Posted on 04/06/2011 12:24:38 PM PDT by Red Badger
The sheer clumsiness of the mission almost sounds like the makings of the screwball comedy.
A Nazi submarine mission to the United States during World War II that aimed to unleash a wave of terror ended in farce after being hit by a series of disasters, newly released files showed on Monday.
The Germans planned to bomb roads, railways and factories on "Operation Pastorius" in June 1942, according to the files from Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence agency.
But even before it got under way the plot descended into a farce worthy of a comedy film.
One of the saboteurs, Herbert Haupt, got drunk in a Paris bar after a farewell dinner and declared to his drinking companions that he was a spy.
When the submarine arrived in the United States, it ran aground on a sandbar as it dropped off the four agents on the coast of Long Island, New York.
A U.S. coastguard discovered the Germans as they buried their supplies on the beach -- but he was given $300 and persuaded to leave the men alone.
In a report on the mission, Victor Rothschild, head of MI5's counter-espionage division, wrote: "It was only owing to the laziness or stupidity of the American coastguards that this submarine was not attacked by USA forces."
The plot was only foiled when the leader of the spies, George Dasch, rang up the FBI, announced he was a saboteur and demanded to speak to the bureau's then director, J. Edgar Hoover.
His confession was initially dismissed but after a lengthy interview he was arrested and his fellow agents were rounded up, the files showed.
Despite the clumsiness of the mission, MI5 still regarded it as a serious threat.
"This sabotage expedition was better equipped with sabotage apparatus and better trained than any other expeditions of which the security service has heard," Rothschild wrote.
Sounds plausible. I can easily picture a gang of German sailors violating the blackout, landing on a Long Island beach, enjoying a kegger, roasting wieners and singing Muss i’ Den until the cops come to put them to bed.
Don’t send in sailors to do the job of Special Forces.
And the Germans had Special Forces in WWII that did some amazing missions...
Think of all the things we still don’t know
this case set the precedent by the way for enemy combatants to receive trials by military tribunals instead of in civilian court (FDR told the SCOTUS he’d go ahead and do that even if they ruled against him)
I think this was made into movie.
See NAZI SABOTEURS
I saw a documentary about this on tv recently. In that story, the ringleader was a German American who grew up here, and his mom returned with him to Germany. He didn’t have a choice about the mission, and when he voluntarily gave it up, was executed anyway.
...and far from being lazy, the Coast Guardsman immediately reported the incident to his command then located and secured the hidden demolition cache.
This is really old stuff. It is only new to people who didn’t know about it. The History channel has covered this several times over the years.
I’ve read into Operation Pastorius quite extensively. German Intelligence (Abwehr) basically sent these guys, who were hardly spy material, through a “Spies Like Us” training program. My opinion is that some of these dopes were just looking for an excuse to return to America because things weren’t faring too well for them in Nazi Germany. 2 of them were spared, and eventually deported. I believe George John Dasch wrote a book about his foray into the US. J. Edgar Hoover was so incensed that the US border was breeched that he wanted them dead at all costs. I don’t disagree with him, because after all, they were still German military members wearing civilian clothes in a country, against which they had actively declared war.
“this case set the precedent by the way for enemy combatants to receive trials by military tribunals instead of in civilian court (FDR told the SCOTUS he’d go ahead and do that even if they ruled against him)”
Not really. Military tribunals were in use by the US military before the Constitution was approved. Major Andre of Bennedict Arnold fame was tried by a military commission. For an excellent history of military tribunals read the USSC case Qurin (named after one of the Germans involved in this tale).
Also, you make the same much too common mistake of calling these guys “enemy combatants”. The correct term is “unlawful enemy combatant”.
“this case set the precedent by the way for enemy combatants to receive trials by military tribunals instead of in civilian court (FDR told the SCOTUS he’d go ahead and do that even if they ruled against him)”
Not really. Military tribunals were in use by the US military before the Constitution was approved. Major Andre of Bennedict Arnold fame was tried by a military commission. For an excellent history of military tribunals read the USSC case Qurin (named after one of the Germans involved in this tale).
Also, you make the same much too common mistake of calling these guys “enemy combatants”. The correct term is “unlawful enemy combatant”.
Wow.
The Military Channel did a one hour program on these clowns this last week end.
I think you're right about Hoover too. This incident helped create a more significant anti-espionage aspect of the FBI that paid off early in the cold war.
This thread's version is pretty weak in some areas. The Coastguardsman who discovered the New Jersey bunch was neither inept nor lazy for example. He facilitated their capture and recovery of their sabatoge materials. Also, I don't recall ever hearing that the sub was grounded at any time
If Hollyweird did a movie about this, who would be the actors?
The Sabateurs:
Sean Penn
Woody Harrelson
Alec Baldwin
Robert Redford
Will Smith (for PC reasons)
and Barbara Streisand as J Edgar Hoover
Germans did not have a great deal of luck when U-boats dropped off spies along the coast of Canada and US. One German spy who went ashore near New Carlisle, Quebec (Gaspe Coast very remote at that time) in 1941 was captured within a couple of days. A local hotel owners son noticed the Canadian currency used by the German agent was dated, older than currency being used in Canada at the time. The clincher was a book of matches used by the spy (everyone smoked in those days) that were from Belgium or Holland. Aside from the fact that every one knows everyone in that area (especially in those days) and this guy just shows up out of nowhere ... and has to take a hotel for a night while waiting for the next train ... is laughable.
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