German spies of WW2

[simpo two]

Currently reading a book about Operations Sealion (the intended German invasion of England in 1940).

At the time fear of a network of German-sympathising spies and saboteurs - the Fifth Column - was very great.

However, their attempts to land spies fell way short of anything we did later with SOE:

book said:

Two men and woman, who on the night of 30th September were landed by a rubber dinghy on the coast of Banffshire... deserved no more luck than the agents deposited in Kent. They were arrested within a few hours of their arrival... the first of them to be searched by the police was found to have in his posession: a wireless set, a loaded Mauser sutomatic, an electric torch marked 'Made in Bohemia', a list of bomber and fighter stations in East Anglia, £327 in English notes, and a segment of German sausage. Both men, one German, the other a Swiss, were in due course hanged.

[john75]

My grandmother worked in the Cabinet War Office during WW2 and I remember her telling me that someone she worked with just disappeared after a short while after working there.

Also being in Essex Simpo I am sure you have heard of Shingle street which was a failed German Invasion.

[simpo two]

john75 said:

Also being in Essex Simpo I am sure you have heard of Shingle street which was a failed German Invasion.

Not a failed Allied rehearsal for Dieppe, Normandy etc?

[john75]

simpo two said:

john75 said: Also being in Essex Simpo I am sure you have heard of Shingle street which was a failed German Invasion. Not a failed Allied rehearsal for Dieppe, Normandy etc?

Nope

www.shford.fslife.co.uk/ShingleSt/

[Tyre Smoke]

john75 said:

simpo two said: john75 said: Also being in Essex Simpo I am sure you have heard of Shingle street which was a failed German Invasion. Not a failed Allied rehearsal for Dieppe, Normandy etc? Nope www.shford.fslife.co.uk/ShingleSt/

Hmmmmm!

A lot of conjecture and not a lot of substance there. Interesting never the less.

[simpo two]

Having done some Googling it seems that the Shingle Street business might have been a 'commando'-style raid to destroy/capture parts of the Bawdsey radar resarch station (indeed, we did a similar thing at Bruneval on the French coast). However, no way was it an 'invasion', ie an attempt to take over Britain.

[john75]

But had we lost the Radar it would have made life harder for the RAF.

Cleaver though the burning sea thing.

[lil'missleadfoot]

simpo two said:

Having done some Googling it seems that the Shingle Street business might have been a 'commando'-style raid to destroy/capture parts of the Bawdsey radar resarch station (indeed, we did a similar thing at Bruneval on the French coast). However, no way was it an 'invasion', ie an attempt to take over Britain.

Just up the coast is Orford Ness where it is said chemical weapons were tested. It is feasible that this area of coastline was Britain's achilles heel and it was a good job that the attack was quashed. I live a couple of miles from Bawdsey so I will ask around. The radar station itself has open days - they might have some info?

[simpo two]

Good grief, I'm being stalked

[wedg1e]

Years ago I read a tale (and in all probability it was just that) of a German spy who landed undetected in Britain (parachuted, IIRC) and set off walking, one presumes to London.
On encountering a village he entered the local pub and set about trying out his English on the landlord.

He asked for a cup of tea. The landlord, unsurprisingly, smelled a rat

[simpo two]

wedg1e said:

He asked for a cup of tea. The landlord, unsurprisingly, smelled a rat

The book cites a similar incident where a new spy, unaware of British licensing laws (we had some then) went into a pub at breakfast time and ordered cider. The landlady said she couldn't legally sell it until 10am and suggested he go and see the church in the meantime. When he returned at 10am he was duly arrested.

Another spy was landed in Ireland - he was a WW1 veteran and insisted on taking his medals with him...

[Eric Mc]

Do you mean Northern Ireland? Landing someone in Eire would have been fairly useless, unless he wqas trying to gain access to the UK from Eire.

[simpo two]

Eric Mc said:

Do you mean Northern Ireland? Landing someone in Eire would have been fairly useless, unless he wqas trying to gain access to the UK from Eire.

(Consults book) He was Dr Herman Goertz, dropped into County Meath on 5/6 May 1940 - swam the River Boyne and went to RV in County Wicklow 70 miles away - established radio contact with Germany - arrested by Irish police November 1941. Was going to be repatriated to Germany in 1947 but took poison, reason unknown.

[Eric Mc]

Thanks for that. It was obviously another example of Germany's inept attempts at espionage. They failed time and time again to find ANY material assistance for their spies anywhere in the British Isles.