Operation ATLAS

For the 2008 terrorist-attack drill/mockup at the Logan airport in Boston, Massachusetts, see Operation Atlas.

Operation ATLAS
Part of World War II
Location	British-administered Palestine
Planned by	German Intelligence[1] Berlin-based Mufti of Jerusalem[1]
Objective	Attacking the Jewish community in Palestine and undermining British rule[2]
Date	October 1944
Executed by	A special commando unit of the Nazi Waffen SS
Outcome	Operation failed

Operation ATLAS^[3] was the code name for a failed operation carried out by a special commando unit of the Nazi Waffen SS which was held in October 1944 ands aimed at poisoning the Drinking water resources of the residents of Tel Aviv - specifically the water extraction facility of the Rosh HaAyin springs. The operation was initiated by Amin al-Husseini,^[1] the leader of the Arab Higher Committee, in accordance with his vision that combined with the Nazi Final Solution vision (extermination of the entire Jewish population world wide) and with his aim to raise the money he needed to re-agitate the Arab Revolt in the region of Palestine which would also ease the pressure on Nazi Germany in the European fronts. The unit consisted of five soldiers: three who were previously Templar residents of the region of Palestine and two Arab-Palestinians in exile.^[4]

Background

Haj Amin al-Husayni meeting with Adolf Hitler in December 1941

The Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini, who was known as the leader of the Palestinian-Arabs at that time, fled during the Arab Revolt from the region of Palestine. On November 28, 1941, al-Husseini met with Adolf Hitler and received a promise from Hitler that Germany would eliminate the existing Jewish foundations in the region of Palestine after the Germans had gained victory in the war.^[5] The Mufti offered the Führer a concrete operative proposal which would serve both the Arab and Nazi interests: parachuting German commando soldiers in the region of Palestine who would join the local Arabs militant forces and poison the drinking water sources of the residents of Tel Aviv as well as engaging in incitement operations against the Jewish population in the region of Palestine.

Kurt Wieland, the son of Rudolph Wieland, who was a member of the Templar community in Sarona, traveled to Germany in 1936 and joined the Nazi forces. Wieland was assigned to the military intelligence corps due to his vast knowledge of languages. Wieland advanced his position quite rapidly and eventually got to the rank of major, serving in the special commando unit of the Waffen-SS under the command of Otto Skorzeny. In July 1944, Wieland met al-Husseini in Germany, and received for the first time details of his plan.

In October 24, 1944, the Allied forces approached Nazi Germany, west of the Rayne while the Soviet armed forces were approaching Nazi Germany from the east and reached Prussia. As part of the Nazi plan to repel the Allied forces, the idea to carry out the old operative plan of Amin Al-Husseini was brought up and assigned for the implementation of the intelligence officer Kurt Wieland, which would be able to make use of his operational experience, his familiarity with the region of Palestine and his connections with the locals. In addition to poisoning the residents of Tel Aviv, the Waffen SS unit members were ordered to contact Pro-Nazi agents in the region of Palestine and set up hidden bases in the region. It was also determined that the Waffen SS members would attack the hydroelectric power-plant in Naharayim as well as the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline.

The Nazis' main intention was to do so in order to cause the British forces to divert some of their forces to the region of Palestine, thereby improving the Nazis' ability to repel the Allied forces from Nazi Germany.

In addition to Wieland, two more German soldiers were assigned to the unit who were originally raised in the Templer communities in the region of Palestine. They both knew the region quite well, and belonged to the Nazi "Brandenburg" division: Werner Frank, born in Jerusalem, and Frederick Dyininger Shaffer born in Waldheim.^[6] Dyininger Shaffer assisted the Palestinian-Arabs forces during the Great Arab Revolt, as a result was imprisoned at Bat Yam, and later on managed to escape back to Nazi Germany. In Germany, Dyininger Shaffer acted as al-Husseini's personal assistant. Two Arab-Palestinians, who were associates of Amin al Husseini, were also assigned to the unit: Hasan Salama,^{[7] [7][8]} who was a native of the Palestinian village Qula and who was the deputy of al-Husseini, and Abdul Latif who was a native of Jerusalem and who participated in the Arab Revolt in the region of Palestine and afterwards was exiled to Iraq.

The Operation

The operation failed already from the start, either due to an early intelligence gathered by the local authorities about on the Nazi operation or due to a failure which occurred during the parachuting the unit members.

On the night of October 6, 1944 the five unit members parachuted from a "Heinkel HeS 3" airplane over the Jericho region in Wadi Qelt. Their equipment included light weaponry, maps, radio equipment, food supplies, 5000 Pound sterling in different currencies, explosives, and about 10 cardboard boxes containing particularly strong water-soluble poison (each box contained poison which would sufficiently kill about 25,000 people). This poison was designed to poison the Rosh HaAyin springs which were used by the residents of Tel Aviv.

The unit was parachuted in two different locations near Jericho, and most of their equipment scattered around those locations. Hassan Salameh, whom was injured during the parachuting, began heading towards Jerusalem after he landed. The rest of the unit (the two Germans and Abdul Latif) hid in a cave in Wadi Qelt.

Soon after the parachuting Bedouin locals discovered one of the parachuted money supplies as well as a pistol and ammunition. Word of the new coins in Jericho rapidly spread across the region and became the first indicator among the authorities that a secret operation was underway. As a result, Jerusalem police commander Fayez Bey Idrissi ordered extensive searches in Wadi Qelt.

On October 11 the British authorities posted the following statement in the Hebrew press:

“

Meanwhile, Abdul Latif made contact with two Arab policemen seeking the British forces, whom provided him with food and water, and updated information. On October 16, 1944 two Germans and Abdul Latif were captured in a cave in Wadi Qelt, after Idrissi instructed to follow the two policemen whom provided food and information to the dwellers of the cave.

”

Aftermath

Knowledge of the capturing of the enemy Parachutists was revealed to the inhabitants of the region of Palestine already in October 1944. On October 16 the British Mandate authorities published the following official statement:

“

Police information led to a combined military and police operation in the Wadi Qelt area and resulted in an important arrests by the Trans Jordan Frontier Force

”

In October 27 a full report of the capturing of the enemy parachutists was published in the Davar newspaper under the title:

“

Enemy parachutists were captured nine days after parachuting in the region. two Germans and one Arab. - They came equipped with money, Arab dictionaries and weapons.

”

The newspaper stated that on October 8 the Jericho police chief learned that gold coins circulated in the city. As a result, an investigation was initiated which resulted in golden coins seized from five local shepherds. The shepherds told the policemen of the site in which they discovered the coins. As a result, a manhunt began which involved military forces, police forces, members of the Arab Legion and the Transjordan Frontier Force. On October 16 a Sargent of Jordanian Frontier Force discovered a man, dressed in traditional Arab clothing, standing at the entrance to a cave and holding a gun. The man surrendered without a fight and soon afterwards two additional people were discovered inside the cave, a German and an Arab .

Hasan Salama and Frederick Dyininger Shaffer were not captured, and several days afterwards, the search after them was halted. Shaffer was caught only in 1946 when he attempted to renew contact with his family in Wilhelma. Hassan Salameh managed to flee to a house of a doctor in a small village near the Qula, where he got his foot injury treated. On November 30, 1947 Salameh was responsible for the attack on bus no. 2094 which was on its way from Netanya to Jerusalem. Salameh was eventually killed on June 2, 1948 during the War of Independence, during a battle with the Irgun forces near the Palestinian village of Qula overlooking the Rosh HaAyin springs.

In July 4, 2001 about 200 secret documents from the British MI5 Archives were released to the public, most of which were related to Germany and were from the years 1939-1944. Among the documents released was detailed information relating to the German Operation ATLAS and the German and Palestinian-Arab unit members whom were parachuted in Palestine in order to carry out the operation.^[2][9]

In popular fiction

• In 2009 the Israeli journalist and military affairs commentator Gad Shimron published the fictional novel "The Sweetheart of the Templar From the Valley of Rephaim" (Hebrew: אהובת הטמפלר מעמק רפאים‎) which incorporated the story of Operation ATLAS while making several changes to the plot, the exact period in which the parachuting was carried out in, the parachutists names, and their fate.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} The National Archives | The Catalogue | Full Details | KV 2/401
2. ^ ^{a b} https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/4-july-2001-releases-kurt-wieland.html
3. ^ The document from the British MI5 archives which covers the details of "Operation ATLAS"
4. ^ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/july2001.pdf
5. ^ Christopher Browning, with Jürgen Matthäus, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942. University of Nebraska Press, 2004 p.406, drawing on David Yisraeli, The Palestine Problem in German Politics, 1889-1945 p. 310. In his note to the text p. 539 n. 107, Browning records that Fritz Grobba's recollection is slightly different and less specific: "At the moment of Arab liberation, Germany had no interest there other than the destruction of the power protecting the Jews" (die Vernichtung der das Judentum protegierenden Macht). ISBN 0803213271
6. ^ "Munich's Revenge", Bar-Zohar & Eitan Haber, 2005, pg 64 (Hebrew)
7. ^ ^{a b} Benny Morris: 1948
8. ^ "Halbmond und Hakenkreuz: das Dritte Reich, die Araber und Palästina", Klaus-Michael Mallmann & Martin Cüppers, 2006, pg 240 (German)
9. ^ BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Nazis planned Palestine subversion

External links

• The document from the British MI5 archives which covers the details of "Operation ATLAS"
• Enemy parachutists have been captured, Davar, October 27, 1944 (Hebrew)
• 3 Nazi air officers caught in Palestine, published on The New York Times on October 28, 1944
• Nazi Parachutists Taken In Palestine, published on the Milwaukee Journal on November 1, 1944
• Nazis planned Palestine subversion, published on BBC News on 5 July 2001
• Rebecca Shepeck-Lisk and Shaul Bartal, Amin al-Husseini: The final solution carried out with together with the Nazis, e-mago.co.il (Hebrew)