The Walls Have Ears : The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II

by Helen Fry

A history of the elaborate and brilliantly sustained World War II intelligence operation by which Hitler’s generals were tricked into giving away vital Nazi secrets

At the outbreak of World War II, MI6 spymaster Thomas Kendrick arrived at the Tower of London to set up a top secret operation: German prisoners’ cells were to be bugged and listeners installed behind the walls to record and transcribe their private conversations. This mission proved so effective that it would go on to be set up at three further sites—and provide the Allies with crucial insight into new technology being developed by the Nazis.

In this astonishing history, Helen Fry uncovers the inner workings of the bugging operation. On arrival at stately-homes-turned-prisons like Trent Park, high-ranking German generals and commanders were given a "phony" interrogation, then treated as "guests," wined and dined at exclusive clubs, and encouraged to talk. And so it was that the Allies got access to some of Hitler’s most closely guarded secrets—and from those most entrusted to protect them.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Espionage, Audiobook, War, Military Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2019

About the author

Helen Fry has written numerous books on the Second World War with particular reference to the 10,000 Germans and Austrians who fought for Britain in the war.

Other books by Helen include histories of various Anglo-Jewish communities, including The Lost Jews of Cornwall (with Keith Pearce); and The Jews of Exeter. Her titles also include books on Christian-Jewish Dialogue. Her textbook Christian-Jewish Dialogue: A Reader has been translated into Russian, Czech and Polish.

Helen has branched out into fiction with James Hamilton under the pseudonym JH Schryer. Together they have written two novels of historical fiction and been in development on scripts with Green Gaia Films for a TV drama based on their novels.

Helen is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Dept of Hebrew & Jewish Studies at University College London and Lecturer at the London Jewish Cultural Centre. She is a member of The Biographers’ Club, The Society of Authors and an Honorary member of The Association of Jewish Refugees.

Reviews

[Jeff Mauch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the better modern history books I've read in a long time. It's rare these days to still be learning completely new information when it comes to World War II, but that's exactly what you get here. I've read my fair share of books on spying and espionage during the war, but had only ever heard small fragments of information on the topic of how the British spied on the Germans via the incredible bugging of huge prison and holding compounds. The lengths they went to keep this all buttoned up, even decades after the war is a fascinating story that I know many haven't heard. It can be argued that much of the information gathered in these places both shortened the war and led to huge advances for the Britain and her allies. The frankness of the conversations that were recorded and are just being declassified are astonishing. It gives one an entirely different perspective on the war, particularly in how it was viewed by higher ranking German generals and commanders and how that view changed as the the possibility and then inevitability of losing the war presented itself. I sincerely hope that as more information on this is declassified that we continue to get a bigger picture on how this spying influenced the outcome of the war and that those involved eventually get all of the praise they deserve.

[Athan Tolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greek TV in the seventies was not exactly flush with cash, so I grew up watching re-runs of TV series about WWII, black and white movies about WWII and sometimes even the occasional feature movie about WWII; from there, I progressed to the oeuvre of one Ian Fleming and even took the odd history elective about those times when I went to college. My fascination regarding the period remains undiminished, so I fully expected “The Walls have Ears” to be very much my cup of tea. In fact, I packed it along for my Christmas holidays back home, thinking I’d leave it behind for my dad to read, whose village in Northwestern Greece the Germans burnt twice.

I’m sad to report it’s more of a dig into the archives than a story with a plot to it. I’d have expected the author to have done some additional fieldwork, to have tracked down some survivors from the period, to have woven all this fascinating material into something of a narrative.

With the exception of Fritz Lustig (father of BBC journalist Robin Lustig) I don’t think anybody was successfully interviewed for this. It’s very very dry.

So, some 48 hours after having finished “The Walls have Ears,” I can say I have forgotten the names of all the German officers that feature, if not the fact that they had split into two factions, the pro-Nazi and the anti-Nazi. I’m also not at all surprised to hear that they were petty or that they knew about the atrocities surrounding the Holocaust.

This book never came alive for me, but perhaps I’m not familiar enough with the genre, what can I say. I did my dad a favor and brought it back to London.

One name does stand out, that of Colonel Kendrick, spymaster extraordinaire. I’ll have to visit Trent Park at some point to see for myself where all this eavesdropping took place. After 30 years of taking the blue line and having a quiet laugh with myself about where it ends, perhaps by 2022, when the museum is expected to open, it might be time I took my inaugural trip to Cockfosters.

[Jack Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather repetitive to start with, but i’m glad I continued. the subject is a fascinating piece of lesser-known spy history, but it probably could have been a pamphlet

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting 🧐 but a little dry. And for some reason the fake gothic font for the chapter titles and sub-titles annoyed me immensely! 😤

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and astonishing in equal measure. You may find the first 100 pages a little dry - it’s mainly a list of the names of those whose vital work is discussed later on. After this necessary preamble the book comes alive. There are still secrets and stories being unearthed concerning the clandestine activities of MI6 during World War Two. What to do with all those captured German Generals who initially trickled and later flooded into England during the course of the war. Tell you what; stick ‘em all together in requisitioned stately homes, interrogate them gently and appear to be a duffer, then eavesdrop on their unguarded conversations. They’ll never suspect…. And, through hubris, they didn’t.
Helen Fry has accumulated enough evidence to suggest that the secret listeners’ work was every bit the equal of that performed at Bletchley Park in steering the course of and ultimately (possibly) shortening the war. These (extra)ordinary people, fluent German speakers, including Robin Lustig’s mum and dad, Olivia Newton John’s grandfather and Trigger from Only Fools and Horses’ uncle, patiently listened and recorded while the German top brass callously discussed the slaughter of their families back in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia or wherever as well as giving hints about the V1, V2 and V3 programmes that would focus allied attention on destroying them. The archive was only fully released in the early 2000s and has been lying, unregarded in a War Office basement for most of the last few years. Thanks to people like Helen Fry the full contribution of genuine heroes like Thomas Kendrick, Denys Felkin, “Lord Abefeldy” and Fritz Lustig among many others can be appreciated. Even a few of the Germans emerge as fairly decent chaps excluding of course the true believers who retained their Nazi beliefs and were beyond redemption. It’s interesting that those Generals who had spent their formative years hunting, shooting and fishing with their British and American mates seemed sane while the SS men remained deluded.
I can’t wait for the museum at Trent Park to open in 2026. Just don’t spill any secrets while enjoying your cup of tea in the cafeteria. Walls have ears you know.

[Mythlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating slice of history: painstakingly collected intelligence, taken covertly from German POWs who thought the British were too stupid or inept to bug them, and only partially unveiled 60 years after the war.

Very interesting to see where the secret listeners were able to make a difference (countering technological developments in German military operations) and where they weren't (certain military disasters which could have been avoided and war crimes that could have been prosecuted). As recounted here, the failures were not due to faulty collection or lack of understanding; they were due to others' reluctance to act on the information received.

Fry sets out the arguments for and against using the secretly recorded evidence of atrocities, and I can certainly understand the ultimate decision. But there is a certain grim irony here, as the head of the secret listening operation took particular care to ensure that this evidence would be preserved; these recordings were not only transcribed but also saved on acetate and marked with a scarlet A so they could easily be found and used when prosecuting war crimes. And a fair number of his secret listeners were German-born Jewish refugees, for whom these accounts would strike particularly close to home. But apparently these German generals who were so carefully courted and bugged, and caught in damning admissions to each other, were never held accountable in earthly justice. And the current fate of those acetate recordings is unknown, though Fry speculates they could simply be lost and forgotten in the basement of some government building.

Some of the historical groundwork can make my eyes glaze over (so many names! so many dates and timelines!), but there are multiple threads of interest interwoven throughout this story, whether feminism, eminent domain, role-playing and secrecy, aristocracy and snobbery, the randomness of historical preservation, the dynamics of human interactions, etc., etc.

[Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read, but at times felt dry and like an information dump.

Would recommend to anyone interested in the Second World War, espionage or even audio.

[Jacqueline Houghton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more a summary of the archives than a good read, in places entire paragraphs are lists of people. It's such a shame as this covers unexplored aspects of WW2 intelligence operations that are absolutely fascinating, and contains so many stories that are hinted at but not told. The chapters on the interactions of the general are best, but even these are clipped. I found myself shouting at the book for more details, but also thinking this would be the basis for a great film. I'd actually recommend reading it for the information it contains, but you might not enjoy it!

[Harry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but it's a summary of digging through historical archives without narrative or perspective.

[Damien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive. Sometimes a bit dull but overall interesting, especially the chapters on the killing of jews and the concentration camps.

[Gerri Minshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an incredible story but the telling sinks under the weight of detail. Listen to the lovely author on a podcast or two and you will get the idea.

[Jer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You get the idea of the book pretty quickly, but despite the great detail the author goes into, the human stories and personalities are tremendous. Captured entirely from documents declassified 50+ years after the events in question and told in a masterful patchwork quilt of overheard conversations and ruses, it really gives one an appreciation for the type of work carried out in secret by governments around the world under the auspices of national security (though, in this case, largely above board, by current standards, and with much more consideration given to those under interrogation).

[Krepde · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into what happened at Trent Park and other locations during the Second World War where eavesdroppers listened in to captured high-ranking German officers’ private conversations. Like most history books, a little slow at the start as Helen Fry explains the background and set-up but soon becomes enthralling as we find out about the bugged conversations about everything from Aryan stud farms to D-Day and , chillingly, from the gas lorries to mass executions. Finely researched and engagingly written.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was very interesting but it was not woven into a story that drew me in. It seemed to be written more like a grocery list where facts were simply listed as necessary and so many names were plopped in that it was very hard to keep track of who was who.

[Lime]

Great topic but written in the most tedious way possible. Listened to the podcast with this author which was much better. (BBC history)

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Some very interesting information and the second half of the book was much better. It was a bit too unfocused and felt like a compilation of lists. A bit repetitive.

[John Poulain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst there are some interesting parts, the Generals leaking information because they consider V2 rockets to be beneath them the author really oversells the narrative, including saying that if it hadn't been for the secret listeners it could of been London not Hiroshima that the atomic bomb was dropped on, which definitely needs more information than the text provides.

During the close of the book the use of information from M rooms (Microphone rooms) was suppressed in the conviction of war criminals; some notes and memos are used to argue that the m rooms were not revealed after ww2 sot hat they could keep using the technique on the Soviets, that's why they were declassified after the fall of the Berlin wall. They also mention at the time that there was an argument not to use m room operators to convict war criminals by saying they "overheard" a conversation as cross examination could lead to revealing secret methods, however they had protection of official secrets act? In the end this inforamtion wasn't used except to pressure the generals into confessions, but if they didn't confess they were repatriated. It seems possible that the Intelligence services didn't want it generally known that theyd heard of the concentration camps so early and didn't want the questions of why they didn't bomb the railway lines to the camps.

The attitudes of the generals at Trent Park could be dispicable times saying that Gas Chambers are bad but generals thought we're overblown "more Germans died in the war than Jews in Gas Chambers." The Generals in agreement not to offer the Swiss investigator any cigarettes to pretend they didn't have any, as though that was such as problem. Complaining about their luxurious stay. German general said British medicine was old fashioned whilst refusing treatment from female staff. At one point they got too drunk in Whitby as POWs and started yelling rocket firing orders at passing ships. The German general also believed Britain would not invade Italy as then they'd have to deal with Italians and their logistics. The book makes an odd choice to discuss French resistance but not the Italian.

The general "interrogation" of personnel allowed the prisioners multiple opportunities to boast about what they hadn't given away and that when they were talking about families they took it as a sign that they have told all they knew. There are some special tactics they used, telling a general that he'd won an iron cross to give him drink and allow him to speculate about which operation he'd won it for, most however is general gossip, which other than high ranking generals raises an issue that they needed corroboration statements such as "Though they had a Map, the eavesdropper conversations helped." or problems that a secret weapon was mentioned but not followed up as it came from lower rank gossip, the author cannot identify if the soldier was talking about something actionable or an untrue rumour but still tries to give the M Room operators credit for discovery of either V2 rockets or X-Gerat.

There are a couple of parts that need further investigation, the mention of SS mutinies isn't reported elsewhere, other than one conversation, which the author's attempts to verify fail with all records available, let alone at the time the information was recieved. Mentions of SS Stud Farms (Lebensborn) for breeding the master race.

At one point the author is scornful of generals saying that V2 rockets wouldn't win wars. History showed that whislt damaging that the V2 rockets didn't win the war.

Whilst the book overreaches by trying to put the operation on a par with Bletchley Park, which is said to have "shortened the war by at least 2 years," the assessment that "the information from Trent Park and latimer house is inestimable and essential especially for the air program" should be a good enough review to merit its discussion.

[Cropredy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh boy, two, 2-star reviews in a row. I need to pick better books.

This book is a history of the British intelligence operation about certain commandeered estates which were used to hold high-value German POWs. These estates were extensively bugged and the British listened in on conversations between POWs after the formal interrogations had concluded for the day. This operation remained secret for 50-60 years after the end of the war. The author attempts to do a thorough history, dare I say, "official history".

So, why two stars?

A huge hunk of the book is taken up with organizational history - when the estates were requisitioned, who was put in command, in deputy command, who were the listeners, who were the transcribers, etc. I just skimmed these pages.

Things didn't get interesting until about page 150 when German generals became POWs (after their capture in North Africa). They divided into two camps - ardent Nazis and other (which ran from monarchists to dissenters). They were all a haughty bunch, endlessly complaining about not being treated suitable to their rank. Along the way, they provided intelligence about the V-1-,-2,-3 weapons, Jewish extermination, nuclear, and other topics of keen interest to the British (and later, Americans).

Where the book falls down is the lack of a story line. Intelligence was gleaned and then fed into the larger intelligence maw. The author asserts, though without much evidence, that the intelligence was decisive. But I suspect it helped confirm existing suspicions (or rule out other suspicions). If there was a story line at all, it was an insight into the internecine sniping between the POWs amidst their basically dull quotidian life as captives. You can see it all being grist for the mill of a fictionalized movie plot where clever intelligence operatives tricked the generals into revealing vital war secrets that led to victory (or at least staved off damage to, say, D-Day).

The story is mostly chronological though there are times when things jump around in a jarring way (like you think it is late 1942 in the story and suddenly it hops into the middle of 1943).

Look for condensed versions of the story to save yourself some time, or read an account of the Allied efforts to stop the V weapons using the entire canvas, of which this bugging operation played a part. Maybe there are stories yet to be told (the author states there are enormous piles of transcripts yet to be plumbed by historians).

[Rita Allpress · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and very interesting topic but I’m really sad to say the author fails to do it justice. I am thoroughly disappointed. Reading it has been a really upsetting experience. Never before in my life have I felt like throwing a book in the bin! I feel so strongly about it I have to leave this review here so others don’t make the mistake of buying it like I did.

I don’t think we can say this is a book as it’s really a draft or a string of pieces of information. More than once, we can tell a sentence was added as a reminder note in a draft version as it is totally unrelated to the chapter or the topic discussed in previous paragraphs. I found this particularly upsetting and actually quite disrespectful. How can you sell a book in this state?

The author seems more interested in saying that the M Rooms were a fantastic British idea than actually telling the fascinating stories that demonstrate it was so.

Often, a really interesting story is mentioned briefly but nothing is added to close the loop. We’re left wondering what happened.

I’m not sure what’s more sloppy, the author’s lazy writing or the editors who failed to pick up factual mistakes, repetition of information, misplaced information and a total lack of narrative.

I kept reading it because I bought it and keep thinking it will get better but it doesn’t. It’s just awful.

[Dead John Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an audio book for me, many hours long.

If you are not specifically interested in this era then there's not a lot here for you and you shouldn't bother with it.

If you are interested in this era then there is much here for you. It pretty much covers the whole of the war year's and from many angles.

The basic point of the book is that much valuable information gleaned by covertly recording and listening to conversations between German prisoners of war in British custody.

Interrogation techniques were honed to convince the prisoners that the British were stupid and backward so they would go back to their rooms and boast to their fellow prisoners about how much the British got wrong then would go on to give the correct information without being seated that their every word was being listened to and recorded.

The lengths the British went to was quite remarkable, like taking high ranking German officers to London for shopping trips, but taking them along carefully selected routes that avoided any bomb sites to convince them that the German air raids were having no effect on London life.

By manipulating the morale they were able to get the prisoners to lower their guard Scott what they could and could not say.

Like I said very lengthy, very compressive, a tad repetitive but very rewarding for those interested.

[Robin Braysher · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing story and to think it all happened close to where I grew up (albeit before my time!) at somewhere I only knew as a teacher training college. How very ingenious, very British and very devious. Just goes to show that being 'nice' to people may get more and better intelligence than ripping out toenails or attaching electrodes! Broadly chronological, the book is very episodic which doesn't make for an especially smooth read, but that's probably unavoidable given all the information and twists and turns in the story that the author wants to convey. The chapters relating to the captive generals really stand out and it is just a shame that the intelligence gathered could not be used in Nuremberg prosecutions, but I understand the need for secrecy. It certainly provides evidence - if any were really needed - that the Wehrmacht was up to its eyes in atrocities, in spite of protestations that they were just soldiers doing their duty and it was all the SS, honest guv'nor!

A fascinating story that needs to be told to show that there was more to British intelligence activities than Bletchley Park (photo recon shouldn't be forgotten either, but that's another story). It's good to read about something else we did in the war rather well!

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Walls Have Ears is a fascinating account of a little known aspect of intelligence gathering in WWII.

Prisoners of war of all ranks were sent to Britain after their capture. If they were deemed to have important information, they were sent to places like Trent Park, a stately home requisitioned for the war effort and turned into a prison. Here they were interrogated, and unsurprisingly many refused to reveal their secrets. They were then returned to their quarters and often they would reveal to their comrades how little the British knew, and proceed to tell them all the information they hadn't divulged under interrogation. Little did they know that the rooms were bugged and all these conversations were transcribed and translated, forming a valuable source of intelligence on a wide range of things from the development of new weapons to the locations of Panzer divisions.

The ingenuity of those involved is astounding. From fake interrogations to taking high ranking Germans to tea at the Ritz, undermining their confidence in the effectiveness of the Nazi blockades and bombing campaign, the diversity of ideas used and their execution is astonishing.

None of the participants talked about it, having signed the Official Secrets Act, even tens of years later. Meticulously researched, this is another of those stories (like the now better known code breakers at Bletchley) that has slowly emerged as archives have been unclassified and released for historians like Helen Fry to piece together. It's an incredible story.

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The infancy of bugging is recounted in this story of how German prisoners of war, many of them senior officers and generals, had their conversations recorded whilst they were living in comfortable captivity in large country houses around London. This is a genuinely fascinating story but the book could really have benefited from tighter editing and better organisation. As the story takes us through the war years and the ever-widening scope of the programme of listening, scores of names, German and English, are mentioned, many of them once only, but the reader doesn't know which ones will figure on subsequent pages. The book is clearly based on a vast amount of information found in files in the Public Record Office, much of it newly declassified, but the book would have benefited from a sharper focus on specific people and stories. It's ironic that the authorities were so keen to bury the fact that the British had abandoned their reputation for fair play. None of the evidence from these recordings was made available to the war crimes trials at the end of the war; many self-confessed murderers in uniform walked free. Despite the faults, this is an exceptionally well-researched book and well worth buying.

[TwoDrinks · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s hard going a bit dry at times (but, sometimes history isn’t all James Bond escapades, it’s just boring day-to-day shite) but it gives a vital insight in to the enormity of this task as well as the specific horror of some of the intelligence gained. Towards the end of the book you find out more about the listeners and I found this particularly interesting; I want to know about the folks behind the scenes.

I was amazed how they were tripping off on a piss up when the rest of the UK was having rationing. How the other half lived. But it also gave me an interesting insight in to motivation and a slow burn interrogation which wasn’t something I’d previously considered. Definitely provoked thought and a desire to find out more. I kept wondering if I’d have coped as well as the listeners did and honestly, I think I’d have lost my shit very early. 🤷‍♀️

[Keith Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

As dry as a moth sandwich. The underlying story is important and interesting. But the deluge of minutiae adds a thin patina of texture and a ton of tedium. And the narrative is choppy - mostly chronological, but with expansive thematic sidebars. We're told three times that the prisoners were referred to as "guests" and twice about the post-war stage play about "Lord Aberfeldy". The book needs someone to re-edit it - cut out a lot of the dross and make the story flow better. And on the subject of editing, HMS Glorious was an aircraft-carrier, not a battlecruiser when it was sunk off Norway; Churchill's "Iron Curtain speech in Fulton MO. was in 1946, not 1945; And it is highly unlikely that Gerd Von Rundstedt would have offered congratulations to the British on 2nd September 1945 - we call that VJ day here in the US, but Britain commemorates it on August 15th.

[MR A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account!

Everybody knows about Bletchley Park nowadays. This is another amazing story from those times which has never been told. My only complaint is that it clearly does not tell the full story. This is not the fault of the author. She has done her research thoroughly and made it into an absorbing account which held my attention from beginning to end. Perhaps more details will surface (or be declassified) in the future, and I look forward to reading an amplified second edition.

As an example, one wonders why the details of Rudolf Hess's mission are still being kept secret after so many years? One can only speculate…

[Graham Shoebridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr Helen Fry is without doubt one of the best astute and articulate modern historian biographers there is and this work and important piece alone is without doubt one of her greatest contributions thus far. 👏Her book is written meticulously well by finding particular examples and new insights of people's lives that were largely left out from the post war period. As ever Dr Helen Fry writes, describes these insights in her own fascinating way but never exaggerating or transgressing away from the truth.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4.0 I think I benefitted greatly from getting this as an audiobook on loan from my local library

as other reviews have said the first half can be somewhat repetitive and I think having it in audiobook helped to reduce that feeling a little bit

although I do have a gripe with the accents put on by my narrator, as other reviews have said they prefer the author on a podcast to the written word of this book I found the audiobook very good and would recommend it as a version of you are interested in reading this

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was worth the read but I am somewhat mixed on the final product. This is a little known area but the narrative seems to jump around the timeline which is disorienting. The audio narrator, I feel, was not the best choice. I don't think she knew enough military history. For example Roman number corps names were spoken as those letters -- XL was X L not 40. Still considering the rarity of information this was worth it, just bothersome at times.

[Sean McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an author out there who can take this fascinating episode of WW2 and weave an exciting tale of intelligence gathering . . . . . . Not THIS author though. THIS book is like having an accountant tell you about the Star Wars trilogy, and a boring accountant at that. Way to dull and dry, informative but ultimately frustrating because you just KNOW there's a fascinating talehere but it keeps getting smothered.