German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Hi guys

Do we know the names of German spies parachuted into Britain (and Ireland) during WWII; also the dates they arrived and captured?

Importantly, do we know the unit/units responsible for dropping them? Was there just one unit involved, or many?

Any help obviously appreciated.

Cheers
Brian

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Josef Jakobs the last person to be executed at the Tower of London on 15 August 1941.

Link to Story

I presume the unit responsible for the drop would have been KG200.

I hope others will comment due to my limited knowledge of the subject.

Regards

Clint Mitchell

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Thanks for that, Clint

Most interesting. Let's hope other reports will be as enlightening.

Cheers
Brian

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Double agent Eddie Chapman parachuted in June/July 1944 to report on if V1's were hitting their target, MI5 codename ZIGZAG. I think After The Battle magazine has some artcles on German spies their website lists all editions and the contents of each magazine.

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Hi guys

I've been Googling and have found two interesting early spies:

Willem ter Braak (Dutch) parachuted into England on night of 2/3 November 1940; eventually committed suicide 29 March 1941.

Leniham (Irish) parachuted in to Ireland, near Dublin, in July 1941, but handed himself in to Northern Ireland authorities.

Clint, KG200 not formed until later in the war, so not responsible for early incidents.

PS: Were there any recorded flights by, say, He115s or other seaplanes to land spies in UK?

Cheers
Brian

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Brian,

After The battle issue 011 German spies in Britain lists what they call The Unlucky Sixteen,

Regards

Brian Bines

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Brian,

Here's a page on Wulf Schmidt, aka HARRY WILLIAMSON, parachuted into the UK on 19/20th Sep 1940 having been flown over by Hptm Karl Gartenfeld - follow this link http://www.oldwillingham.com/History/Spy/Tate_Spy.htm

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Brian,

And another one ....

"Karel Richter was a 29 year old Sudeten German who was caught and executed in 1941 for being a spy. He had parachuted into England on 12 May 1941 and was captured just two days later after hiding out in a field."

Follow this link - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e...er/default.htm

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Brian,

A bit of info. on Mutt and Jeff on this site http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1942.html

Brian Bines

Re: German spies parachuted into Britain
 

Brian,

Regarding the unit(s) used to fly agents to the UK, please refer to KG 200 - The Luftwaffe's most secret unit by Geof Thomas and Barry Ketley.

Page 23 has the following - "it was, however, clearly better to place agents as close as practicable to their intended destinations. As a result the aircraft of Aufkl.Gr.(F)/Ob.d.L. were to be used for clandestine flights to drop secret agents and saboteurs into Great Britain and the remaining neutral countries, some of these agents being recruited from the Lehr und Baukp.zbV 800. This new kind of operation, which required accurate navigation by night was undertaken by the Gruppe Rowehl which seemingly prided itself on the precision of its navigation in the prefered cloudy weather conditions........"

The story continues with reference to Gartenfeld (Staka of 3. Staffel) flying Hermann Goertz to Dublin on 5/6 May 1940.

Page 25 mentions that Gartenfeld flew with Knemeyer to drop Abwehr agents in Central and Southern England.

There is also mention of three agents being landed from a rubber raft on the Scottish coast havng been flown there by an He 115 possibly of Kü.Fl.Gr. 906 - vera de Witte, Theodore Drueke and Werner Waelti. This was on 30 Sep 1940, thet flew from Stavanger-Sola and landed on the Banff coast.