The aforementioned freighter was actually the last of 10 with this one being filled with the latest and best. Millions of pieces of the US electronics industries newest creations were quietly packed up into little boxes that eventually were combined into bigger boxes that were used to fill these eleven unassuming ships bound for different ports that were easily accessible to the Soviet train and transportation system. Little by little all these parts made their way to the factories spread out in the Urals and little by little they were copied and many of the originals used in the Soviets newest generation of jets, tanks. shells, radar, radio and sonar sets.
Barr and Sarant were also on that last ship to leave American shores. Disguised as common seamen they would be greeted in secret as heroes of the Soviet Union and be placed in a design bureau of their own. First they would use the American made electronics to improve on existing Soviet weapons and then they actually would start producing new and improved versions of those same electronics.[28]
By the spring of 1947 the combination of Sergo, George, Barr, Sarant, Perl, Ilyushin, Mikoyan, Gurevich and Lavochkin would rival any other weapons design structure the world has ever seen. Complete with military hardware on the drawing boards and in development that would be able to go toe to toe with any equally destructive inventions that the West could produce. Time was running out and the technology gap enjoyed by the West was closing at an enormous rate. Combined with the fact that Perl, Barr, Sarant and Sergo knew exactly what weapons the West was working on itself and how to defeat each project, this was to be a world altering 6 months if left to its own devices. After all America’s newest jet the P-80 Shooting Star was designed and produced in 143 days and that is less than 6 months by my calculations.
No one but Beria and Sergo knew how devastating the defections of Perl, Barr and Sarant were. Between them they had not only worked on but were instrumental in most of the West’s most secret initiatives. The secret military hardware of unimaginable capabilities not only were passed on to Beria and Sergo but were also developed by these three traitors, or patriots which ever you prefer. Combined with the Cambridge Five, The Rosenbergs, The Ware Group, The Perlo Group, The Redhead Group just to name a few there was nothing the Soviets did not know about America’s and Britain’s greatest secrets when it came to military hardware.
In the West thousands of the best minds were concentrating on consumer products and cleaner, whiter laundry. In the East it was for world domination by military means.[29]
Major Sidney Bedford was very uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally. Here he was stuck in a Court Martial for a man who appeared to be a traitor. Yet one couldn’t be sure. Major Cecil Boon was being put on trial for collaboration. John Harvey and Michael Tugby were already let off because of the severe circumstances of the conditions in which they were held. The conditions were some of the worst ever endured in the 20th century. Because of the charges, after the war, they had endured nearly a year of ostracism and suffered the total loss of the joy of homecoming. All three were early survivors of the Japanese conquest of Hong Kong. All three were held for the duration of the war as POWs. All three stood trial.
Boon was considered the worst of the lot. He had 11 serious charges against him.
1. On or about Aug. 21, 1943 he informed on his fellow prisoners who were planning an escape attempt.
2. On or about Sept. 1st, 1943 he assisted in a search that found wireless components being used by fellow prisoners.
3. On or about Sept. 12th, 1943 he informed on Hubert George Carkeet.
4. On or about Oct. 20th, 1943 he informed on Maurice Richard Jones.
5. On or about Dec. 14th, 1943 he informed on William Joseph Buckley.
6. On or about Oct. 18th, 1944 he wrote a letter to the USAAF, who had just bombed Hong Kong, knowing that the letter would be used for propaganda purposes.
7. In May, 1944 he informed on Dutch Naval Petty Officer Waarenberg.
8. Between Aug. 23rd, 1943 and Aug. 17th, 1945 he assisted the enemy in the interrogation of Allied prisoners of war regarding the organization and equipment of the Royal Signals and Royal artillery.
9. Between Aug. 23rd, 1943 and Aug. 17th, 1945 he designed and implemented a system for spying on Allied prisoners of war.
10. Between Aug. 23rd, 1943 and Aug. 17th, 1945 he assisted the enemy in preventing prisoners of war from communicating, receiving medical and other supplies, and assisted with the selecting of medically un-fit prisoners for work duty.
Witness after witness for the prosecution presented damning testimony. Some even told tales not in the official charges, charges of assisting the enemy in searches, bribing the commandant with Red Cross packages, preventing parcels from being given to the men and informing on men who were writing letters home. 44 witnesses testified for the prosecution. One of the most interesting pieces of evidence was Boon’s own diary written in Russian admitting to some of the incidents.
The case boiled down to three questions…
1. What constituted “aiding the enemy”?
2. The meaning of the word “voluntarily’.
3. Intent to commit the crimes.
The Defense argued that many of the alleged offenses were by omission and not ones of commission, such as not asking for the suspension of parade on days of harsh weather. Boon told others to ask the commandant rather than asking himself. Another example would be looking the other way as the “Fat Pig” Col. Takanuka took supplies from the prisoner’s stores and Red Cross packages. “An error of omission, not of commission”, as described by the Defense.
The prosecution made an impassioned argument that Boon had aided the enemy, that he had hostile intent, and that throughout the period he had done it voluntarily for personal gain at the expense of his fellow prisoners. It was argued that he was a Regular Soldier in the Army. That he was brought up and trained to be a soldier and that the raising of a bamboo stick should not make him forget his duty and quake for his life.
“Yes, he is a coward and he let his cowardice aid the enemy.” That statement from the prosecutor rang through the court room.
Major Boon was found guilty of 6 counts and directed to serve 20 years of hard labor. Major Bedford might have sided with the defense in other circumstances. If they were not at war and the public wanted to heal and not dwell on the past, forgive and forget as it were. The fact that they were once again at war and this time with the Soviets, and that Boon had written his diary in Russian, convinced the panel that Boon had to be punished. And punished, he was.[30]
Chapter Fourteen:
It Begins
Seehunds 231 and 124 were on station and about to deploy the beacon. The floating radio transmitter would help guide the series of 1000 plane raids the VVS was about to unleash on the British Isles. A number of other beacons were scheduled to transmit as well today. Something was up and the skipper has become very… well anxious. He was checking things three times and even lubricating things that did not need it. But that was his way and his way had kept them alive through some terrifying times, from storms to depth charge attacks. We still were not sure about that last attack. How had they found us when all the other times we had just chuckled as we slid past underneath them? This last time was different they seemed to have picked something up, possibly the 4 extra packages we were carrying that contained the radio beacons.
28
Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley By Steven T. Usdin
29
Dawn of the Electronic Age: Electrical Technologies in the Shaping of the Modern World 1914-1945 By Frederik Nebeker