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The Traitor
A novel of betrayal
The opening two chapters of The Traitor are set in August 1914
when Major Lionel Samson, a British Military Consul, is forced
to observe impotently as the German battle cruiser Goeben is
able to coal in a secluded location in the Aegean and so
complete her fateful journey to the Dardanelles. As he watches,
Samson goes back over the events of the previous seventeen
months, commencing with the disappearance of his lover Edith
Roberts in Smyrna in October 1912, through to the assassination
of the Greek King George in Salonica in March 1913. This act
brings to the Greek throne his son, Constantine, who was both
educated in Germany and is married to Kaiser Wilhelm’s sister.
As such, the obvious belief in London is that Athens,
thenceforward, will follow a policy aligned to the ‘Triple
Alliance’ of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, notwithstanding
the presence of the pro-Entente Premier, Eleutherios Venizelos.
The Admiralty reaction to this is to send Admiral Mark Kerr, who
is known personally to the Kaiser, to Athens as head of the
British Naval Mission assisting the Greeks in the creation and
training of their new fleet. The hope is that Kerr, by his
influence at Court, will help to counter the pressure it is
assumed will be applied to Constantine from Berlin.
Simultaneously but independently, the Foreign Office in London
is apprised of a rumour from Constantinople that the
assassination was not the irrational act it first seemed, and
that leading circles in Athens were forewarned. Realizing that,
if this is the case, Venizelos must be implicated, and it is
upon his trust in Venizelos that the Foreign Secretary bases his
Balkan diplomacy, Sir Edward Grey determines that he must have a
secret source in Athens reporting on events. This is the task
given to Major Samson.
Samson sets off from Adrianople with the intention of travelling
first to Salonica and then by steamer to Athens. While crossing
Macedonia, however, he comes across a German archaeological dig
at Avret Hissar, a site of little apparent interest. His
suspicions are immediately aroused. Once in Athens Samson begins
his investigations. These quickly lead to the German
Archaeological School and the School of Surgery at the
University of Athens, where the assassin once taught. It appears
initially that a rumour of Austrian involvement in the
assassination is correct: hoping, thereby, to be able to further
their own territorial ambitions, a scheme had been hatched in
Vienna to assassinate the Greek King in the knowledge that he
would be succeeded by his Germanophile son. Although planning
commenced, it was supposedly called off as a result of pressure
from Berlin. Samson, unsure whether this is a cover story, seeks
permission to interview the assassin in the insane asylum to
which he has been confined. At this interview the facts behind
the assassination are revealed, but not the rationale.
As he begins to unravel the various strands of the mystery,
Samson learns that the Greek Government’s investigator,
Triantafyllakos, has written a report detailing the full extent
of the conspiracy. However, before the Greek can pass this
information on to Samson, he is murdered. As his own
investigation progresses, Samson becomes increasingly
disillusioned, haunted by a past love affair. In this frame of
mind, when he learns that a large cache of Turkish arms, known
to have been delivered to Salonica, has since disappeared, he is
certain that the key to the mystery is at Avret Hissar.
By enlisting as his agent the Greek porter at the German
Legation, Samson is able to provide both London and his own
Legation in Athens with information on German intentions. It is
through the agency of the Greek porter that Samson learns that
his opposite number, the German agent Hoffman is active, and
also that there is a Greek traitor, supplying information to the
Germans. Acting without official help, Samson is unable to
uncover the identity of the Greek traitor, although he does
learn that a surprise Bulgarian attack upon Greece will soon be
launched, but will be countered by the Greeks, with the use of
the missing Turkish weaponry. The Greeks hope to ambush the
Bulgarians at Avret Hissar. Samson travels to Avret Hissar
where, as the battle opens, there is a confrontation between
Samson and Hoffmann at which Samson is dangerously wounded. His
life is saved by the Greek surgeon Geroulanos, whom Samson
suspects of involvement in the murder of Triantafyllakos and the
Major returns to Athens to recuperate. During this time he falls
in love with Rachel Summers, married to one of the officers of
the British Naval Mission; however, realizing the hopelessness
of the situation, and still haunted by the disappearance the
previous year of his great love, Edith Roberts, Samson longs to
leave Greece.
With the arrival of Admiral Kerr at this time, the balance of
power within the British Legation alters. In his first meetings
with the Prime Minister, Kerr develops an instant dislike of
Venizelos. In part this is due to a different perception of the
course that Greek naval expansion should follow; it is also a
result of Kerr’s infatuation with the very idea of kingship.
Kerr soon joins the court faction, along with the Military
Attaché, while the majority of the British diplomats still back
Venizelos. As tension begins to increase with Turkey, following
the end of the Balkan Wars, Kerr goes about his job, developing
the Greek Navy while Samson, ill physically and mentally,
returns to Constantinople to regain his strength.
This is the situation in June 1914 following the assassination
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. As the crisis develops in July,
King Constantine comes under intense pressure to join Germany
and Austria in declaring war. The King is adamant however that
neutrality is the only sensible option for Greece. He
successfully convinces Kerr who agrees to support him.
Ordinarily this would mean no more than sending slanted reports
to London. This position changes radically on 4 August 1914 when
Constantine is informed by the Kaiser that the two German
warships in the Mediterranean (including the powerful battle
cruiser Goeben) have been directed to Constantinople to join the
Turkish fleet. Kerr now faces an agonizing choice: he has, in
the period of his tenure in Athens, become wholly devoted to the
Greek cause. He is convinced that Constantine is right and that
neutrality is the only course for Greece to follow. However, if
he divulges the information which he is now also privy to, and
the German ships are intercepted and destroyed by the more
powerful British Mediterranean Fleet, a declaration of war by
Germany against Greece is certain to follow.
Kerr’s choice (a choice he had to make in real life) highlights
the central moral issue of the book: the theme of betrayal.
Eventually, after waiting three days, he formulates a scheme by
which he hopes to circumvent the Kaiser’s threat. He informs the
Russian Minister in Athens of the ships’ destination, so that
when the intelligence is routed via St Petersburg and Paris (as
he knows it will be) the source will be sufficiently disguised.
What he does not count on is that the message, which he has left
deliberately vague, is not deemed urgent and is delayed in
getting through. A second scheme, in which the German ships are
apparently located innocently by direction finding equipment
also fails.
Meanwhile, Samson, against his better judgment, had been ordered
to return to Athens, as there are fears that the Greeks will
launch a pre-emptive strike against the Turkish Navy. While
Kerr’s mental torment continues, Samson has discovered that a
consignment of German coal is being loaded aboard a collier at
Piraeus on the instruction of Venizelos. In an attempt to
discover its destination, he slips aboard looking for any
paperwork which might provide a hint. However he is trapped
aboard by Hoffmann as the ship sails and remains in hiding. The
collier is in fact carrying coal for the German ships, which,
although being pursued by the British fleet, have a day’s start.
Not having enough coal to reach the Dardanelles the German
admiral decides to use one of the many Greek islands as cover,
while he coals. It is to this rendezvous that the collier
proceeds. As the coaling takes place Samson is a mute witness.
He has discovered the destination of the German squadron but
cannot relay the information to Athens. Rather than risk
capture, he swims to shore and has to await rescue, by which
time Goeben has reached the Dardanelles. While casually
reassessing the evidence awaiting rescue Samson believes, at
last, that he knows the true identity of the traitor. Once back
in Athens he confronts his suspect, a confrontation which forms
the climax of the novel.
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