Arthur George Owens (died 1976) was a Welsh electrical engineer who acted as a double agent during World War II. He was working for MI5 while appearing to the Abwehr (the German intelligence agency) to be one of their agents. Owens was known to MI5 by the codename 'SNOW'. 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau Capital Cardiff Largest city Cardiff Official language(s) English, Welsh Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056  Area    - Total 20,779 km² (3rd in... A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Current MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London The Security Service, usually called MI5, is the British counter-intelligence and security agency. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ...

Recruitment by the Germans

Owens ran a company which made batteries for ships. As such he was a civilian contractor for the Royal Navy and also had regular contact with the Kriegsmarine in Kiel, and his first contact with espionage occurred in 1936 when he had been briefly employed by the Secret Intelligence Service to give information on what he had seen in the German shipyards. In 1938, Nikolaus Ritter, operating as an Abwehr agent in Britain under the name 'Dr Rantzau', made contact with him. As a supporter of Welsh nationalism, Owens was a relatively easy target for turning into an enemy agent as he had little loyalty to the United Kingdom. His work also provided a cover for any foreign trips he might have to make, and he visited Germany that year where he met the Abwehr and was recruited. While Owens appreciated the payments for his espionage, his real interest was sexual as the Abwehr provided attractive women for him. His codename in the Abwehr was 'Johnny'. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ... Kiel ( ) is a city in northern Germany and the capital of the Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Welsh nationalism is the Welsh expression of nationalism, a movement that became popular in nineteenth-century Europe and gradually became a global phenomenon in the twentieth century. ...

Double agent

However, on his return to Britain Owens had second thoughts about working for Germany and told the British authorities in September 1938 of his contact and that he was to receive a radio transceiver. The radio arrived via the left luggage office of Victoria Station early in 1939 and Owens turned this over. On August 11, 1939 Owens visited his Abwehr controller in Hamburg; during this visit, his wife and son went to the police to tell them he was a German agent. Despite this information the police failed to pick him up on his return on August 23. Victoria station in London is a London Underground and National Rail station in the City of Westminster. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hamburgs motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve the freedom, which the forefathers acquired. ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ...

On September 4, Owens made contact with the Special Branch to volunteer his services. However, he was instead interned in Wandsworth Prison under Defence Regulation 18B as someone with hostile associations. MI5 decided that Owens, to whom they gave the codename 'SNOW', could act as a double agent. On September 12, MI5 returned the transmitter to Owens in Wandsworth where it was used by a warder to contact the Germans. Owens received a reply inviting him to go to the Low Countries, then neutral, and he was let out of jail to attend. September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... Special Branch is the arm of the British, Irish and many Commonwealth police forces that deals with national security matters. ... HM Prison Wandsworth is a prison in Wandsworth in south London, England. ... Defence Regulation 18B was the most famous of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during World War II. It allowed for the internment of people suspected of being Nazi sympathisers. ... Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries (see Country) on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers. ...

Activities

In the early months of the war the Germans asked for regular weather reports from him for the use of the Luftwaffe and also to test his credibility. At a meeting with the Abwehr in Brussels, Owens was given some cash and some detonators for use in sabotage. He had taken along another double agent, also a Welsh nationalist, who was instructed to start a postage stamp business so that the Germans could communicate through microdots on stamps. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 797 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989 Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ... Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction. ... A selection of Hong Kong postal stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... Mark IV microdot camera Microdots are text or photographic images that are reduced in size to prevent their viewing by unintended recipients. ...

From the spring of 1940 the Abwehr sent most of its British-based agents and contacts to see Owens. MI5 tried to make sure that Owens only passed on to the Germans the information that they had given him. One of the most important was supplying false names and ration book numbers for the Abwehr's agents who were parachuted into Britain. MI5 continued to be suspicious of Owens who was known to exaggerate his importance and sent a second double agent, Sam McCarthy (codenamed BISCUIT) to see him. McCarthy reported back that Owens admitted he was also double crossing MI5, which led MI5 to believe that Owens was primarily interested in making money from both sides and that probably neither trusted him entirely. 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

Suspicion

In March 1941, Owens and another double agent, Walter Dicketts (known to MI5 as CELERY), were summoned to Lisbon to meet their Abwehr controllers. Unexpectedly Dicketts was then taken to Hamburg for three weeks' interrogation, having been suspected by the Germans, but survived it. The fact that this had not happened to Owens, and that Owens had not warned Dicketts that it might happen, gave rise to MI5 suspicions, and they assumed from then on that SNOW was helping the Germans actively. This article is about the year. ... Location    - Country Portugal    - Region Lisbon  - Subregion Grande Lisboa  - District or A.R. Lisbon Mayor Carmona Rodrigues  - Party PSD Area 84. ... Hamburgs motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve the freedom, which the forefathers acquired. ...

Later life

MI5 used Owens' radio to inform the Germans that he was seriously ill while interning Owens in Dartmoor Prison until the end of the war. In Dartmoor Owens stayed in the hospital wing, which was termed as Camp 001 for internees. On his release, Owens emigrated to Canada where he was known as Mr Brown; there he went to the British High Commission in Ottawa to demand compensation for what he regarded as his wrongful arrest in 1941. When he threatened to publish his memoirs, a secret fund was set up to buy him off. HM Prison Dartmoor is located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. ... Motto: Advance Ottawa/Ottawa en avant Coordinates: Country Canada Province Ontario County Established 1850 as Bytown City Mayor Bob Chiarelli Governing body Ottawa City Council MPs / MPPs Members of Parliament (MPs) Mauril Bélanger (LPC), Paul Dewar (NDP), John Baird (CPC), Royal Galipeau (CPC), David McGuinty (LPC),Pierre Lemieux (CPC...

Owens later moved to Ireland and settled in Harristown, County Dublin where he died in 1976. Harristown is a village located in Macon County, Illinois. ... Statistics Province: Leinster County Town: Dublin Code: D Area: 921 km² Population (2002) 1,122,821 County Dublin (Irish: Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath), or more correctly the Dublin Region[1] (Réigiúin Átha Cliath), is the area that contains the city of Dublin, the capital and largest city of... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

References

• 'The Guy Liddell Diaries: Vol. I: 1939-1942', ed. by Nigel West (Routledge, London, 2005)
• 'British Intelligence in the Second World War, Volume 4' by F.H. Hinsley and C.A.G. Simkins (HMSO, London, 1990)
• 'MI5: British Security Service Operations 1909-1945' by Nigel West (Bodley Head, London, 1981)
• 'Traitors' by Chapman Pincher (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1987)