Hitler's Lost Spy by Greg Clancy

reclusive role in the community social scene will undoubtedly produce acquaintances capable of offering support should this be useful. Solid target community connections may be the best form of insurance available to a spy.
    Annette did not cultivate many friendships in Sydney.  But those with whom she did develop an affiliation served their purpose commendably. Residing in The Manor would have introduced early contacts, out of which some close friendships evolved. Connecting with the membership of Alliance Francaise exposed her to a pool of potential but selective relationships – including Jack Clancy. Her radio connections would yield others.
    Numbers, however, were less important than the valued influence a few friends may offer in a time of need. A small number of reliable alliances would have the effect of offering some distance from her espionage contacts, in addition to providing a platform of respectability. Unless she had been caught red-handed in one of her covert activities, or suspicions aroused by events occurring while she was under surveillance, she may well have been a near-perfect spy – at least until the commencement of the war. While economical with her friendships, they appear to have offered her a great deal in supporting her dual pursuits – both day and night. The information available alludes to Annette’s selection of close friends and associates being overseen by her immediate needs and sought advantages, and little else.  Social friendships, with the exception of Jack Clancy, do not register in her file’s surveillance notes.
    The successful groundwork carefully nurtured by Annette was to be capped off with an opportunity spies could comfortably regard as the ultimate in espionage communications – access to public radio broadcasting.  This was not the propaganda broadcasting of ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ in Europe, or of ‘Tokyo Rose’ in the Pacific  – this was the real thing, and the dispatching of a spy’s communications over the airwaves is the fastest and safest route for any secret information requiring a transfer out of the spy’s hands.
    Public Radio Broadcasting – Espionage’s Holy Grail
    A capable spy needs to do more than pass security tests and cover their tracks. Secret communications are vital. So how would Annette Wagner communicate with those to whom she would need to pass information?
    There are the ‘drop off in the park’ and ‘dead letter’  operations. The contact is met in a park, and a brief meeting ends with the information passing hands in a newspaper. The ‘dead letter’ method is the depositing of a document in an agreed location that is subsequently collected by the other party. These are simple procedures and, if undertaken securely, the information is normally guaranteed to pass into the right hands. But the risks are obvious, and avoiding any physical contact between operatives in a spy ring is always preferred.
    Conveying information by a radio transmitter was common in World War II, but this did not suit everyone.  A transmitter was bulky, heavy, required transportation and could be exposed by tracking techniques. The operator was often required to assemble a transmitter, so a technical knowledge of the components would be necessary. This was not an option for Annette.
    In the 1930s microdot technology had been advanced by the Germans to a level at which, using an appropriate camera, an A4 page of typing or diagrams could be reduced to the size of the dot on the letter ‘i’. On receipt of the microdots, the data could be read with a suitable microscope. To transfer information by this method, the operator was compelled to travel with a large, heavy suitcase holding the necessary equipment. This was usually impractical, too inconvenient and very risky.
    Microdot expertise may not have been drawn on, but the camera certainly was. During the Newcastle flight (see