Editing Mutt and Jeff (spies)

{{short description|Norwegian spies}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Mutt
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name = John Herbert Neal Moe  
|birth_date={{Birth date|1919|5|31|df=y}} 
|birth_place = London, England
|death_date= {{Death date and age|2001|7|7|1919|5|31|df=y}}  
|death_place = Oslo, Norway
|body_discovered =
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates=<!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
|nationality =  
|citizenship = British-Norwegian (dual citizenship)
|other_names =
|known_for =
|education =
|alma_mater =
|employer =
|occupation = Spy
|years_active = 1941–1944
|spouse =
|partner =
|children =
|parents =
|relations =
|callsign =
|awards =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Jeff
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name = Tor Glad
|birth_date={{Birth date|1916|8|5|df=y}} 
|birth_place = [[Bestum]], Oslo, Norway
|death_date= <!-- {{Death date and age|2001|7|7|1919|5|31|df=y}}  -->
|death_place = 
|body_discovered =
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates=<!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
|nationality =  
|citizenship = Norwegian
|other_names =
|known_for =
|education =
|alma_mater =
|employer =
|occupation = Spy
|years_active = 1941–1943
|spouse =
|partner =
|children =
|parents =
|relations =
|callsign =
|awards =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
'''Mutt and Jeff''' were two Norwegian [[spy|spies]] who worked for the [[United Kingdom]] and [[MI5]] and were members of the [[Double Cross System]].

In April 1941 two [[Norway|Norwegians]], John "Helge" Moe (Mutt) and Tor Glad (Jeff) fetched up on a remote [[Aberdeenshire (traditional)|Aberdeenshire]] beach in Scotland, having travelled by seaplane and rubber dinghy. They immediately turned themselves in to the local police as German spies. MI5 soon 'turned' them, assigning them their codenames, which were the names of a pair of [[cartoon strip]] characters (see [[Mutt and Jeff]]).  'Mutt and Jeff' is also [[rhyming slang]] for 'deaf'.<ref name="mi5">{{cite web |url=https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/25-november-2002-releases-double-cross-agents.html |title=MI5 &#124; Double Cross Agents |work=mi5.gov.uk |year=2011 |accessdate=14 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807140058/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/25-november-2002-releases-double-cross-agents.html |archivedate=7 August 2011 }}</ref>

Mutt and Jeff's mission was supposed to be one of sabotage, as well as having a secondary intelligence role, reporting (via wireless) military locations, deployments and civilian morale. MI5 used Mutt and Jeff's radio sets to relay false information, leading the Germans to believe that the United Kingdom intended to invade Norway (this activity was a component of [[Operation Fortitude]]). To ensure the German handlers did not suspect Mutt and Jeff of having sold out, MI5 arranged for fake sabotage operations - supposedly the work of the pair - to take place, in one case going so far as to set off a controlled explosion at a power plant which was widely reported in the local media as a genuine attack.<ref name="mi5"/>

Doubts about Glad's reliability led MI5 to eventually [[internment|intern]] him in 1943,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haufler|first1=Hervie|title=The Spies That Never Were|date=2014|publisher=Open Road Media|location=United States|isbn=9781497622623}}</ref> and his radio transmissions were carried on by Moe until February 1944. By then MI5 believed that the Germans may have learned of Glad's detention, and so the operation was brought to a close.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1333056/John-Moe.html |title=Obituary : John Moe |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=7 July 2001 |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |accessdate=14 July 2012}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/files/muttjeffdossier.pdf |title=Security Service (MI5) file on "Mutt and Jeff", No. KV 2/1067 |work=The National Archives}} 
* {{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/freedom/Story/0,,849190,00.html|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2002-11-28|title=Double agents Mutt and Jeff misled Nazis|author=John Ezard}}
* {{cite news |date=2002-11-28 |title=Churchill's Cousin Was A Russian Spy |author=Stephen Moyes |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_method=full%26objectid=12409337%26siteid=94762-name_page.html |work=[[Daily Mirror]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010052109/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_method%3Dfull%26objectid%3D12409337%26siteid%3D94762-name_page.html |archivedate=October 10, 2007 }} 
* {{cite news|title=Nazis Were Fooled by Britain's Norwegian Spy Duo|date=2002-11-27|author=Gideon Long|agency=Reuters|url=http://archive.hurriyetdailynews.com/h.php?news=nazis-were-fooled-by-uks-norwegian-spy-duo-2002-11-28|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126053809/http://archive.hurriyetdailynews.com/h.php?news=nazis-were-fooled-by-uks-norwegian-spy-duo-2002-11-28|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-26}}
* {{Cite book |author=Tommy Jonason & Simon Olsson |title=Agent TATE: The Wartime Story of Double Agent Harry Williamson |location=London |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4456-0481-7}}

==External links==
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012347 IWM Interview with John Moe]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Double agents]]
[[Category:Double-Cross System]]
[[Category:Norwegian people of World War II]]
[[Category:World War II spies for Germany]]
[[Category:World War II spies for the United Kingdom]]