Don't panic, it's Rudolf Hess

Don't panic, it's Rudolf Hess

by James McKillop
The Herald, Wednesday 27 January 1999

Vital wartime intelligence was lost through the ineptitude of a Dad's Army interrogation of Germany's deputy fuhrer Rudolf Hess in a Boy Scout hall in Giffnock within hours of him sensationally patachuting into Scotland on the evening of May 10, 1941, secret papers published today reveal. MI5 chiefs were furious when they learned that all initiative had been lost through the Home Guards' amateurish quizzing of Hess, who had demanded to be taken to the Duke of Hamilton, and that the MacMainwairings of the day had employed the services of a Polish consul official based in Glasgow to act as interpreter.

Wartime papers from MI5 now made public show how intelligence chiefs became even more concerned when they received a report from Montevideo citing Argentinian fascists and declaring that Hess could have been sent to Scotland in connection with a projected German invasion planned for the following month which the Nazis hoped would coincide with a coup in Scotland. This must have been considered fanciful even then. Even so, the report was passed to Prime Minister Winston Churchill's intelligence adviser and the secretary of the War Cabinet and other top officials. At the time, the whole world - not least British intelligence - was attempting to work out why Hess had embarked on his extraordinary solo flight in a Messerschmitt 110 from Ausberg, ending when be baled out and his aircraft crashed at Eaglesham. A most secret intercept decrypted report from the Japanese ambassador in Rome to Tokyo desbribed a meeting between himself and Germany's foreign affairs minister Joachim von Ribbentrop which took place seven days after Hess had flown to Scotland.

Ribbentrop assured the ambassador that Hess had no treasonable intention whatsoever when embarking on his flight. "Although his action has been eccentric, it is clear that his intentions were excellent." He explained to the ambassador that Hess had got it into his head he could minimise the number of victims in the attack on "England" and bring an end to the war with the aid of British fascists who would help bring about the downfall of Churchill. "He conceived the idea of obtaining Hitler's patronage of this scheme and making use of a former acquaintanceship with the Duke of Hamilton. He made the flight to Britain entirely of his own accord. "He was possessed with the idea that if he could win over Hamilton, the British fascists would be all out for Rudolf Hess and would at once flood to him.He (Hess) must be considered an abnormal person."

As intelligence continued to arrive from various parts of the globe, MI5 chiefs began a limitation exercise over Hess's initial interrogation by interviewing those involved - in particular the Polish consular official, whom they reckoned should never have been allowed anywhere near Hess. At the time of the interrogation, nobody knew who the mysterious pilot was, although it was clear he was not your normal run-of-the-mill airman and there were those who reckoned he bore a resemblance to Hess.

Roman Battaglia, who had formerly been in the Polish consular service in Danzig before moving to Glasgow, was consequently interviewed at Glasgow police headquarters. Battaglia, who had some experience of interviewing suspects and fully realised the importance of the first interrogation, had himself gained a poor impression of the techniques adopted by the Home Guard in the scout hut. About 20 people were in the room at the time and questions were fired from all corners. Some he considered offensive and refused to put to Hess. People wandered around the room inspecting the prisoner and his belongings. No accurate note was taken during the two-hour interview.

Throughout, Hess remained calm and controlled. The only sign of distress was when he leaned forward at intervals and sunk his head in his hands. He realised the people present were only Home Guard and therefore Battaglia was hardly surprised that the answers he gave were evasive. He insisted the flight had been at his own volition , volunteering that he had been forbidden to fly because of his age and his health, but nevertheless had gone ahead.

Remarking on his feat, he jokingly asked the interpreter: "Don't you think it was a fine performance?" He emphatically denied he was a deserter. He had come with a message for the Duke of Hamilton which was in the highest interest of the Royal Air Force. All hell broke loose when it was realised later who the prisoner really was. After the fiasco of the first interrogation in the scout hall, intelligence officers never did learn anything of importance from Hess throughout his incarceration, although it was not for want of trying.

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