Man's WW2 codebook unearths St Erth's 'best-kept secret'

Mike Griffiths has written a book about his findings, called Listening to the Enemy

A retired schoolteacher is shedding light on an "ultra secret" World War Two listening station in Cornwall.

Mike Griffiths unearthed the secret existence of the MI6 outstation in St Erth when his late father, Harry Griffiths, left him his code book.

He has revealed the role his father and others played in providing intelligence for code-breakers at Bletchley Park.

Mr Griffiths said he "couldn't be prouder" of what his father achieved.

Harry Griffiths moved from Liverpool to St Erth after he was headhunted by the Mi6

The St Erth Radio Security Service Station - which Mr Griffiths said had about 100 employees - was a secret to anyone outside the village, but to those who lived there, it was common knowledge.

"It was quite remarkable," Mr Griffiths said.

He added: "I think almost if you like, the boundary of the village, the secret didn't go beyond the boundary of the village."

All that remains of the St Erth listening station is the derelict shell of the old guard hut, where the Home Guard were stationed during the war, and an old gate post in a nearby farmer's field.

The remains of an old guard hut on the site of what was once the the St Erth Radio Security Service Station

Mr Griffiths, who lives in Plymouth, said one of the main roles of the station was to listen to the German Secret Service discussing major military campaigns and building a "complete picture of the German war machine".

He said: "At the end of the war, when the German officers were being interrogated, they were staggered by how much the British actually knew.

"They knew more about the German war machine than the Germans did themselves - quite staggering."

Harry Griffiths worked at the listening station from 1939 to 1946, when he was in his late twenties. He was recruited because of his aptitude with Morse code.

Before working at the station he lived in Liverpool, but married a St Erth local after he was recruited and moved to Cornwall.

He described the listening station as "the ears" of Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, known as the home of the codebreakers.

His son said: "They were being told, home in on this particular agent, wherever they are in Europe, home in on these and find out who they're talking to."

St Erth was chosen as an ideal location for an MI6 listening station because it was "miles away from enemy marauding planes", Mr Griffiths said.

He added: "Also, it had unrestricted radio waves that could go right out into the Atlantic, particularly useful when they were tracking the U-boats in the Atlantic campaign, which was dreadful for us up until about 1943. So, that's why it was there."

Mr Griffiths said he had discovered so much about the station's history he has written a book called 'Listening to the Enemy'.

He said his advice to others was to ask their loved ones about their memories while they still could.

"I would urge you, if you know somebody who went through the war, sit down with them, make a cup of tea, buy a bun - a saffron bun preferably, talk to them and say 'right actually, what did you do?', because I so wish I'd talked to him about it," Mr Griffiths said, about his late father.

He added: "He wanted to tell us, but he left this world over 30 years ago."