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Wulf Dietrich Christian Schmidt, later known as Harry Williamson (7 December 1911 – 19 October 1992) was a Danish citizen who became a double agent working for Britain against
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
under the codename Tate. He was part of the
Double Cross System The Double-Cross System or XX System was a World War II counter-espionage and deception operation of the British Security Service (a civilian organisation usually referred to by its cover title MI5). Nazi agents in Britain – real and false – w ...
, under which all German agents in Britain were controlled by MI5 and used to deceive Germany. Nigel West singled him out as "one of the seven spies who changed the world."


Career as a double agent

Schmidt was sent to Britain by 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. ...
in September 1940, landing by parachute. He was arrested immediately, as a captured agent had divulged the time of his arrival in return for a promise that Schmidt, a friend, would not be executed. Schmidt broke down under interrogation and became a double agent, making contact with Germany by radio in October 1940. He was one of the longest running agents in the Double Cross System; his last contact with Germany was on 2 May 1945. He operated his radio himself until he became ill and had to be imitated by a British operator. Although he recovered from his illness, he was not allowed to operate the radio thereafter. He did continue to assist in composing the messages sent to Germany. Tate participated in many deception and counter-intelligence operations. As a working agent, he needed money. In the spring of 1941, the Germans sent over Karel Richter to deliver money but Richter was quickly captured by the British. In desperation, the Germans used a Japanese diplomat to take funds to Tate, which revealed the extent of German-Japanese co-operation.Masterman, p. 143 In July 1941, the Abwehr sent £20,000 to Britain, which Tate received. With this huge sum (approximately ), Tate notionally established himself as a rich "man about town" in London, with easy access to black-market liquor and other luxuries. As such, he could plausibly make friends with military officers and civilian officials and get intelligence from their loose talk or even recruit them as agents. Tate reported to the Germans that to avoid military service, he was employed on a farm owned by a friend and could only visit London on weekends. This provided an excuse for his not recruiting more agents or reporting as much as the Germans wanted. Tate participated in the Operation Bodyguard deception which covered the Invasion of Normandy. He notionally went to work on a farm near
Wye Wye may refer to: Place names *Wye, Kent, a village in Kent, England ** Wye College, agricultural college, part of University of London before closure in 2009 **Wye School, serving the above village ** Wye railway station, serving the above villa ...
in south-east England, where the fictional First United States Army Group (FUSAG) was located. Tate provided the Germans with fake schedules for the rail transport of FUSAG troops to ports of embarkation for the invasion. This apparent feat was highly regarded in Germany. For this and his other apparent successes, Tate was granted naturalisation as a German citizen so that he could receive the
Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...
First and Second Class. In the meantime, Schmidt lived quietly in England, finding employment as a photographer at Greville Studios in Watford. By 1945, he had even been registered to vote in the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
. Tate's last deception was in early 1945. German submarines ("U-boats") running submerged or with only the snorkel up could not use normal navigation methods. The U-boats fixed their positions off southern Ireland, where there was a distinctive conical
seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise a ...
. Using the depth sounder, a submarine could locate the peak of the seamount, which was a known position. Rodger Winn, head of the U-Boat Tracking Room, suspected this and suggested laying a minefield at that spot. No minelayer was available, so he approached the Double Cross team, and suggested telling the Germans through a controlled agent that there ''was'' a minefield. Tate was chosen, as one of his notional friends was a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
officer who was a minelaying expert. Tate reported that his "mine-laying friend" had bragged to him about a new minefield near Ireland, with clues that should have alerted the Germans but nothing seemed to happen. Then, by coincidence, a U-boat was reported sunk off Ireland. Tate reported that his "mine-laying friend" had come by to celebrate this success. Tate added that he was angry and ready to quit: he had risked his life for this intelligence and a U-boat was lost because the Germans had not acted on it. Two days later, the German Navy () ordered its U-boats to avoid a zone sixty miles square around the seamount, forfeiting the navigation fix and also providing a safe zone for Allied ships.Montagu, pp. 175–177


Notes


References

* Jonason, Tommy; Olsson, Simon. ''Agent TATE: The Wartime Story of Harry Williamson''. London: Amberley Publishing, 2011. . * Masterman, J. C. ''The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945''. Avon, 1972. * Montagu, Ewen. ''Beyond Top Secret Ultra''. Coward McCann & Geoghegan, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Wulf 1911 births 1992 deaths Double agents World War II spies for the United Kingdom Double-Cross System Abwehr World War II spies for Germany