Hitler's Lost Spy by Greg Clancy Read Free Book Online Page A

medically untrained, worked in the missions’ administration. In August 1935 she boarded the Dunbar Castle in the port of Beira, Mozambique, and returned to England.
    The three ships on which Annette travelled and referred to in this chapter share a common, and fatal, German connection. Following the outbreak of World War II the Orcades was converted to a troop carrier and was sunk by a U-Boat off South West Africa in October 1942. The Dunbar Castle sank after striking a German mine in January 1940, and the Windsor Castle was bombed and sunk by German aircraft in March 1943.
    Little is known of Annette’s locations during her work in southern Africa, with the exception that she had reportedly met her future husband, Robert Wagner, in Durban. They were married in Colmar, Alsace in October 1936.
    Robert Wagner, (not to be confused with the wartime Nazi administrator of Alsace of the same name) was born in Alsace when it was German territory. Following World War I, and the return of Alsace to France, he had joined the French civil service and was later posted to the colonial administration in Madagascar. Following their marriage, he and Annette sailed for Madagascar where Robert resumed his duties as a government administrator. In Australia, Annette informed authorities her marriage had failed and she would be seeking a divorce.
    In early 1937 Annette contracted typhoid fever, a common and potentially fatal ailment in Madagascar at that time. She said the condition required her to be hospitalised for six months. She sailed from Madagascar to Australia in January 1938, arriving in Sydney on 10th March. Annette convalesced at her relative’s home for a period and she said in her security interview (see Chapter 9) that for a period in 1938 she had provided programs for Radio Station 2NC in Newcastle.
    Annette made frequent trips to Sydney during which time she joined Alliance Francaise, where she met Jack Clancy. She also met a lady who lived at a large property in Iluka Street, Clifton Gardens, a pleasant suburb on a headland reaching into the northern shores of Sydney Harbour. The Manor is a fifty room mansion built in the early 1900s by a successful tile manufacturer from plans originally prepared for a ten room cottage. ‘Bakewell’s Folly’ as the property was referred to by neighbours, was acquired by the Theosophical Society in 1925 to offer temporary accommodation and study facilities to Society members. It was to The Manor that Annette was invited, or had requested to live, when she commenced her search for accommodation in Sydney.
    In June 1939, one year after she first moved to The Manor , Annette and some other residents were asked to leave. The reason is unclear, but Annette was not a member of the Theosophical Society, and strictly was not entitled to be there. She later stated that the London head office of the Society had learnt of some unauthorised entertaining that had taken place in The Manor , and had issued corrective reminders to the Sydney branch. At about this time, she claimed to have had a recurrence of her typhoid fever symptoms.
    Annette stated her health was periodically influenced by the effects of this condition. About the time of her departure from The Manor , her doctor recommended that she obtain some ‘mountain air’ and suggested she stay for a few weeks at the Hydro Majestic , a popular resort hotel in the small town of Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains, about 120 kilometres west of Sydney. She said in her security interview that she remained at the hotel for most of July.
    On returning from the Hydro Majestic , Annette moved into a city apartment in Wembley House , George Street, opposite Central railway station. Her period of tenancy in the building is not known, but before mid-January 1940, Annette relocated to the harbour-side suburb of Elizabeth Bay prior to her departure from Australia the following month.
    From the date of her security interview in October