Harry Ferguson - Operation Kronstadt: The True Story of Honor, Espionage, and the Rescue of Britain’s Greatest Spy, the Man with a Hundred Faces

One of the great pleasures in writing this book has been contacting the following historians, enthusiasts and family members who have been unfailingly helpful and friendly. Each one of them has contributed at least a small part to the jigsaw which makes up this story and if there are any mistakes remaining they are most definitely mine.

There are no surviving members of the crews of the Coastal Motor Boats and many technical details about their operation have been lost, so in the first place I would like to thank Captain Stephen R. New, maritime historian and expert on the history of the motor torpedo boat. He gave unstintingly of his time and knowledge as well as allowing me to consult his unpublished MA dissertation. I would also like to thank: Commander Rodney Agar RN (retired), for his memories of his uncle; Phil Tomaselli, already well known to researchers in the history of espionage, who supplied the final part of the jigsaw by finding Paul Dukess private diaries; Dr John Fisher of UWE, Bristol and author of Gentleman Spies; Frances Welch, author of The Romanovs & Mr Gibbes; Sergey Gavrilov for his research in Finland and Russia into Peter Sokolov; Ann Trevor for her research in US archives; the Head of Security Department and several old friends at the Secret Intelligence Service; Francis M Newton, Jean Cowell, Daphne Porter, Lizzie Sanders and Roz Acland, who all contributed valiantly to my search for Laura Cade; Vin Callcut for sharing the memories of his father, CMB Motor Mechanic Horace G. Callcut; Peter and Christopher Hampsheir for their knowledge of the Hampsheir family; Nigel Watts for his knowledge of the Armistead family; Professor Paul Dukes, recently retired Professor of Russian History at the University of Aberdeen (sadly and astonishingly no relation); Dr Letas Palmaitis for his knowledge of the Ingrian people; author and historian Phillip Knightley; Roy Dean and Gerald Blackburn of the HMS Dorsetshire Association; Alina Rennie and Alan Howe of Caterham School; John Roycroft for his thoughts on Paul Dukes; the staff of the Tourist Offices in Bridgwater, Somerset and Maldon, Essex; the staff and trustees of the following institutions: the National Archives at Kew; the Department of Documents and the Photograph Archive at the Imperial War Museum at Lambeth; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; the British Library Newspaper Archive at Colindale; the Hoover Institution Archive at Stanford University, California. UK material which is not under private copyright is unpublished Crown-copyright material and is reproduced by kind permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. I am also grateful to the following publishers for permission to quote from their works: Cassell (The Story of ST-25 and The Unending Quest), Evans Brothers (Footprints in the Sea) and Hodder and Stoughton (Baltic Episode). The publisher has undertaken every effort to trace copyright holders. If any copyright holder believes that they have not been consulted they are urged to contact the publisher directly.

Finally, my thanks to a few special people: Helen Hawken, my absolute favourite television producer, who first suggested that this story might be suitable for a book; Tony Whittome, James Nightingale and everyone at Hutchinson for their enthusiasm and all their hard work; my agent Julian Alexander for his continuing faith in defiance of all the evidence; and last, but not least, my six wonderful children and my long-suffering secretary Rita I still await a decent cup of coffee from one of them.

H.F.

February 2008

An extensive search by staff at the National Archives, the National Maritime Museum and the Imperial War Museum failed to discover a full list of the names of personnel who took part in Operation R.K. (The Kronstadt Raid). Many of the relevant documents (including service records) appear to have been destroyed in a fire. It is possible that such a list may yet be found, but in the meantime the following is as complete a list as can be compiled from existing sources.

Coastal Motor Boats

First team