Dušan Popov
Encyclopedia
Dušan "Duško" Popov OBE (1912, Titel
, Austro-Hungary - 1981, Opio, Alpes-Maritimes
, France
) was a double agent
working for MI6 during World War II
under the cryptonym
Tricycle.
) to a wealthy Serbian family. He had an older brother, Ivo (also a double agent during World War II), and a younger brother, Vladan. The Popov family moved to Dubrovnik (now Croatia) when Dusko was very young.
He spoke fluent German and had many highly placed German friends, but he secretly despised the Nazis after earlier unpleasant brushes during his university years in Freiburg.
Signed up as a spy by anti-Hitler Abwehr
agents early in the war, Popov, according to their plan, immediately offered his services to the United Kingdom
. He was accepted as a double agent
and came to live in London
. His international business activities provided cover for visits to neutral Portugal
, which was linked to the United Kingdom by a weekly civil air service for most of the war. Popov fed enough MI6-approved information to the Germans
to keep them happy and unaware of his actions and was well paid for his services. The assignments they gave him were of great value to the British in assessing enemy plans and thinking.
He is famous for the playboy lifestyle he lived while carrying out perilous wartime missions for the British. His codename of Tricycle was given to him because of his penchant for threesome
sex.
by the Abwehr to establish a new German network. He was given ample funds and an intelligence questionnaire, a list of intelligence targets. This questionnaire was later published as an appendix to J.C. Masterman's
book The Double Cross System
. Of the three typewritten pages of the questionnaire, one entire page was devoted to highly detailed questions about U.S. defences at Pearl Harbor
on the Hawaii
an island of Oahu
. He made contact with the FBI and explained what he had been asked to do. During a televised interview, Dusko Popov related having informed the FBI on August 12, 1941 of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. For whatever reason, either the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover
did not report this fact to his superiors, or they, for reasons of their own, took no action in regard to this apparent German interest in Pearl Harbor. Popov himself has said Hoover was quite suspicious and distrustful of him and, according to author William "Mole" Wood, when Hoover discovered Popov had taken a woman from New York to Florida
, he threatened to have him arrested under the Mann Act
if he did not leave the U.S. immediately.
deception campaign. However, when his German intelligence handler (who was also a double agent and knew of Popov's control by the British) was arrested, the British feared Popov had been betrayed and ceased giving him critical information to pass along. However after time passed and no indication of any distrust of Popov was discernible, he was brought back into use.
. He published his memoirs, Spy, Counterspy, in 1974.
Duško Popov died in 1981 aged 69, leaving behind a widow and three sons.
Titel
Titel is a town and municipality in the South Bačka District of the Vojvodina, Serbia. The town of Titel has a population of 5,831, while the population of the municipality of Titel is 16,936...
, Austro-Hungary - 1981, Opio, Alpes-Maritimes
Opio, Alpes-Maritimes
Opio is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France situated near Grasse.-Personalities:Coluche died in Opio at the age of 41, when his motorcycle crashed into a truck.-External links:*...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
working for MI6 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
under the cryptonym
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
Tricycle.
Origins of Tricycle
Popov was born in 1912 in Titel, Austro-Hungary (now SerbiaSerbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
) to a wealthy Serbian family. He had an older brother, Ivo (also a double agent during World War II), and a younger brother, Vladan. The Popov family moved to Dubrovnik (now Croatia) when Dusko was very young.
He spoke fluent German and had many highly placed German friends, but he secretly despised the Nazis after earlier unpleasant brushes during his university years in Freiburg.
Signed up as a spy by anti-Hitler Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
agents early in the war, Popov, according to their plan, immediately offered his services to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He was accepted as a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
and came to live in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His international business activities provided cover for visits to neutral Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, which was linked to the United Kingdom by a weekly civil air service for most of the war. Popov fed enough MI6-approved information to the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
to keep them happy and unaware of his actions and was well paid for his services. The assignments they gave him were of great value to the British in assessing enemy plans and thinking.
He is famous for the playboy lifestyle he lived while carrying out perilous wartime missions for the British. His codename of Tricycle was given to him because of his penchant for threesome
Threesome
A threesome is a group of three engaged in the same activity. In relation to a sexual activity a threesome refer to the activity involving three people of any gender or sexual orientation...
sex.
Allegations regarding Pearl Harbor
In 1941, Popov was dispatched to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the Abwehr to establish a new German network. He was given ample funds and an intelligence questionnaire, a list of intelligence targets. This questionnaire was later published as an appendix to J.C. Masterman's
John Cecil Masterman
Sir John Cecil Masterman was a noted academic, sportsman and author. However, he was best known as chairman of the Twenty Committee, which during World War II ran the Double Cross System, the scheme that controlled double agents in Britain.-Academic background:Masterman was educated at the Royal...
book The Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
. Of the three typewritten pages of the questionnaire, one entire page was devoted to highly detailed questions about U.S. defences at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on the Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an island of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. He made contact with the FBI and explained what he had been asked to do. During a televised interview, Dusko Popov related having informed the FBI on August 12, 1941 of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. For whatever reason, either the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
did not report this fact to his superiors, or they, for reasons of their own, took no action in regard to this apparent German interest in Pearl Harbor. Popov himself has said Hoover was quite suspicious and distrustful of him and, according to author William "Mole" Wood, when Hoover discovered Popov had taken a woman from New York to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, he threatened to have him arrested under the Mann Act
Mann Act
The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act, is a United States law, passed June 25, 1910 . It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann, and in its original form prohibited white slavery and the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”...
if he did not leave the U.S. immediately.
Operation Fortitude
In 1944, Popov became a key part of the Operation FortitudeOperation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude was the codename for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy during the build up to the 1944 Normandy Landings...
deception campaign. However, when his German intelligence handler (who was also a double agent and knew of Popov's control by the British) was arrested, the British feared Popov had been betrayed and ceased giving him critical information to pass along. However after time passed and no indication of any distrust of Popov was discernible, he was brought back into use.
Personal life
Popov was a noted as a ladies' man - while in the US he lived an extravagant lifestyle and had an affair with the well-known actress Simone SimonSimone Simon
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931.-Early life:Born in Béthune, Pas-de-Calais France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Champmoynat, a French engineer, airplane pilot in World War II, who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria...
. He published his memoirs, Spy, Counterspy, in 1974.
Duško Popov died in 1981 aged 69, leaving behind a widow and three sons.
Further reading
- West, Nigel. Seven Spies Who Changed the World. London: Secker & Warburg, 1991.
- Miller, Russell. Codename Tricycle: The true story of the Second World War's most extraordinary double agent, Secker & Warburg, London, 2004. ISBN 0436210231
- Stevenson, William. A Man Called Intrepid - the Secret War, Ballantine, 1976.
- Popov, Dusko. Spy/counterspy: The autobiography of Dusko Popov, Grosset & Dunlap, 1974. ISBN 0448116065