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BALLOON: British. BALLOON was one of a group of MI5 Double Agents (most of them Yugoslavs),...
Catalogue reference: KV 2/1070
What’s it about?
This record is about the BALLOON: British. BALLOON was one of a group of MI5 Double Agents (most of them Yugoslavs),... dating from 1941 Mar 17-1941 May 20 in the series The Security Service: Personal (PF Series) Files. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- KV 2/1070
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1941 Mar 17-1941 May 20
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Description (What the record is about)
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BALLOON: British. BALLOON was one of a group of MI5 Double Agents (most of them Yugoslavs), closely associated with TRICYCLE and in some cases recruited by him. In 1935 BALLOON, then a young army officer, was court martialled for financial irregularities and forced to resign his commission. He became successively a civil defence training officer and businessman with a specialised interest in the arms trade. Although notionally recruited by TRICYCLE for the Abwehr, on the basis of the supposed alienating effects of his British Army experience, BALLOON was in fact recruited as a Double Agent by MI5 in 1941 and run as such until 1944. In this capacity he developed a remarkable ability to elicit sensitive (usually military) intelligence from his wide range of contacts. Some of the resultant material was sent to the Abwehr on BALLOON's own account; most, however, provided the basis of reports sent by TRICYCLE
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Note (Additional information about the record)
- With note on BALLOON's recruitment and agent career
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- PF66316 VOL 1
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
- Retained Until 2002
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C11090171/
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Series information
KV 2
The Security Service: Personal (PF Series) Files
See the series level description for more information about this record.
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BALLOON: British. BALLOON was one of a group of MI5 Double Agents (most of them Yugoslavs),...
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