In 2025, while preparing for my visit to the Imperial War Museum, I was reviewing the MI5 donation documents and the one relating to the Mauser pistol stopped me in my tracks. The serial number, 489366, seemed eerily familiar. I went back to the MI5 files for Josef Jakobs and found Edward Cussen’s report on
Josef Jakobs’ Mauser Pistol Traced to the Imperial War Museum Read More »
For a number of years, I have been wanting to do a post on the weapons of the LENA spies. I knew that some of them had ended up in at least one museum, but what had become of the others? Were they even traceable? Discovering the answer required tedious paging through all of their
Tools of Infiltration: The Weapons of the LENA Spies Read More »
The wartime spy case files contain no consolidated inventory of equipment; each agent’s gear must be reconstructed from scattered documentation. Any attempt to identify patterns requires scanning hundreds of documents across dozens of individual files. Years ago, I began compiling a spreadsheet to track key information on the wartime spies, specifically those tried under the
What the MI5 Files Record: Equipment of the 1940–41 Agents Read More »
Tucked away within two wartime spy files are documents that shed light on the provenance of some of the spy equipment displayed at the Imperial War Museum. After the war, Lt. Col. W.E. Hinchley-Cooke oversaw the donation of some of the spy artifacts to the museum and a small series of internal MI5 memos reference
Tracing MI5’s Donation of Captured Spy Equipment to the IWM Read More »
About four years ago, a reader of this blog reached out to me after reading my post on Gerhard (Gert) Drucker. His name was Andrzej Mrowiński, and he had been researching the Jewish families of Berlinchen (now Barlinek)—the same town where Gerhard was born and spent his early childhood. Andrzej had become particularly invested in
Andrzej Mrowiński: Preserving the Stories of Barlinek Jews Read More »
On 5 August 1941, at the end of his court martial, Josef Jakobs was handed the verdict of the court, likely in a sealed envelope. He took the envelope back to his cell at Wandsworth Prison. Did he open it immediately upon his return, or sit and stare at it. Given that he was still
How Josef Jakobs’ Death Verdict Was Lost to History Read More »
Several years ago, I came across Harm Knol Bruins in the Guy Liddell diaries. His story intrigued me and I dug deeper. How had a Dutchman, caught with a wireless transmitter, managed to escape the hangman’s noose? More to the point, why had his wife—complicit in his crimes—been shot by firing squad, while he survived?
Espionage and Execution in 1940: Anna Lilian von Vaupel-Klein Read More »
For the longest time (at least as early as 2012), the Imperial War Museum in London had a permanent display about wartime espionage. It featured a number of spy artifacts, as well as a few items from MI5’s secret wartime interrogation centre, Camp 020. One item in particular was quite intriguing, although hard to see
Latchmere House Photographs at the Imperial War Museum Read More »
We know what the wireless sets carried by Germany’s LENA agents looked like. But what happens when someone actually tries to build one—and make it work? After years of research, photographs, measurements and experimentation, Thomas Hoeppe has done just that. Early in this blog’s history, in 2014, I wrote a post about the wireless transmitter/receivers
Labour of Love: Bringing the LENA Spy Radios Back to Life Read More »
I’ve been to the Imperial War Museum many times over the years, mostly as a visitor drifting toward the “Secret War” gallery out of habit. This time was different. With a London research trip on the horizon, I wanted to get behind the glass and into the Research Room to examine a few unexhibited items
Tracking Espionage Artifacts at the Imperial War Museum Read More »