Victory in battle to save manor which tricked Nazis into spilling plans
AT TRENT Park it really was true that, in the words of the Second World War propaganda slogan, the walls had ears.
It was through those walls that, as part of an ingenious undercover operation, British intelligence eavesdropped on the 59 high-ranking German officers being held prisoner there.
More than 70 years later, the historic English country house was destined to be turned into flats.
But it can now be disclosed that developers have agreed to set aside part of the extensive building for conversion into a museum, following a campaign by local residents and historians, including Helen Lederer. the comedian.
Ms Lederer – whose grandfather, a Czech refugee, was among those tasked with gathering information from the German prisoners of war – called the decision “a huge triumph and of interest for the future”.
Microphones in the walls, furniture and even pot plants at Trent Park, in north London, allowed military intelligence to gather invaluable information from the Germans who, unaware of the ploy, spoke freely among themselves.
Hearing the conversations allowed British intelligence to discover the existence of Hitler’s secret weapon programme at Peenemunde, in the Baltic, and inflict heavy damage on the plant during a bombing raid in August 1943.
They also gave up information which was used by the Allies to defend the Atlantic convoys against U-boat attacks.
“It was sort of James Bond, but it saved lives,” said Ms Lederer of her grandfather’s secret work. “He’d be assessing their psychology and getting as much information as possible.”
According to historian Helen Fry, the German officers also boasted of war crimes they had committed. “They became completely unguarded,” she said.
Trent Park is understood to have later been used as part of the West’s Cold War intelligence operations against the Soviet Union, though much detail about this period remains classified.