310 lines
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Executable File
310 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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obituaries
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military-obituaries
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special-forces-obituaries
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6789355
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-----
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# Eddie Chapman
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## Eddie Chapman, who has died aged 83, was known under the codename Zig-Zag
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as one of the most colourful of the Double Cross agents run by British
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Intelligence during the Second World War.
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![Eddie Chapman][1]
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Chapman's false papers, identifying him as Hugh Anson, with which he reurned
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to Portugal in 1942 to re-establish contact with the Abwehr
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12:01AM GMT 16 Dec 1997
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[Comments][2]
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A safebreaker who was liberated from jail in St Helier by the German
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occupation of the Channel Islands, Chapman was sent back to Britain to carry
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out acts of sabotage on behalf of the Nazis.
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He was immediately turned by the British and, with the aid of a professional
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illusionist brought in by MI5 and of carefully placed newspaper reports, gave
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the Germans the impression that he had carried out his mission to the letter.
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Chapman made his way back to Germany where he was welcomed as a hero and,
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after being briefed on the workings of the Abwehr, the German military
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intelligence organisation, was sent back to Britain on another mission,
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allowing him to pass his newly-acquired knowledge on to MI5.
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Edward Chapman was born in 1914 and brought up in Sunderland. He found work in
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the shipyards there, and at 18 showed his mettle by rescuing a man from
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drowning off Roker. For this he won a certificate from the Humane Society.
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Chapman then served in the Coldstream Guards until the mid-1930s, when he
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embarked on a second career as a safecracker. He enjoyed some success until
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1939, when the police discovered him trying to blow open a safe in Glasgow.
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While awaiting trial, he broke out of jail and made his way to Jersey where he
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was arrested. He was about to be returned to Scotland when the Germans
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occupied the Channel Islands.
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Chapman always claimed that his offer to carry out sabotage for the Germans in
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Britain, using his knowledge of explosives, was motivated by a desire to
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return home.
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But one of the British Intelligence officers who later handled him was
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probably closer to the mark when he suggested that it was at least in part
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because Chapman "loved an exciting life".
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After training, he was given the codename Fritzchen. On the night of Dec 20
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1942 he was dropped by parachute near Ely, equipped with a wireless, an
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automatic pistol, a cyanide suicide pill and £1,000. His mission was to blow
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up the De Havilland aircraft factory at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where the new
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Mosquito fighter-bomber was being built.
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The Germans promised him that, if he succeeded, he would be given £15,000 and
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sent to America to carry out further acts of sabotage. But by now MI5 had set
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up the Double Cross system, whereby German agents arriving in Britain were
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intercepted and offered the stark choice of facing execution or working for
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the British.
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A key part of the scheme was the interception by Bletchley Park of the
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Abwehr's communications with its agents. As a result, MI5 knew a great deal
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about Chapman's impending arrival. Immediately after landing, he telephoned
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Wisbech police station but had some difficulty persuading the police that he
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was a former safecracker turned German spy who now wanted to work for the
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British.
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MI5 rechristened him Zig-Zag and allowed him to radio to the Abwehr that he
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had arrived safely. The Double Cross committee then set about creating the
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illusion that would allow him to claim that his mission had been accomplished.
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The first problem, a legitimate explanation of how he acquired the necessary
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explosives, Chapman solved by returning to a quarry near Sevenoaks with which
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he was familiar from his previous career.
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On the night of Jan 29 1943, Zig-Zag and an MI5 officer scaled the fence of
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the Mosquito factory and laid a series of notional charges around the power
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plant. Jasper Maskelyne, a celebrated magician and illusionist, then used a
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controlled explosion to blow out part of the roof. At the same time, he
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released smoke bombs and scattered pieces of transformer around the plant to
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give the impression of a much greater blast.
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The explosion was reported in The Daily Telegraph and other national
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newspapers and Chapman's Abwehr controllers sent him a message of
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congratulations. They told Chapman to make his own way back to Germany from
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where he would be sent on the second mission to America.
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Hoping to use him to take similar control of this operation, MI5 put him on a
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British ship bound for Lisbon, having firmly declined his numerous offers to
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assassinate Hitler. On arriving in the Portuguese capital, Chapman reported to
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the local Abwehr representative who gave him a piece of "coal" and offered him
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a large sum if he would go back to the ship and place it in its coalstore.
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MI5 was horrified to discover from the intercepts of Abwehr traffic that the
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coal was explosive designed to detonate when placed in a fire, but Chapman had
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handed it to the ship's master and asked him to give it to the War Office.
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The mission to America never materialised and Chapman spent the next year
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blowing his Abwehr pay on an extended holiday in Norway before being recalled
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to Germany.
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Chapman was now given a series of briefings on Abwehr operations. Before being
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sent back to Britain on another mission he was awarded the Iron Cross. He was
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then dropped on to the main road at Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, in the
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early hours of June 27 1944. When he reported to the nearest police station
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and told his story, the duty officer replied: "Don't be silly. Go to bed."
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Chapman's response was: "That's exactly what they told me last time. Ring up
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your station in Wisbech. They'll remember me from last time."
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After giving MI5 a breakdown of Abwehr operations, he was installed in a flat
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in Kensington. But the temptations of the £6,000 that the Abwehr had given him
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proved too much. Chapman was less than discreet to his friends among the
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criminal fraternity about the source of his new-found wealth, and MI5 was
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forced to abandon him.
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After the war, he wrote an account of his wartime experiences, which was
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serialised in a French newspaper. He again found himself in court, this time
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on a charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
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A second attempt at publication was thwarted by a D-Notice, but, as MI5 had
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found out during the war, Zig-Zag was not easily discouraged, and The Eddie
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Chapman Story eventually appeared in print. A film, Triple Cross, in which
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Chapman was played by Christopher Plummer, came out in 1967.
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Chapman leaves a wife Betty and a daughter.
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Telegraph
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## [Special Forces Obituaries][8]
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* ### [Obituaries »][9]
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* ### [Military Obituaries »][10]
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In news
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[![Eddie Chapman][11] ][12]
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### [Eddie Chapman][12]
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[![Frank Bessac][13] ][14]
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### [Frank Bessac][14]
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[![Eileen 'Didi' Nearne][15] ][16]
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### [Eileen Nearne][16]
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[![John Herivel][17] ][18]
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### [John Herivel][18]
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[![Knut Haugland][19] ][20]
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### [Knut Haugland][20]
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