Disclaimer: The characters in Foyle's War were created by Anthony Horowitz. No infringement is intended.
Timeline: Eternity Ring - July 1946; The Cage - August '46; Sunflower - date unknown, but 1946
A/N: A straight Cold War-era case for Senior Intelligence Officer Christopher Foyle and his trusty assistant, Sam Wainwright.
To get started and find a hook for a story set in 1946, I asked myself, 'what were those two cities Churchill named in his famous Iron Curtain speech?' (March 5, 1946) One of them was Stettin. I knew nothing about it, so I started to research, and built this story around it.
The story is set in late July or August 1946. I have taken the liberty of including some real historical figures in London at that time, and other characters with names similar to real people of the era. I apologise in advance for any mistakes with the Polish language and any glaring historical errors.
Posted on The Quietly Enigmatic Forum, August 19 - 27, 2013.
Chapter 1
Sam Wainwright carried her shopping into the kitchen to drop it on the table, then washed her hands at the basin as she considered how to prepare supper for herself and Adam, despite the late hour, given the unexpected bounty she had received today.
It had been another ordinary day in her extraordinary new job, working as a researcher and assistant and general dogsbody at the mysterious office on Curzon Street. Imagine, being mixed up with spies and secret agents and intelligence and counter-intelligence!
At times it was exciting, at other times it was tedious, and most of the time she felt decidedly, morally, uncomfortable about the work. If she hadn't been married her father would have fetched her home without a doubt, despite her being nearly thirty. Of course, she couldn't actually tell him what she was doing, but she knew he wouldn't approve.
On this particular ordinary day, she and Mr. Foyle had successfully, and rather dramatically, concluded a case that had begun only yesterday under far less promising auspices.
She had been searching through a mountain of wartime field agents' files for references to the city and port of Szczecin, formerly Stettin, which had been inside the German border before the War, and under Nazi control until April 26th of last year. The Soviet Red Army had liberated the city, then had given administrative control to the returning German officials of the pre-war Weimar Republic, even appointing two German Communists as mayors.
But that hadn't lasted long, and now the city was in the hands of the Polish Communists, backed by the Red Army. Everything had been in flux, and the port was a strategic plum for the power-seekers.
Mr. Foyle wanted the names of any Allied agents who had been there in the final chaotic weeks of the war and its aftermath, when the tides of Nazi, German civilian, and Polish population groups had washed in and out of the city. Sam didn't know why he wanted the names, but she would find him as much information as she could.
By early afternoon she had worked her way through all the available files and had twenty-two names on her list, with notations of dates, activities and intelligence. The majority of these agents had only passed through, but six had actively worked within the city, from two months to two years, and one had maintained his cover identity for over three years.
She left the remaining files stacked neatly on her desk, then gathered up her notes, and the files on those seven more likely agents. Sam walked down the corridor to Mr. Foyle's office, rapped on his door and entered.
"Sir, I have the information you requested, but it's been rather difficult. How is your Polish?"
Foyle lifted his eyes from the large-scale map and array of aerial photographs he was studying and looked across the desk at her,
"Oh, about as good as yours, I'd say. Why?"
"Many of these agents are Polish, and, while I can copy the letters to spell out the names, I don't think I can pronounce them."
"Hm. There should be someone here who can help us with that. But for now I only need to read them."
"Good." Sam moved around the desk, placed the stack of documents on his left hand side, and tilted her head to examine the map.
"Is this Stettin?" She asked, pronouncing it as an English word.
"This is Shteteen - or, as it's now known, Schtecheen. It's an important shipping, smuggling and emigration port on the Baltic Sea. It was a German Naval and Army base, and it was the location of more than one hundred Nazi slave labour camps."
"Oh. Gosh." Sam frowned and shook her head in dismay, and then tried pronouncing the name again,
"Schtecheen...That's not easy. These photographs show a lot of destruction."
"Yes, thanks to intelligence from the Polish Resistance. In '44 we were able to bomb the city's industries, factories and the port and render them nearly useless."
"And this agent we're looking for, what did he do there?"
"Well, we don't know exactly who we're looking for, only that he was a member of the Polish Resistance, held a certain rank in the Home Army - the AK - and that he had frequently provided intelligence to our side.
"Valentine has had a report that someone has taken something from Stettin, and, in all the confusion of last year, sometime in late summer managed to smuggle this item out by small boat from the port to Sweden, and then, it is believed, over here.
"This information, and the request to find the Resistance fighter, originated from someone connected to the..." Foyle picked up a typed sheet and read, "...'Polish Committee of National Liberation,' or PKWN, which in January 1945 became the... 'Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland,' or RTRP, but as of June 28th, '45, is now called the... 'Provisional Government of National Unity,' or TRJN. Essentially, it's all the Communist Party of Poland, controlled by the Soviets."
"But, sir, ...isn't there a Polish Government-in-exile here in London?"
"There is, yes. Since 1940."
"They helped us win the War. Won't they be returning to Warsaw?"
"Doesn't look like it. The Soviets are in control of Poland now, and the Provisional Government is the one they have approved."
"Oh. I see. I think. And we're cooperating with the Provisional Government?"
"Apparently."
"Hmph. Doesn't seen right, does it? ...Well, this isn't much to go on, is it, sir?"
"No. Valentine's report on the request mentioned the word, 'perła,' erm... pronounced perr-wa in Polish; it means 'pearl.'"
Sam continued to gaze at the map,
"'Pearl.' As in necklace? Stolen gems? - Oysters? It is near the sea."
Foyle twitched his lips and looked sideways at her, but then admitted,
"We can't rule out anything. But 'perrwa' could be a code name for something else entirely."
By four o'clock they had determined, in further discussion with Valentine, that the request had not come through official channels, yet it was a member of the TRJN, a man called Izaak Światło (Shvee-atwoh) who had made the request to the Foreign Office to track down the agent. He claimed that in Stettin the item in question had been placed in his hands for safekeeping by an Officer of the AK who had fled to France, but hoped to return to Poland when legitimate political order was established. Światło wished to preserve his honour by returning the item to him when he did arrive.
Foyle was sceptical,
"That's taking quite a risk, isn't it? Why would a Resistance fighter of the AK approach a Communist? After the details of the Katyn Massacre were revealed in '43? And the events in Pruszków in February last year? Those were a clear signal of what could be expected from the new regime in his homeland."
"Yes, Foyle, we find that odd, too."
"What happened there, sir?" Sam asked.
Valentine responded,
"Sixteen leaders of the Polish Underground State, including the Government Delegate, who was essentially the Prime Minister-in-exile, were invited by Soviet General Ivan Serov to conference talks on joining the Provisional Government. They were given a warrant for safety, yet when they arrived at the house in Pruszków, they were arrested by the NKVD and transported to Moscow where they were interrogated, tortured, and put on trial. They have all been imprisoned and some undoubtedly will be executed, if not murdered."
"Then they can't be trusted, can they." Sam declared.
Foyle made a grim face and asked,
"The agent who has allegedly brought this object to England, he's not the same man who entrusted it to Światło?"
"No."
"But he was also a member of the Resistance?"
"He was with the AK during the war, but when it was officially disbanded in January of '45, he joined the anti-Communist Delegatura, the underground Armed Forces led by Colonel Wladyslaw Anders, from its inception in May - until it, too, was disbanded, in early August of '45."
"And what about WiN? Has this man been active in the new underground group?" Foyle asked.
Valentine raised his eyebrows in surprise,
"You are up to date, Foyle. WiN, or 'Freedom and Sovereignty' has been less forthcoming with information, understandably. We don't actually know. He may have made contact with WiN, or he may have..." Valentine shrugged and lifted a hand, "...given up the fight. Hence this theft and his escape through Stettin."
Foyle wasn't having it,
"Well, where did he get his false documents to enter Sweden - or Britain? As a former AK soldier, WiN would have helped him with that."
"We really don't know."
"If he is here, why hasn't he been helped to find a safe house? He must have contacts among the Polish émigrés - someone who would direct him to us."
"The state of our safe houses is, er... well, you know all about that." Valentine said lightly, with a small embarrassed laugh.
"What is the property he's allegedly taken?"
"They didn't say. They simply want him located and questioned. Arrested, if possible."
Foyle frowned at the change from singular to plural pronoun.
"They didn't say. Well, we don't have the power of arrest, Arthur, so he'd be held where?"
Sam noted his words were becoming rather clipped.
"We haven't found him yet, Foyle. We'll work that out when the time comes."
"What have they offered to the Foreign Office, Arthur, in exchange for our finding this man?"
"I'm not at liberty to say."
Foyle shut his eyes briefly, and pressed on,
"And this agent's name? You obviously have some idea of who he is, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't waste any more of our time, Arthur."
Valentine tried to disguise his discomfort with an air of nonchalance,
"We don't know his name, Foyle. We only have a nom de guerre, supplied by Światło, but we have been able to determine his movements consistently as far back as '43. He is known as Wilk."
Foyle pronounced the name in Polish, "Veelk. 'Wolf?'"
"Yes, that's it."
"Arthur, when were you planning to give me the file on Wilk?"
"Oh, er, my mistake. Yes, we do have a file on him. I'll have it sent -."
Foyle was on his feet, heading for the door. He paused to growl,
"Get it now, please, Arthur."
"Oh, see here, Foyle -." He protested mildly.
"Give it to Sam." He walked out, and Sam heard him mutter an oath under his breath.
TBC...