Stations in
neutral countries operated covertly, so as not to attract the attention of the
Allies.
One such
station was based in Sofia, Bulgaria. During WWII Bulgaria followed a pro-Axis
policy and declared war on Britain and the United States but did not take part in the fighting.
According to
Wilhelm Flicke, who worked for OKW/Chi, an intercept station was set up in
Sofia, Bulgaria in January 1940. The station was housed in the former residence
of the Communist official Stoitscheff who had fled the country.
Officially it
was designated ‘Seismographic and weather reporting station’ but the local
authorities knew its true function and cooperated with the Germans. The cover
name of the station was ‘Bohrer’, it had about 25-30 men and head of the
station was 1st lieutenant Grotz. Emphasis was given on the
interception of radio traffic from Turkey and Malta, as well as stations from
Egypt, Sweden, Switzerland and the US Armed forces in the Mediterranean.
The station
had a direct teleprinter connection with OKW/Chi and in addition there was a
courier plane between Sofia and Berlin.
Even though
Bulgarian officials helped in setting up the station this does not mean that
the Germans held back from attacking their codes. According to Flicke copies of
the Bulgarian codebooks were acquired by the Abwehr (military intelligence)
station in Sofia.
As the German
position in the Balkans began to unravel in 1944 the Sofia station was closed
down. This operation did not run smoothly. The equipment was loaded into two
freight cars and the personnel sold their unwanted items. With the money earned
they bought 80.000 cigarettes that they expected would be valuable back home. However
this ‘treasure’ was lost when the railway car was attacked by partisans and the
ammunition stored together with the cigarettes burned up.
Moral of the
story, never store tobacco and ammunition together, especially if you’re
travelling through the Balkans!
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