GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY Eppler’s mission and capture
Eppler’s mission to infiltrate British Army H.Q. was enacted under the Abwehr code names ‘Salam’ and ‘Kondor’. ‘Salam’ was the means of delivering him to Cairo, with the assistance of the Hungarian desert explorer Laszlo Almasy, better known today as the the protagonist for Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient (1992) and the subsequent film adaption of the same name (1996).
Travelling ‘Long Range Desert Group style’, Alamsy successfully delivered Eppler, and his wireless operator, Hans-Gerd Sandstede, to Assiut in Egypt, after crossing the Gilf Kebir and Kharga Oasis. Thus commenced the second part of the operation, ‘Kondor’, namely their task to infiltrate British Army H.Q. and gain access to maps and plans to assist Rommel’s Afrika Korps. Unbeknown to Eppler and his companion, Bletchley Park had intercepted related wireless transmissions, as a consequence of which Cairo - and Sansom - were duly warned of the imminent threat.
Thus ensued a game of cat and mouse, much assisted by Eppler’s and Sandstede’s weaknesses for Cairo nightlife. The former adopted the identity of a wealthy merchant, Hussein Gaffar, and the latter posed as an American businessman, ‘Peter Monkaster’. In fact the intelligence gathering side of ‘Kondor’ proved to be next to useless, Eppler’s outings in the uniform of an officer of the Rifle Brigade gaining him little information. Moreover, Sandstede’s transmissions never reached a dedicated Abwehr team who had been ordered to take on a new initiative by Rommel. Thus the codes based upon Daphne du Maurier’s pre-war novel Rebecca served no real purpose other than to compromise the Germans when a search was undertaken of their hideout; Sandstede’s wireless transmitter was discovered hidden in a gramophone cabinet. Just how Sansom rumbled the Germans is a complex story, imbued as it is with an extraordinary cast of characters; his first big break came via his investigations into underground nationalists, among them the country’s future president, Anwar el Sadat. In common with other members of the Egyptian Army’s Free Officers’ movement, Sadat had offered Rommel’s forces active support in the event of invasion. The sister of one of Sadat’s cohorts, Zahira Ezzet, had unwittingly befriended one of Sansom’s undercover operatives, believing him to be a fellow nationalist with access to British Army G.H.Q.: the moment she asked him to obtain a plan of G.H.Q., she set in motion ‘Kondor’s’ collapse.
Another cast member who helped Sansom to bring together vital clues was the aforementioned belly dancer with ‘sensational green eyes’, one Hekmat Fahmy. She may have been a looker but, as Mark Simmons observes in The Rebecca Code, she was no Mata Hari. It was through her that Sansom - acting out the role of a Greek money launderer - gained his first meeting with the Germans, Eppler being keen to exchange large quantities of forged British currency which had been supplied by the Abwehr. Another meeting ensued at the Kit Kat Cabaret, followed by an invitation back to Fahmy’s boathouse on the Nile. Another visitor to the Fahmy’s boathouse that night was Anwar el Sadat, who had been asked by the Germans to improve their wireless communications. Just before midnight, he and Sandstede made their way to the Germans’ nearby boathouse, an abode that Sadat later likened to ‘a place straight out of the Thousand and One Nights, where everything invited indolence, voluptuousness and pleasure of the senses. In this dissolute atmosphere the young Nazis had forgotten the delicate mission with which they had been entrusted.’
As a consequence, Sadat refused to offer his assistance, the two men returning to Fahmy’s boathouse in poor humour. Unbeknown to them, their fellow guest, the Greek money launderer - Sansom - had noted the time of their earlier departure with much interest: for by now it was known from intercepted radio signals that midnight was the allotted hour for ‘Kondor’ transmissions.
A day or two later, and having placed a watch on the Germans’ houseboat, Sansom got his final breakthrough. Another cabaret dancer was picked-up after spending the night there. She claimed to be working for a Palestinian underground movement and was a willing interviewee: thus confirmation of Sandstede’s wireless transmitter hidden in a gramophone cabinet and the fact that he was using Daphne du Maurier’s pre-war novel Rebecca as a code book.
The waiting game over, Sansom and his men quickly set in motion a plan to arrest the Germans in their boathouse. The raid was fixed for 0200 hours on 25 July 1942, a raid supported by the river police. It was a complete success. Eppler - naked and armed with a Luger - was overpowered, Sandstede likewise on the upper deck, where he had thrown his code books overboard. They landed conveniently in one of the river police’s craft. Sansom, having retrieved them, returned to the boathouse, only for Eppler to rush forward in an attempt to grab them: Sansom punched him to the ground and, as the two Germans were being taken away coolly advised them, ‘Take my tip and talk, if you want to live.’
Meanwhile, a similar raid was mounted on Fahmy’s boathouse, who was furious when she realised who Sansom really was. He removed bundles of love letters from her numerous British admirers, some of which contained breaches of security. Within days of their arrest, Eppler was nursing a broken nose and Sandstede botched a suicide attempt by slashing his throat. A large number of their accomplices, including Sadat, were likewise rounded-up. However, contrary to the fate usually afforded spies, both of the Germans were held as political prisoners and survived the war; an attempt to try them as war criminals on their repatriation was curtailed by the intervention of M.I. 6.
Sansom continued to lend valuable service as Chief Security Officer in Cairo until the War’s end, among other tasks overseeing security arrangements for Churchill’s visit in August 1942; see his I Spied Spies for further details.
He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 6 April 1944, refers), in addition to being awarded Middle East Forces C.-in-C’s certificates of appreciation for ‘outstanding service’ in June 1946 and January 1947.
Post-war
Remaining in Egypt after the War, Sansom was employed by the Foreign Office at the British Embassy in Cairo as a Security Officer - with rank of First Secretary on the Diplomatic List - from early 1947 until being expelled from the country in May 1953. Shortly before his departure, he was put under 24-hour ‘watch’ by the authorities, an unhappy chapter that culminated in nasty injuries when his car was forced off the road. He was awarded the M.B.E.
Re-employed by the Intelligence Corps, Sansom was embarked for Malaya in early 1954, where he served until April 1956 and is believed to have been awarded another mention in despatches; verification required.
Placed on the Army Reserve of Officers as a Major in May 1957, he met Eppler again in London for the premiere of the film ‘Foxhole in Cairo’ in 1960, and in 1965 he published I Spied Spies. He died at Balzan, Malta in February 1973.
Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s M.B.E. warrant, with related Statutes; his M.I.D. certificate, dated 6 April 1944; Middle East Forces C.-in-C’s certificates of appreciation for outstanding service (2), dated June 1946 and January 1947; three large format group photographs; copies of the recipient’s autobiography, I Spied Spies (1965), The Cat and The Mice, by Leonard Mosley (1958), and The Rebecca Code - Rommel’s Spy in North Africa and Operation Kondor, by Mark Simmons (2012); together with a gilt metal cigarette case, the lid engraved, ‘A.W.S.’ and ‘Best Wishes From B.E.S.C., Cairo, 1949.’
www.dnw.co.uk
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