Declassified MI5 file shows Nazi spy almost changed course of war...

Declassified MI5 file shows Nazi spy almost changed course of war
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Michael Evans, Defence Editor

A Nazi spy came within days of uncovering one of the Allies' most 
important missions and possibly changing the direction of the Second World 
War.

The story of a Portuguese wireless operator and the dramatic decision to 
pluck him from his vessel on the high seas to prevent him from betraying 
the position of a huge convoy bound for North Africa is revealed for the 
first time in a declassified MI5 file released by the National Archives.

Gastao de Freitas Ferraz was being paid by German intelligence to send 
coded messages about convoys to U-boat commanders and was on the tail of 
the Allied warships...../snip/


....Ferraz, who had been transmitting encrypted messages from his fishing 
boat, Gil Eannes, in the Atlantic, unwittingly had it in his power to sink 
the Allies' plans by reporting the size and direction of the convoy. But 
unknown to the Germans, the messages were being intercepted and deciphered 
by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire. On August 9, 1942, 
MI5 was sent a "most secret" letter that referred to the "alleged 
unneutral behaviour" of a certain Portuguese wireless operator. Gil 
Eannes, a former Portuguese warship, was part of a large fleet authorised 
to operate in the Atlantic because of Portugal's neutrality. On June 28, 
1942, it sailed out of Lisbon for Newfoundland and on its arrival there 
was searched. Nothing suspicious was found and neither Ferraz nor the 
other radio operator on board showed any sign of guilt. No orders were 
given at this stage to detain them because the only evidence about coded 
radio messages from the vessel was based on the most secret source of all 
- the Ultra material gleaned from the Enigma machines..../snip/


....The warship HMS Duke of York duly intercepted Gil Eannes and Ferraz
was detained and taken to Gibraltar. He was transferred to MI5's
interrogation centre at Camp 020 in Ham, West London, where he confessed.
After the war he was deported to Portugal.

Christopher Andrew, the official biographer of MI5, said : "Gastao de 
Freitas Ferraz was on the tail of Patton's troops and would have told the 
Germans where they were really going and could have affected the outcome 
of the whole war."


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5834918.ece