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FRIENDS AND ALLIES 31
Germany after the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939. It is often
forgotten that Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviet
Union together. For a nightmare period between August 1939
and June 1941, many suspected that Germany, Italy, Japan and
the Soviet Union would act in uneasy concert, dividing the
spoils of the world between them. This was precisely the plan
that Germany's Foreign Minister, Baron Joachim von
Ribbentrop, was trying to press upon his irascible master.
However, in the end Adolf Hitler's racist outlook could not
tolerate the idea of alliance with the Slavic peoples, and he had
always declared his desire for 'Lebensraum' in the east. 5
Throughout this dangerous period, before Hitler and Stalin
turned upon each other, the Soviet Union remained a key intelligence
target. SIS even organised a secret squadron to conduct
aerial reconnaissance of possible bombing targets deep inside
southern Russia, notably the oilfields. GC&CS developed close
relations with code-breakers in the Baltic states who were also
working on Soviet codes. A month after the outbreak of war
with Germany, Clive Loehnis, a naval officer at GC&CS (who
would become Director of GCHQ in the 1960s), told Alastair
Denniston that additional premises were needed to cope with
the increase in the interception of Soviet military traffic, so new
buildings were erected at Scarborough.6 With the military chiefs
keen to 'get cracking on Russian traffic', Denniston began a
unique and profitable experiment. In 1939 GC&CS sent a party
of British sigint operators to Sweden to work secretly out of the
British Embassy in Stockholm, where there was better radio
reception from Russia. The creation of this forward listening
station was fortuitous, since Stalin embarked on the Winter War
against Finland in November 1939, and GC&CS enjoyed a frontseat
view of the whole proceedings.7
John Tiltman remained the key figure in the effort against
Soviet communications. A colonel in the King's Own Scottish
Borderers, he was noted for his smart uniform, which included
tartan trews. However, as the war progressed he came under the
influence of the spirit of Bletchley Park, and was often seen in a