Gastão de Freitas Ferraz was a Portuguese

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

working for the

Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...

. He was one of two radio operators on board the ''Gil Eannes'', the codfish fleet support ship on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. Ferraz almost succeeded in alerting the German military leadership to the imminent "

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

" in 1942. The British HMS ''Duke of York'' stopped the ''Gil Eannes'' on 1 November 1942 and a commando arrested Freitas. During interrogation Freitas was shown a photo of the Abwehr resident in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Kuno Weltzien. Freitas became nervous at this moment. The British had picked up radio traffic indicating naval espionage, possibly compromising the secrecy on "Operation Torch". On 15 October MI5 had asked for permission to arrest the neutral Portuguese fishermen, since they knew about two radio contacts of the fishing fleet to the Germans. Freitas was interned in "

Camp 020 Camp 020 at Latchmere House in southwest London was a British interrogation centre for captured German agents during the Second World War. It was run by Lieutenant Colonel Robin "Tin Eye" Stephens. Although other wartime interrogation centres we ...

" at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with 500 other spies, some of whom then radioed false messages to the Germans as double agents. The ''Gil Eannes'' had been sailing close to General Patton's armada en route to the invasion in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

("Torch").

External links

* * Abwehr Freitas Ferraz, Gastao de Portuguese prisoners and detainees {{spy-stub