Stephen McGinty has taken on the task of backtracking over a well reported and recorded incident in world war two. His focus is on camp Z a house in Mychett place which was hurriedly furnished by the ministry of works and “ adapted” with hidden microphones by two members of MI6. When Hess Arrived from the Tower of London he was referred to as ‘ Jonathan’ .When Churchill was informed that Hess /Jonathan was in British custody he was somewhat incredulous stating “ Hess or No Hess ,I am going to see the Marks Brothers”. Churchill was totally unsympathetic to Hess’s mission and perhaps already had an eye on possible war crimes trails in the future , so he ordered that Mychett house be locked down and Hess kept Isolated .
In overall command of the Interrogations was an experienced Spy, Major Frank Foley who was head of station in Berlin from 1923 to 1939 where he expedited the escape of thousands of Jews by securing false papers for them. Mychett house was provided with men from the Irish and Coldstream Guards, who had erected barbed wire defenses and dug gun pits in strategic places . In a piece of farce the very first night that Hess was in situ someone fired a gun out side of the house giving both him and the guard commander a severe fright. Hess thinking that he was to be murdered and the guard commander expecting a rescue attack.
Once Hitler and his propaganda machine finally accepted that his faithful second in command was indeed held by the British they proceeded on a black operation of false information stating that Hess had been mentally unstable for some time and what having hallucinations at the point for his flight to England . This backfired somewhat with the German Public wondering how they could have been ruled by a madman for two years , a popular joke of the time was " Hey Herr Hess are you a madman?" To which the reply was " no , I am only his second in command ".
Once we get to the serious side of the Secret services Interrogations of Hess, who by the way remained staunchly loyal to Hitler and his polices throughout his incarceration, We find that Stephen McGintey has indeed uncovered a deep insight into the condition of a man who is suffering badly . Hess not only was incarcerated in more or less Isolation he was also imprisoned in his mind starting off as a depressive, then paranoid and psychotic. McGintys’ writing flows so well that you feel that you are in the house watching the disintegration of a national leader and that poses the question was he feigning it , or was he really ill? you decide . A tremendous book which brought out gold nuggets from a well mined seam. Released on the 29th. Of May I heartily recommended to any one interested in WW2 or capture and Interrogation .
Three Mushrooms
SirBHP
Camp Z by Stephen McGinty published by Quercus
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