Rtn David Axon: The Suicide Squad

Today our President told us that our member Eddie Cassels has resigned as Secretary because of continued ill-health. We were sorry to hear this and hope he will be able to recover at least sufficiently to attend meetings once more. Our Assistant Secretary, Jenny Black, was appointed Secretary in his place. The President appealed for a volunteer to replace her as Assistant Secretary.

The Club agreed to support the efforts to help the Afghan refugees living in Chelmsford by paying for the fuel needed for a minibus to take families to Dunmow so they can select suitable clothes from the donated items stored there.

Our speaker was our member and Programme Secretary David Axon. Very appropriately for Armistice Day, he told us more about his father’s exploits at the end of the Second World War.

His father was an officer in the RAF. As a result of working in Germany before the war he was fluent in several German dialects, so he was seconded to MI5 and later to MI6. HHe found their approaches to Intelligence very different. MI5 emphasised weapons training and killing the enemy before he could kill you. In MI6 the emphasis was on blending in and remaining undetected. At the time the MI6 survival rate was very low, hence they were known as “The Suicide Squad”.

His first role in MI6 involved identifying underground Nazi cells and members in Occupied Germany, which required him to mix in their circles. He found the most effective technique was to masquerade as a disaffected German. He would then be able to get closer to Nazi sympathisers.

After that he was sent into the Russian Sector of Occupied Germany. MI6 had a villa which gave good views into the Russian sector. From there operatives would infiltrate across the border.

His father liked his creature comforts and was not keen on the work in the Russian Sector, which usually required him to sleep rough.

In the better areas he would frequent the local bars and get chatting to the barmaids. He did not find this a hardship because the barmaids were usually chosen for their looks. He could get them talking about things they had been told by other customers.

In the less salubrious areas he would masquerade as a tramp or as homeless. People were surprisingly willing to unburden themselves to someone they thought was worse off than themselves.

His main task was to observe what the Russians were doing to check that they were complying with the agreement they had made with the other Allied Powers. He found that they were sticking faithfully to what they had agreed, despite reports in the British press to the contrary.

For their own safety MI6 operatives were withdrawn after eight months. David’s father worked for eight months in the Russian Sector and then returned home.

As a postscript, David mentioned a holiday his family had taken as part of an organised tour in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. His father conversed with the locals in German, so fluently that the guide later complimented him on his English and asked where he had learned it!