Agents Without Honor

There were two hangings at Pentonville Prison last week, but the Pentonville bell did not toll, the chief warden did not hoist a black flag to the prison masthead. Just curt sheriff's and coroner's notes pinned on the prison door told of the death by hanging of Jose Waldberg, 25, and Karl Heinrich Meier, 24. Their only distinction: being the first enemy spies to be executed in Great Britain during the war.

They both had good English accents. They carried papers to prove that they were Dutch refugees from the Nazis, but they did not play the refugee game. They hid in a cave on a lonely stretch of coast, or slipped from dark barn to thick forest to empty warehouse, peeking, listening, taking notes. At night they crawled into lonely hedgerows, unpacked two small leather cases containing a wireless transmitter, and sent whatever they knew.

The two finally blundered into the Coast Guard's hands. At their trial one interesting fact came out: they had been told in the summer that they need only wait until Sept. 15, when German troops would have occupied Britain.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.