In 1943 the Germans were perfectly aware that there was a Soviet spy ring operating in Swiss territory, but were unable to locate it and had no exact knowledge as to its members or its ramifications. At that time the Swiss were probably blissfully ignorant of any such thing going on in their territory, and in so far as they were interested were relying on such information as the Germans filtered through to them. The Germans would give enough information to make the Swiss take the usual police action - which would show the Abwehr exactly how far they had got- but not enough to enable the Swiss to round up the whole network- a thing the Germans preferred to do themselves.
The position of Rado's network was really similar to that of Mowgli after he had been cast out of the wolf pack. On the one hand he had the wolves- in the shape of the Bupo- who though not in active opposition were prepared if provoked to tear him to pieces, and on the other the tiger- in the shape of the Abwehr, who were really out for blood and would do anything to get the network in their power. We were assisted only by the few lone wolves, and we triumphed in the end.
I myself regard Lorenz and Laura as primary among the factors which led to the dissolution of the network. They do not, however, rank in the tiger category. Nothing better than jackals is worthy of them if my beliefs are correct.
My suspicions of Lorenz really began towards the end of 1942. By that time I had been in contact with him long enough and felt that he was quite out of the ordinary as regards Soviet spies. After one has dealt with secret agents in all walks of life one begins to have a feeling regarding them and their genuineness- and this I never had towards Lorenz and Laura. They were both far too mondaine, and she was far too chic to be part of a Red Army net. Also the information that they produced was not in any way high-grade- despite the golden opinions the director had about their capabilities. Their mode of life, their actions, their information, and the whole appearance of the setup filled me with a vague sense of uneasiness. Facts - or rather suspicions on my part-made the whole affair more sinister.
As is known to the veriest tyro in Soviet espionage it is strictly forbidden for any agent to know or to attempt to find out, the name of his contact. This is laid down for the mutual protection of both parties in case one or the other is caught. It is nothing but clear, practical common sense. Lorenz, however, did not subscribe to this. As I have said, shortness of time and pressure of work prevented me from obeying the rules in their strictest sense - and as a result I used to meet Lorenz in his villa. This procedure was accepted with alacrity by him as he alleged that it was difficult for him to get out and anyway the seclusion of the villa, tucked away in the foothills round the lake, made it an admirable conspiratorial rendezvous. That should have been enough; the rules had already been broken sufficiently without any further violation of elementary security. Despite this Lorenz showed a persistent desire to discover my name, or, if that were impossible, at least some sort of clue as to where I lived and my mode of life. Idle curiosity, it may be thought; I thought so at the time, but now I am inclined to think rather differently.
Lorenz tried to gratify his curiosity in a number of ingenious ways. Every time I went to visit him, though he knew that my time was precious, he insisted that I take off my overcoat and leave it in his extremely nicely furnished hall. While I was urged into the lounge, just off the hall on the left of the front door, by Lorenz, Laura would be, allegedly, getting the information that they had collected from their secret hiding place. This procedure appeared perfectly logical to me the first few times I visited them- even though the procedure was time - wasting and tedious for me. Unfortunately for all concerned, I was, and am, a martyr to the cigarette habit and an inveterate chain smoker. One day- it must have been in the late autumn of 1942- I went round to the villa to pick up their material and, having succumbed to the usual pressure, had gone into the lounge for the usual drink. On arrival there I found that my pockets were empty and that I had left my packet of cigarettes in my overcoat. I moved in a purposeful manner towards the door and was prevented almost by force by Lorenz from trying to get into the hall. Lorenz offered me one of his atrocious cigarettes with a rather feeble excuse. This I refused to smoke; with some justification as Lorenz smoked some vile brand. An embarrassed pause ensued with Lorenz firmly holding the door and after a moment he offered me a cigar which I accepted and he retired, allegedly to his cigar cabinet, to find it- it never appeared. After a short period Laura appeared, rather flushed, and the party went on as before.
Not being of a naturally suspicious nature, it took some time for the full significance of this incident to dawn on me- anyway, at least as long as it took to go by tram from their villa back to the corner near my flat. I then mulled the whole thing over in my mind and decided that I would see whether it was the result of an overheated mind or whether there was perhaps some undercurrent going on which the Centre might regard with some disfavour. I was not in the least bothered as to what anyone might find in any of my pockets. By that time I was a comparatively old bird in the espionage field and had had made for me a couple of detachable pockets which hung down inside the front of my trousers and attached to the front brace buttons. When full they gave me a rather middle-aged spread but I was prepared to sacrifice my vanity to security. The pockets would not have stood up to any sort of trained search but they did provide complete security against casual prying. Even Laura could hardly have got away with my trousers- though she did her best with my coat. In these pockets I kept all my personal papers such as my passport and permis de sejour - made out of course in my right name. There also I used to carry my gun, save in times of emergency when I used to extract it from its hiding place: a small "32 automatic, it gave me moral comfort at some of my more difficult rendezvous. Taking a tip from the films, I used, on such occasions as I thought I might have to use it and yet might be liable to search, to hide it in my hat, where it rested conveniently, if not comfortably, on the crown of my head.
Being a little chary of Laura's rather Fagin-like habits over my pockets, I naturally made things as easy for her as possible, and on my subsequent visits to the villa filled my pockets with purely innocuous documents, in a certain order and with certain papers interleaved, with the result that I was quite certain that the couple were, for whatever obscure purpose of their own, doing their best to find out what they could about me.
Any spy gets morbidly suspicious, but I do not think my suspicions of Lorenz and Laura were unjustified. They had done their best to discover my personal particulars by searching my pockets- hardly what is expected of a friendly spy; they had also done their best to discover where I lived- in this they were not successful until much later on, which is another story. Apart from this they were obviously living at a rate and in a style which even the Centre at its most expensive would hardly have sanctioned. They had also been living in Lausanne for some time before the war and had not taken the trouble to inform the Centre of the fact and had not started to get in touch again until 1941. Their villa in itself must have cost some six thousand pounds, and it would have been impossible to get this sum of money together from the Centre honestly. Also the villa and property were in Laura's name which gave the whole thing a slightly more shady air.