Bumbling Nazi secret agents slipped into the U.S. through Long Island to sabotage the American war effort, declassified British documents revealed Monday.
The spies were tasked with committing “small acts of terrorism” with “incendiary bombs in suitcases left in luggage depots and in Jewish-owned shops,” the report said.
The not-so-subtle spies stormed the beach near Amagansett in the Hamptons on the morning of June 13, 1942. Each was dressed in German uniforms, the documents say, and disembarked from a Nazi U-boat.
Dubbed the “Franz Daniel Pastorious Undertaking” by British officials – named after an early German settler in the U.S. – a second batch of agents also came ashore in Florida four days later.
Details of this case have been known for years, but this is the first time MI5 has made public their own files on the subject.
“It was not brilliantly planned,” said Edward Hampshire, a historian at Britain’s National Archives, which released the wartime intelligence documents Monday. “The Germans picked the leader for this very, very poorly. He immediately wanted to give himself up.”
The mission was ultimately undermined by its leader, George John Dasch, who surrendered shortly after arriving in the U.S. and gave up his cohorts to authorities.
The German agents had lived in the U.S. before returning to aid their native country. They received training in “sabotage school” in Germany, where they learned about creating explosives, building timers, and using “secret writing.”
“The task of the saboteurs was to slow down production at certain factories concerned with the American war effort,” said the report, crafted by MI5 intelligence officer Victor Rothschild.
“The sabotage was not to be done in such a way that it appeared accidental,” he noted. “The saboteurs were however told that they must avoid killing or injuring people as this would not benefit Germany.”
The agents were also tasked with disseminating anti-war propaganda, and “point out that the USA had no reason to be at the war with Germany.”
The mission was plagued with mistakes and poor planning, however.
The U-boat assigned to take the secret agents to Long Island ran aground several times.
“It was only owing to the laziness or stupidity of the American coastguards that this submarine was not attacked by USA forces,” Rothschild wrote.
The agents were caught by a member of the Coast Guard as they made their way ashore in a rubber raft. The report suggests they paid off the man with $300, even though they were ordered to “overpower any person met on landing and send him back to the submarine.”
The four agents caught a train into New York City, then separated.
Days later the team’s leader, George John Dasch, called the FBI to alert them “he was a saboteur and wished to tell his story to Mr. Hoover.”
The rest of the Nazi agents in New York and Florida were arrested shortly afterwards. They were tried and executed months later, while Dasch and another agent deported to Germany after the war.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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5 Responses
This is not a secret, the Abwher led by Canaris infiltrated the US with Nazi spies. Canaris was actually one of the good guys and betrayed Hitler, ultimately paying with his life.
That has been well known and well documented for some time. Indeed, the legal issues of the spies trial have been the subject of much debate since it is an arguable precedent in the matter of trying those accused in the 9-11 attacks. The “news” of the story was the Brits take on it (they love to make a point of saying how so much more professional they are compared to the Americans, at least when it comes to military matters).
Which part of this story was not known? I’ve read about this quite a while ago. Hmm, what other “secrets” are the Brits harbouring?
Baltimore is probably the only city in the world where two members of the rabbinic leadership had fathers who were arrested during WWII for helping the Nazi war effort.
Rav Moshe Heinemann’s father, Dr. Benno Heinemann zt’l, was in England during the early forties. One Shabbos afternoon, he left his apartment to daven mincha and join another family for seuda shlishis. When he returned after Shabbos, the air raid wardens were waiting to arrest him. The city was under a blackout to help frustrate the German bomber pilots. When Dr. Heinemann returned after Shabbos, his window shades were in the up position because he had left home during daylight hours. He had forgotten to close the shades before he left. This violation of the blackout was punishable by arrest and confinement. Dr. Heinemann spent the remaining years of the war exiled to a prison camp with other blackout violators, etc.
Rav Yaakov Hopfer recently spoke on the sheloshim of his father, Dr. Fritz Hopfer, zt’l. He told the following story. The FBI had gotten wind that the Germans had landed saboteurs by U-boat on Long Island. Dr. Hopfer had recently immigrated to the United States, and apparently, his name was similar to the name of one of the German agents. The FBI located the then “Mr. Hopfer” living in Pennsylvania and trailed him for a few days. Obviously, they observed nothing incriminating about the behavior of this religious school teacher and undergraduate physics major. They received a “go ahead” from FBI headquarters to arrest this suspect. The agents came to the Hopfer home, identified themselves, and arrested a bewildered Mr. Hopfer. They conducted a thorough search of the home and found evidence that convinced them that they had their man. In the Hopfer’s bedroom, the agents found a woman’s wig. Obviously, Mr. Hopfer used this as part of his disguise when he conducted his spying and sabotage. They took him away. Distinguished rabbis and askanim were contacted and they immediately went into action. They called the FBI and explained that Mr. Hopfer, a devoutly orthodox Jew, had fled Hitler and would not work for the German war machine. Orthodox Jews do not serve as German saboteurs. The FBI reconsidered the arrest and realized that they had made an error. But what about the ladies’ wig? That day the FBI learned that married orthodox women cover their hair when they appear in front of other men.
There you have it. A city where two prominent rabbis had fathers who were arrested for helping the German war effort.
i am glad to see I am not the only one who knows some history.