ABSTRACT
The pacifist aspect may have stemmed from John Coates’ education in the Abbotsholme School in Rochester in Staffordshire. The left-wing thread was to continue when Coates went up to Cambridge. In 30 Commando, Coates had found the action he craved, participating in the Allied invasion of mainland Italy. The couple’s first home was in Bad Salzuflen in the British zone in Occupied Germany, where Coates had been transferred by Special Operations Executive. In 1952, Coates was posted to Vienna. In Christmas 1954, Coates completed his tour in Vienna and returned to head office in London where he remained a member of SovBloc until his next posting two years later. SovBloc’s successes against its KGB adversaries in the cold war were most notable for their scarcity. Harold Shergold, head of SovBloc, worked on the assumption that the KGB was unaware that Coates was SIS.
