- Englandspiel
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Das Englandspiel, also called Unternehmen Nordpol (Operation North Pole), was an enormous counter intelligence operation launched by the German Intelligence Organisation (Abwehr) during World War II. German forces captured Allied resistance agents operating in the Netherlands and used the agents' codes to fool the Allies into continuing to provide the agents with information and supplies. About fifty Allied agents were identified, captured, and executed.
Contents
Details
The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) was sending Dutch intelligence agents into the occupied Netherlands during the war. As early as 1942, the operation was penetrated by the German counter-espionage under Major Hermann Giskes of the Abwehr and continued under German control.
Apprehended radio operators continued broadcasting encrypted messages, but without the required "Security Checks" that should have alerted the SOE that they had been compromised. Further, SOE's head of codes Leo Marks claims to have soon realised that unlike all other coded messages, the Dutch messages contained no errors which made them indecipherable. He reasoned that this was because they were not coded in the field, but by German cryptographers. Finally, he sent them a deliberate indecipherable of his own, which was replied to. He reasoned that no ordinary agent could have resurrected his message. However no action was taken.
It was reported that agents that were supposed to return from the Netherlands met with various calamities and so could not return. Further, in 1943, two Dutch agents did manage to escape from captivity, but their claims on returning to Britain were dismissed (and they were arrested for suspected counter-espionage) due to a fake message sent by Giskes that two German agents were being sent to the UK from Holland (The Secret War - Englandspiel, broadcast on Yesterday 21 Jun 2011.
The operation was not completely shut down until Giskes himself send a cynical clear text message to the SOE on 1 April 1944 complaining about the lack of recent business given that he had been servicing them for so long. Giskes' message also "promised a warm welcome to any further agents SOE wished to insert into Holland"[1]
One reason for the inability of the SOE to realise that the ring was broken was inter department rivalry. This was between the individual country sections, between the country sections and the central code section, and most importantly between the SOE and the rival Secret Intelligence Service ("C") from which SOE had been created. Any failure would weaken political positions.
It has also been argued that SOE had set up the operation for the single purpose of leading the Germans into believing that an invasion would take place in the Netherlands (rather than Normandy). Similar allegations have been made about the fate of Francis Suttill and the SOE "Prosper" network in France. However, the decision to land at Normandy had not been made until late into the Englandspiel saga.
Certainly Marks states in his book that he was ordered to deliberately withhold important cryptographic information from people investigating the Dutch operation at the time.
Dates
During the Englandspiel the following people (amongst others) were dropped in the Netherlands:
- 28-8-1940: Lodo van Hamel, brought to Oegstgeest in Zuid-Holland;
- 5-7-1941: Aart Alblas, dropped near Nieuweschans in Groningen, 16-7-1942 arrested
- 6-11-1941: Huub Lauwers and Thijs Taconis, dropped near Ommen in Overijssel. Lauwers was arrested on 6-3-1942, Taconis on 9-3-1942;
- 9-12-1941: Wim van der Reijden, brought to Scheveningen, arrested on 13-2-1942;
- 23-2-1942: Evert Radema and E.W. de Jonge, brought to Katwijk aan Zee, Radema was arrested on 29-5-1942, De Jonge on 22-5-1942;
- 28-2-1942: Gerrit Dessing, dropped near Ermelo in Gelderland, returned via Brussel to England on 2-9-1943;
- 27-3-1942: Nol Baatsen, dropped near Kallenkote, east of Steenwijk in Overijssel and immediately arrested;
- 29-3-1942: Jan Molenaar and Leo Andringa, dropped near Holten in Overijssel; Molenaar was injured and committed suicide (pill), Andringa was arrested on 28-4-1942;
- 29-3-1942: Gosse Ras and Han Jordaan, dropped near Holten in Overijssel, Ras was arrested on 1-5-1942, Jordaan two days later;
- 5-4-1942: Henk Sebes and Barend Kloos, dropped near Harskamp, Ede in Gelderland, Sebes was arrested on 8-5-1942, Kloos on 29-4-1942;
- 18-4-1942: Jan de Haas (as a replacement for Molenaar), brought to Castricum, arrested on 28-4-1942;
- 29-5-1942: Herman Parleviet and Toon van Steen, dropped near Kallenkote, east of Steenwijk in Overijssel and arrested immediately;
- 22-6-1942: Jan van Rietschoten and Jo Buizer, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and arrested immediately;
- 26-6-1942: George Jambroes and Jozef Bukkens, dropped near Kallenkote, east of Steenwijk in Overijssel and arrested immediately;
- 23-7-1942: Gerard Jan van Hemert, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and arrested immediately;
- 24-9-1942: Karel Beukema toe Water and Cees Fortuyn Droogleever, dropped near Balloo in Drenthe and arrested immediately;
- 24-9-1942: Mooy and Jongelie, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 1-10-1942: Aart van Giessen, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 21-10-1942: Meindert Koolstra, dropped near Ermelo in Gelderland and arrested immediately;
- 23-10-1942: Jan Hofstede and Christiaan Pouwels, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and immediately arrested;
- 28-11-1942: de Kruijff and Charle Ruseler, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 29-11-1942: John Ubbink and Herman Overes, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 13-2-1943: Trix Terwindt, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 16-2-1943: Van de Nor, Kees Hulsteijn and Braggaar, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 18-2-1943: Gerrit van Os and Jan Kist, dropped near Voorthuizen in Gelderland and immediately arrested;
- 18-2-1943: Wim van der Wilden and his cousin Piet van der Wilden, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 9-3-1943: Pieter Dourlein, dropped near Ermelo in Gelderland and immediately arrested;
- 21-4-1943: Klaas Wegner, Freek Rouwers and Ivo Uytvanck, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 21-5-1943: Oscar de Brey, Anton Mink and Laurens Punt, dropped and immediately arrested;
- 07-10-1944: Harmen Koopmans and G. Ensink, dropped at Dokkum and immediately arrested. Koopmans killed at De Woeste Hoeve near Apeldoorn.
Aftermath
After the war reproaches were made to the SOE for serious flaws in the preparation of the missions, and for ignoring warnings that agents had been caught (notably the absence of the "security checks" - a change in the transmission protocol).
References
- Giskes, H.J., London Calling North Pole, written by the German spy chief who ran the operation
- Leo Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941-1945. (HarperCollins, 1998). ISBN 0-684-86780-X. recent book by SOE code master.
- Philippe Ganier-Raymond, The Tangled Web, (Arthur Barker 1968, Warner Paperback ISBN 0-446-65934-7, originally published in French as Le Réseau Éntranglé) one of the central stories in Marks' book, the betrayal of the SOE Dutch network, told from the Dutch and German points of view.
- Foot, Michael Richard Daniell, Holland at war against Hitler. Has a detailed commentary by several people including Marks.
External links
Categories:- World War II occupied territories
- History of the Netherlands
- Abwehr operations
- World War II espionage
- Dutch resistance
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