370 • MOE, JOHN
Modin’s first assignment to London lasted until May 1953, by
which timeGuy BurgessandDonald Macleanhaddefectedto
Moscow, andJohn Cairncrosshad moved to Italy after falling under
suspicion. One of Modin’s tasks was to reestablish contact withMe-
linda Macleanand assist her wish to join her husband.
In 1956 Modin was sent back to London to make contact withAn-
thony Bluntand offer some financial support toKim Philby, but he
fell out with hisrezident, Nikolai Rodin, alias Korovin, and resigned
in 1958 while on leave in Moscow. Later he would serve in the New
Delhi rezidentura. In 1994 Modin collaborated with a French journal-
ist to write his memoirs,My Five Cambridge Friends. Modin was
identified toMI5as the NKVD handler for Burgess and Maclean by
Blunt in 1964, who knew him only aspeter.MOE, JOHN.When, as a young man in Oslo, John Moe was offered
the chance of leaving German-occupied Norway, he seized the op-
portunity, even though it meant going to Britain under theAbwehr’s
sponsorship as a spy.
Moe’s mother was English and he had worked in the film industry
at Denham Studios before the war as a make-up artist. His command
of the language was fluent and to the Germans he was an ideal candi-
date for an espionage mission. His partner was to be Tor Glad, an old
friend who shared his ambition to escape from the occupation. To-
gether they were flown across the North Sea in a Luftwaffe amphibi-
ous aircraft and then left to row ashore in an inflatable boat. On 7
April 1941 the pair landed on the Banffshire coast but soon afterward
they were arrested by the local police. Once the pair had persuaded
MI5of their bona fides, they were enrolled asdouble agentswith
the code namesmuttandjeff. Radio contact was established with
the Abwehr, and this link was maintained until February 1944.
Thedeceptionwas not achieved without mishap, however. After
four months of successful cooperation, Glad tired of the restrictions
imposed on him by the security-conscious MI5 and broke curfew.
Glad was immediately summoned to MI5’s headquarters and told he
was to be interned for the duration of hostilities. Despite his protests,
Glad was escorted to the Isle of Man and detained as an enemy alien.
Moe pleaded for his friend’s freedom but to no avail. An MI5 wire-
less expert stood in forjeffwhen his notional messages were due