For the last few years, I have been scratching away at an irksome little mystery. Within the National Archives’ KV 2/27 file on Josef Jakobs are two small diary-style notebooks. Both notebooks were apparently the property of Kenneth C. Howard from Birmingham. They were sent to MI5 by the Birmingham Police in June 1941, but […]
Solved – Kenneth Clifford Howard & His Diaries Read More »
A friend of mine has been in touch with an author named Jan Willem van den Braak, a dogged researcher who has been tracing the story of a doomed Abwehr spy, Jan Willem ter Braak (no relation to the dogged researcher). Confusing, no? Jan Willem ter Braak (the spy) was found shot in the head
The Untold Story of Jan Willem ter Braak (a.k.a. Engelbertus Fukken) Read More »
Article Review – Kriminalia Online Magazine I don’t often find anything published on Josef Jakobs in Germany, but… that has changed. Back in October, Michael Kirchschlager of Kriminalia, an online magazine on criminal and legal history, published a brief article stub entitled The Executioner at War: Soldiers, Spies, and Traitors – Der Henker im Krieg:
Today marks the 76th anniversary of the capture of German spy Josef Jakobs at Dove House Farm near the village of Ramsey, Huntingdonshire. Having broken his ankle during his exit from the aircraft via parachute, Josef was found around 8:30 am by two farmers on their way to work. Josef spent the next few months
BBC One Show – February 1, 2017 – Josef Jakobs & William Chidlow Read More »
Article Review – The Guardian Another great article came out on August 28, 2016 via The Guardian. This one was written by Ian Cobain, author of Cruel Britannia. The Guardian Article is entitled Secrecy and firing squads: Britain’s ruthless war on Nazi spies. The article begins with the story of the first four spies who
Article Review – Daily Telegraph AU I’m a bit behind the times and catching up on six months of references to Josef around the web. Back in August, the Daily Telegraph in Australia published an article on Josef. The article was actually quite well written and has no glaring inaccuracies, which is a nice surprise.
Article Review – Daily Telegraph (AU) on Josef Jakobs Read More »
The new Josef Jakobs website is up and running, finally! The old domain – www.josefjakobs.com works now and will take you to www.josefjakobs.weebly.com. Still need to update some of the blog links on the site but… that will come.
New Josef Jakobs Website Up and Running Read More »
Article Review – National Archives Blog Another pleasant surprise – a National Archives blog on the case of German spy, Josef Jakobs. The blog post was written by Dr. Richard Dunley at the National Archives and is well researched. Given that the National Archives has the voluminous declassified MI5 files on Josef as well as
Article Review – National Archives Blog – Shot at the Tower – 2016 08 15 Read More »
Blog Review – History of Sorts I came across another blog post about Josef Jakobs last week. This particular blog, History of Sorts, is written by a Dutchman living in Ireland, Dirk deKlein. Dirk has an interest in history and writes in a fairly engaging way. His post on Josef can be found here. I’m
Blog Review – History of Sorts Read More »
I am always interested in learning more about the people involved in the saga of Josef Jakobs. The farmers who found Josef in the potato field at Dovehouse Farm have been a bit of a mystery. Harry Coulson, Charles Baldock and Harry Godfrey seem to have lived very quiet, local lives in the Ramsey/Warboys area.
The Farmers who Saved Josef Jakobs’ Life Read More »