The Spy in The Attic

During WW2 the British National Government, headed by Winston Churchill, fought a clandestine war on much the same scale as the overt war that was in the national papers each day. Many of us now know of Bletchley Park, aka Station X, which intercepted and broke German codes. MI5 and MI6 were actually created by Winston in WW1. There were also the Secret Services who sought and found many many German spies who tried to infiltrate the UK. Most of these were quite easy as no German could get his tongue around the English language, dialects and localised 'languages' such as Geordie and Scouse. They were soon spotted. But the worst kind of spy, and traitor, was the British person who supplied Germany with information. They could integrate because they were already locals. This is one such story as related to me by a member of a family who lived in Wallasey.

Wallasey was a relatively well to do town sutuated in the north east corner of north facing Wirral. Its large houses were built by businessmen from Victorian times onwards who worked in and around the Liverpool Pier Head. They owned business's, some shipping lines, some merchants. An affluent society until around 1950, when Wallasey began to grow, and grow.

During WW2, in a street of semi detached homes there lived a family. One day whilst the husband was in the attic he could hear a tapping sound. He called his wife up and they were listening to morse code being transmitted from the attic next door!! He said that 'there are spies living next door and that they should inform the Police'. The wife said 'we shall do no such thing. Whilst they are spying the germans are not going to bomb us' !!!! And nothing as done ................................

Because of this lady I wonder how many countless ships leaving the Mersey were reported to Germany and to waiting U Boats in the Irish Sea. How many convoys forming up were relayed to Berlin? Troops ships, ships carrying women and children, civilian sailors from nearby streets, towns, from Liverpool, all doomed to die because this lady did not want the Germans to bomb her street!!! Personally I would have hung her as well.

After the war, a new family eventually moved into the house next door and the man told the family that he had found lots of aerials hidden in the chimney breast in the attic!

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