von Karsthoff would have orders to arrest him on the spot. That wasn’t going to happen. Popov was an expert marksman, and his Luger rested inside his coat with a chambered round.

  Problem was, he might be outgunned. If a Gestapo agent came in with the major, he’d have no chance. They’d take his weapon and truss him up for a long night of interrogation and torture. Once the lemon was fully squeezed, they’d discard him in a Lumiar alley.

  He nudged off the Luger’s safety.

  Glancing about the room, he saw two doorways, one to a dining hall and the other a set of French doors leading to a garden. He stepped to the window and peered outside. As he studied the escape route, his mind raced through the last three and a half years of intrigue and double dealing.

  Suddenly, steps behind him—

  “Turn around slowly, Popov, and don’t make any sudden moves.”

  Von Karsthoff’s tone was hard.

  Dusko slipped his palm over the pistol.

  1

  FORGING THE ANVIL

  The word spy carries with it a certain pejorative connotation. Soldiers serve with patriotism and courage. Admirals lead with brilliance and heavenly wisdom. Field marshals and generals attack gallantly and operate, as Rommel proved, within an ethical code of conduct. Spies, on the other hand, thrive between the shadows of deceit and skullduggery.

  Spies lie with impunity and lie with the enemy. They double-cross without conscience and kill without confession. If a spy wasn’t a criminal before the secret service, he became one in the process. As one intelligence officer put it, he “must be prepared to be a villain, to be ruthless and dishonest in one role while being honest and tolerant in another. Second, he must be, or try to be, a good showman.”

  Like none other, Dusko Popov was born for the role. With equal measure he could and did wear all masks: villain and hero, killer and lover, deceiver and patriot.

  But above all, he was a showman.

  »

  Born July 10, 1912, in Titel, Serbia, Dusan “Dusko” Miladoroff Popov was the second of Milorad Popov’s three sons—Ivan, Dusko, and Vladan—and the grandson of Omer Popov, a wealthy banker and industrialist who had built a sizeable empire of factories, mines, and retail businesses. Dusko’s father continued the family business, adding residential real estate to their investments. Like many of Europe’s aristocrats, the family divided their time between luxury homes—a winter residence in Belgrade and summer retreat in Dubrovnik.

  The boys grew up sailing the Adriatic, playing water polo and tennis, and riding horses. Vladan, the youngest of Popov’s sons, was not as personally close as his brothers and would spend the war years in college. Dusko’s older brother, Ivan (“Ivo”)—whom Dusko idolized—was six-foot-two and handsome. An instinctive leader, Ivo would become a surgeon and a courageous operative in the Yugoslav resistance. Like Dusko, Ivo was intelligent, charismatic, and intensely independent—traits which would endanger their lives in the years to come.

  Milorad Popov desired a first-rate education for his boys. Vladan would attend the universities at Freiburg and Bologna, and later medical school in Paris. Ivo would receive an undergraduate degree at the Sorbonne, a medical degree at the University of Belgrade, and a surgery degree from the University of Naples. Dusko would travel to three countries before he finished. When he was sixteen, his father enrolled him at Ewell Castle, a well-respected preparatory school outside London. Housed in a castellated mansion on the former grounds of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace, the institution was the epitome of Gothic revival and pupil refinement. Dusko’s refining, however, was not to be; at least not there. Three months after enrolling he confounded the staid establishment with a belligerent independence not seen before, or since. One day after missing a detention, Dusko was sentenced to a cane whipping. Objecting that the adjudication was inappropriate for the offense, Dusko snatched the cane from the teacher and snapped it in two—in front of the class.

  He was expelled.

  »

  Popov transferred to the Lycée in Paris and managed to matriculate without incident. Upon graduation he enrolled at the University of Belgrade, where he received a law degree. Not particularly keen on commencing a demanding legal practice, he decided to pursue a doctorate in law at the University of Freiburg.

  Graduate work in Germany seemed illogical; the country was politically unstable and German was his fourth language. But Germany dominated the cultural and economic realms of southeastern Europe, he felt, and anyone seeking business success would do well to learn its customs. Even now, some eighty years after Dusko’s decision, Germany’s economic hegemony continues. “Germany sits at the heart of this vast economic and demographic domain,*” wrote one Wall Street expert in 2014. “Through its indirect control of the ECB* and the
euro, it will dominate commerce, finance, and trade.” With limited knowledge of Hitler’s power and plans, Popov’s decision in 1934 was nothing less than savvy.

  Of the numerous options within the country, Freiburg offered charming allure. Beautiful and historic, the cozy town was nestled in the shadow of the Black Forest, was close to ski slopes, and was not too far from Belgrade. The school also offered an internationally renowned academic tradition. Founded in 1457, the University of Freiburg was one of the oldest colleges in Europe and was known for outstanding critical thinking. Philosopher Martin Heidegger taught here, and for two years had been rector. What few outside Germany knew, however, was that Heidegger was a committed Nazi.

  Dusko was aware that going to school in Germany would entail certain disadvantages—Nazi propaganda, in particular—but he figured the advantages of Freiburg outweighed the negative political environment. Besides, he’d be in and out in two years. What he couldn’t see from Belgrade, however, was the national system of indoctrination and terror being orchestrated and implemented from Berlin.

  Hitler became Reich chancellor on January 30, 1933, and within a month passed the “Ordinance for the Protection of the People and the State.” A month later, the first concentration camp was established and two months later the Gestapo was formed. Under Ernst Röhm, the Sturmabteilung (Storm Battalion, or SA) began arresting, beating, torturing—in some cases murdering—thousands of Berlin Communists, Social Democrats, and Jews. In 1934 henchman Reinhard Heydrich became Gestapo chief and Heinrich Himmler declared the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) the political intelligence and counterespionage service of the Nazi Party. To that end Himmler tasked the organization with discovering and stifling opponents of National Socialism.

  On April 12 of that year the minister of the interior announced the principles for “preventive arrest” and Schutzhaft protective custody. Soon thereafter, the Gestapo consigned to concentration camps all treasonists, Communists, and members of the International Bible Research Association. In short order, those liable for preventive detention included “anti-social malefactors”: beggars, homosexuals, prostitutes, drunkards, brawlers, and even grumblers. By the time Dusko entered the University of Freiburg in 1935, the term malefactors had been expanded to cover anyone who opposed Nazi rule.