Introduction

Title: Daring Missions of World War II Author: William B. Breuer ISBN: 0-471-40419-5 Introduction World war ii, the mightiest endeavor that history has known, was fought in many arenas other than by direct confrontation between opposing forces. One of the most significant of these extra dimensions was a secret war-within-a-war that raged behind enemy lines, a term that refers to actions taken a short dis- tance to the rear of an adversary’s battlefield positions or as far removed as a foe’s capital or major headquarters. Relentlessly, both sides sought to penetrate each other’s domain to dig out intelligence, plant rumors, gain a tactical advantage, spread propaganda, create confusion, or inflict mayhem. Many ingenious techniques were employed to infiltrate an antagonist’s territory, including a platoon of German troops dressed as women refugees and pushing baby carriages filled with weapons to spearhead the invasion of Belgium. Germans also wore Dutch uniforms to invade Holland. The Nazi attack against Poland was preceded by German soldiers dressed as civilians and by others wearing Polish uniforms. In North Africa, British soldiers masqueraded as Germans to strike at enemy airfields, and both sides dressed as Arabs on occasion. One British officer in Italy disguised himself as an Italian colonel to get inside a major German headquarters and steal vital information. In the Pacific, an American sergeant of Japanese descent put on a Japan- ese officer’s uniform, sneaked behind opposing lines, and brought back thir- teen enemy soldiers who had obeyed his order to lay down their weapons. Near the end of the conflict in Europe, Germans wearing American garb and riding in American jeeps, trucks, and tanks created enormous panic in the Allied camp during the Battle of the Bulge. Other than infiltration by foot, during the war both sides used a wide variety of conveyances to get behind enemy lines: folding canoes, two-man sub- marines, human torpedoes, fishing trawlers, trucks, frogmen, jeeps, horses, mules, parachutes, gliders, and even a train. Not all ventures behind enemy lines were planned. Often individuals and groups were cut off to the rear of an opposing force and had to utilize clever methods for escaping, including eight GIs who got back through Ger- man lines dressed as French policemen. Escapes from prisoner-of-war camps and holdovers far to the rear of the front were not uncommon, but in most instances, the escapers were recap- tured. There were amazing exceptions, however, including a French general in 1 2 Introduction his sixties who fled in civilian garb and three GIs who spent eight days trapped in an attic of a small house without food or water with German soldiers occu- pying the first floor. Spies were integral components of the war-within-a-war. Many of these bold people were caught and executed. Women played a key role in espionage activities, including several who organized and directed underground escape lines that saved hundreds of downed Allied airmen in Nazi-occupied Europe. Many books have been published relating to high-level strategic designs and episodes of heroism on the battlefield, in the air, and at sea during World War II. This volume helps fill a reportorial void: a comprehensive focus on capers behind enemy lines, many of which were so bizarre or illogical that their telling would have been rejected by Hollywood as implausible—yet they happened. Part One Darkness Falls over Europe Post Office Shoot-Out Launches a War During the first half of 1939, an atmosphere of foreboding hovered over Europe. There was the sense of an approaching storm. A revered British figure, Winston S. Churchill, who had held a number of cabinet posts but was now out of politics, warned that “ferocious passions” were “rife in Europe.” He was referring to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi cohorts in Berlin. The preparations for war were everywhere in England, and in London, the high-pitched moans of air-raid sirens were heard for the first time as defense officials tested the nation’s early warning system against attack by the powerful Luftwaffe. At the same time, another force was at work, this one invisible to the eye. For many months, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the Abwehr, Germany’s intelligence agency, had been feeding a stream of accurate reports on the military and political situation in the Third Reich to MI-6, Great Britain’s secret service for foreign operations. Canaris was a leader of the Schwarze Kapelle (Black Orchestra), the conspiracy of prominent Germans pledged to curb or halt Hitler’s dream of conquest. Soon after the führer sent his booted legions to gobble up defenseless Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Canaris implemented a new strategy in an effort to prod Great Britain into taking action against the Reich. Now he ceased sending factual reports and planted false information on MI-6. On April 3, Canaris, a small, nervous man, stated that Hitler might send his Luftwaffe to attack the Royal Navy, Great Britain’s first line of defense. A second haunting report “disclosed” that German U-boats were prowling in the English Channel and even penetrating far up the Thames Estuary, the water passage to London. This time, the crafty German master spy got action, minimal as it may have been. Lord Stanhope, the first lord of the Admiralty, swallowed the bait. That same day, he gave orders for the fleet to “man the antiaircraft guns” and “be ready for anything that might happen.” Yet another false report planted by Canaris stated that Hitler planned to launch a war against Great Britain by a sneak bombing raid on London. This 5 6 Darkness Falls over Europe time, the wily admiral overplayed his hand. When none of his concocted scenarios developed, he lost credibility with MI-6 and other British leaders. Many in London believed, wrongly, that the admiral was hatching these fanci- ful tales as part of a devious Hitler deception scheme to mask the führer’s true intentions. Meanwhile in early 1939, Hitler was preparing to launch Fall Weiss (Case White), the code name for a massive invasion of neighboring Poland. Army ranks were swelled by new men called up for “summer training.” The great German armament works were humming, turning out guns, tanks, air- planes, and ships. The führer’s highly capable general staff had put together an invasion plan which could be spearheaded by the infiltration of a large number of Ger- mans behind Polish lines to create confusion, sabotage key facilities, and pro- tect bridges needed for the advancing panzers. Earlier, notice had gone out from the Heer (army) that volunteers were being accepted for a special commando-type unit. It was headed by Oberst (Colonel) Theodor von Hippel, head of Section II, the intelligence branch responsible for clandestine operations. Within a few weeks, Hippel organized a force of picked men, who were chosen not only for their combat skills, but also for their resourcefulness and fluency in at least one foreign language. This project was designated top secret. To mask the true function of this crack outfit, it was designated Lehr und Bau Kompagnie (Special Duty Training and Construction Company). Its headquarters was in the old Prussian city of Brandenburg, giving the organization the name it would carry during the war—the Brandenburgers. Specific missions for the outfit would be decided by the high command, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. On a large country estate outside Brandenburg, the future commandos were taught the techniques of stealth and individual sufficiency, how to move silently through woods, live off the land, and navigate by the stars. They learned to handle parachutes, kayaks, and skis, and how to create explosives from potash, flour, and sugar. The first real test of the Brandenburgers came in mid-1939 when small parties of these men, disguised as coal miners and laborers, began stealing into Poland and infiltrating the mines, factories, and electric power stations. Hitler, in essence, had a large covert sabotage force deep behind Polish lines along the frontier. X-Day for Case White was set for September 1, 1939, but the conflict that would become known as World War II erupted a half hour ahead of the scheduled kickoff. Curiously, participants on both sides in this opening round would be wearing civilian clothes, not military uniforms. On the evening of August 31, a group of Brandenburgers in civilian dis- guise prepared to go into action in the Baltic port of Danzig, which the victors Wiping Out Hitler’s Spy Network 7 of the First World War had awarded to Poland to prevent that country from being landlocked. At 4:17 A.M. on X-Day, the Brandenburgers surrounded the Danzig post office and demanded its surrender. The Polish postal workers were armed, and a shoot-out erupted that would rage all day. While the gunfire was in progress at the post office, the German battle- ship Schleswig-Hohlstein, supposedly in the harbor on a goodwill visit, began blasting targets in Danzig at point-blank range. It may have been the only instance in history where a warship, in essence, got behind enemy lines on a combat mission. By nightfall, Danzig—and its post office—were in German hands. At the same time, Brandenburgers who had been working as civilians inside Poland collected the explosives smuggled in from Germany in recent weeks and blew up the key facilities where they had been employed. Elsewhere, other Brandenburgers slipped across the frontier from Ger- many, got behind Polish defensive positions, and seized the crucial Vistula River bridges. At five o’clock in the morning, five German armies plunged across the border with the panzer spearheads charging over the Vistula spans secured by the Brandenburgers.

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