‘Did German Paratroopers Land in England?’: Provocative but Misleading

A friend of mine had told me about Mark Felton’s YouTube video channel back in the summer of 2024. My friend raved about the channel but, given my busy schedule, I hadn’t had a chance to view any of the videos. Imagine then, my surprise when I received an email from Mark out of the blue, in mid-August, asking me if I had higher resolution photographs of the spy parachute paraphernalia from the Imperial War Museum. Of course I did! Mark wanted to use them in one of his upcoming videos. I happily sent him the photographs I had taken at the IWM in 2012, of a German spy’s parachute, flying suit, helmet and spade.

It then took me a couple of months before I actually got around to watching the video: Did German Paratroopers Land in England? It’s a rather provocative title and, I suspect, designed to stimulate the YouTube algorithm and engender more clicks and views. The first time I watched the video (it’s only 12 minutes long), I was a bit taken aback by the conflicting and inaccurate statements. I would obviously need to sit down again, with notebook in hand, and take more detailed notes. Suffice to say, I was rather disappointed.

Not All Parachutists are Paratroopers

Let’s start by stating the obvious, German “paratroopers” never landed in England. Parachutists, yes. Paratroopers, no. There is a difference but, judging from the video’s comments (and some Reddit forums), not everyone gets the distinction.

The German parachutists who landed in England included members of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) whose planes had been shot down. Members of the air crew would bail out of their aircraft and gently (or not so much) float down to earth, where they were generally quickly rounded up and sent to POW camps. They were not paratroopers, simply military pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners and bombardiers.

The second group of German parachutists who landed in England during the Second World War were a very small group of German spies, sent by the Deutsche Abwehr (German Secret Service). These individuals were equipped with wireless transmitter/receivers (sometimes just transmitters with no receiver)) and were to send reports to Germany on various topics (e.g. military bases, weather, factory locations, etc). These spies were generally dressed in civilian clothes, over which they wore a plain Luftwaffe summer flying suit (to keep their clothes clean). One couldn’t call the flying suit a “military uniform”, although the steel helmet, which a couple of spies wore, might have qualified.

Most of the German parachute spies landed in England between September 1940 and May 1941. There was one who landed in 1943, but he is an aberration. A number of other spies landed via small dinghy’s and inflatable rubber rafts, but we wouldn’t even think of calling them paratroopers. It should also be noted that the video title specifies “England” not Great Britain or the United Kingdom or the British Isles. But that will quickly change as the video progresses.

Now that we have laid the framework, let’s take a look at Mark Felton’s video.

Parachute Spies

Mark begins by asking the question… Did German Paratroopers Land in England?… and answers with “Yes, in a manner of speaking… though not quite in the way you perhaps imagine.” The Abwehr, according to Mark, sent spies to England dressed as paratroopers. Helpfully, Mark admits that the video is not about wartime espionage in Great Britain, a massive topic, and for that, he directs the interested viewer to my website. Thanks for the shout-out, Mark.

Mark then goes into the mechanics of getting spies to England. The video shows the images from the IWM display and claims that the images display the “kit of a German spy who was never caught” and “never found”. That is not entirely accurate. The caption accompanying the display (and the online collections database) notes that “the items were seized by MI5 but the identity of the agent remains unknown”. All that really means is that when MI5 donated the items, they did not specify to which spy they belonged. The objects could have belonged to any one (or several) of a number of spies: Wulf Schmidt, Gösta Caroli, Kurt Karl Goose, Josef Jakobs or Karel Richter. It’s even possible that the spy gear belonged to Engelbertus Fukken (a.k.a. Jan Willem ter Braak) a spy who did evade capture after landing in November 1940, but who shot himself in a Cambridge air raid shelter in March 1941, after running out of funds. Suffice to say, nowhere does the IWM display state that the parachutist was “never caught” and “never found”.

According to Mark, these spies, when caught might have looked like paratroopers (not Luftwaffe air crew) to a member of the Home Guard. I question the accuracy of that statement. Josef Jakobs, for example, wore a flying suit over his civilian clothes. It was a typical Luftwaffe flying suit and not particularly paratrooper-ish. The camouflage parachute would be more in line with a paratrooper’s gear, as would the helmet. Still, German paratroopers would have looked quite different from your average German spy. For example, paratroopers were dropped in “sticks” (many men jumping in quick succession) not as individuals (like the spies). On top of that, no Home Guard would have seen a spy landing, as they inevitably arrived under cover of darkness. Most spies also had the opportunity to ditch their parachute gear and flying suit prior to capture. Josef Jakobs was the only one who, due to his broken ankle, was still wearing his flying suit and covered by his parachute with his helmet nearby.

“Dozens of Agents”?

Another questionable statement is that in 1940, “many” German spies landed in England. That needs some unpacking. Mark notes that in September 1939, Germany had several agents already active in the “British Isles” but that more were needed. It should be noted that these active spies were quickly snatched up by MI5 within the first months of the war. Mark states that between July 1940 and June 1941 the “Abwehr dropped, by parachute, dozens of agents almost all of whom were caught”. Of those, MI5 turned many into double agents and, according to the video, “those who refused to cooperate… were shot, including in the Tower of London”.

There’s a lot going on in this section, including the fact that the video has expanded its range of interest from “England” to the “British Isles”. The title of the video is therefore misleading. There is a vast difference between the two, particularly for places like the Republic of Ireland (Éire) whose inhabitants might bristle at being lumped in with “England”. Let’s take a quick look:

• British Isles – a geographical (not political term) that includes two sovereign states: United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
• United Kingdom – a sovereign state (or country), that includes a group of “countries” (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
• Great Britain – can be a geographical term (the large island that has England, Scotland and Wales) or a geo-political term that includes the main island as well as the smaller ones such as the Orkney Islands, Isle of Mann, Isle of Wight, etc. Great Britain does not include Northern Ireland nor, obviously Éire.
• England – a country located on Great Britain (the island), part of the United Kingdom, within the geographic area of the British Isles

I’m not sure where Mark got the figure that “dozens” of agents were dropped between July 1940 and June 1941. Even if we include the spies dropped over Éire, we are nowhere near “dozens” of spies. Let’s start with the spies who landed via parachute in England (no spies landed via parachute in the rest of the United Kingdom during the period in question):

• Sept 1940 – Wulf Schmidt (Danish)
• Sept 1940 – Gösta Caroli (Swedish)
• Oct 1940 – Kurt Karl Goose (German)
• Nov 1940 – Engelbertus Fukken (Dutch)
• Jan 1941 – Josef Jakobs (German born in Luxembourg)
• May 1941 – Karel Richter (Czech)

Of those, two were turned into double agents, Schmidt (TATE) and Caroli (SUMMER). The hapless Goose (GANDER) only had a radio transmitter, but no receiver, so he was of limited use as a double agent and was quickly retired. Fukken was never captured, being the one who shot himself in despair in a Cambridge air raid shelter in March 1940. That leaves us with Jakobs whose capture was far too public for him to be used as a double agent. Couple that with his lengthy stay in a London hospital and his career as a double agent evaporated quickly. As for Richter, he was not amenable to being turned, and it took several weeks for him to crack, at which point his usefulness as a double agent was questionable.

That is half a dozen parachute agents, not “dozens” as stated in the video. If we expand our range of interest to include the neutral Republic of Ireland, part of the British Isles (geographically speaking), we find another three parachute agents:

• May 1940 – Hermann Goertz (technically not within that July 1940 to June 1941 window, but let’s be generous)
• Mar 1941 – Günther Schutz
• July 1941 – Joseph Lenihan (also outside the window of July 1940 to June 1941)

That adds another three, for a grand total of nine parachute agents who landed in the British Isles between May 1940 and July 1941, still a long way from “dozens”. Mark does note that some spies landed by submarine (more Éire spies) or seaplane, but that the “primary method” was by parachute. If we review the other spies who arrived in the Great Britain between July 1940 and June 1941, we actually find more spies arriving by other means than by parachute:

• Sep 1940 – 4 spies rowed ashore after being dropped off in two dinghys from boats off the coast of Kent (England)
• Sep 1940 – 3 spies rowed ashore in rubber inflatables after arriving via seaplane off the coast of Banffshire (Scotland)
• Apr 1941 – 2 spies row ashore in rubber inflatables after arriving via seaplane off the coast of Aberdeenshire (Scotland)

That’s already nine spies who arrived via other means than parachute and doesn’t include five spies who landed on the coast of Éire via submarine, sail boat and other marine conveyances during the period in question. Of course, if we are talking about the spies who arrived in England (not Scotland or anywhere else in the British Isles), then indeed we have six parachute spies and four boat spies.

As for the fates of the captured spies who refused to be turned into double agents (or whose circumstances made them unsuitable for the role), Mark stated earlier that they were “shot, including in the Tower of London”. Actually, no. Of all of the spies who arrived in Great Britain during the war, Josef Jakobs was the only one who was shot, and he was indeed shot at the Tower of London. The others, people like Karl Meier, Charles van der Kieboom, José Waldburg, Werner Walti, Karl Theodore Drücke and Karel Richter were all hanged at HMP Wandsworth and HMP Pentonville. The spies who landed in the Republic of Ireland, were apprehended by G2 (Irish military intelligence) and detained for the duration of the war, not executed.

Delivery Methods

Having set the scene by noting the veritable “flood” of spies that were dropped on England (or is it the British Isles?) during the war, Mark then focuses on the delivery man, namely Luftwaffe Hauptmann (Captain) Karl Gartenfeld. According to Mark, Gartenfeld helped train agents in Oranienburg with parachute training. That would be news indeed and I have never heard of any of the England-destined spies receiving any sort of parachute training in Oranienburg (or elsewhere). Mark seems to have drawn upon Gartenfeld’s earlier role in 1940, when agents (or perhaps paratroopers) were being trained for insertion into various countries prior to invasion (e.g. France, Norway and the Low Countries). Unfortunately, Oranienburg has nothing to do with the spies destined for England (or the Republic of Ireland). There is no evidence that any of the England-bound spies from the summer/fall of 1940 ever practiced any parachute jumps.

As for the Heinkel 111, Mark notes that the bomb racks were removed (correct) and that the parachutist might have had their gear dropped via a separate parachute. This was the case for Hermann Goertz but, again, he did not parachute into England. I have never come across any England-bound spies with a separate parachute for their gear. They generally had a small suitcase/briefcase, with their radio transmitter/receiver, which was strapped to their chest. There is some evidence that Engelbertus Fukken may have had some gear attached to separate ropes attached to his parachute harness.

Dressed for Espionage Success

We are then told that German agents were dropped wearing German military uniforms. Mark notes that, in one case, Hermann Goertz (dropped over Éire in May 1940) wore a military uniform under his flying suit as he was a serving officer with the German Luftwaffe. But in the very next line, we are told that “more usually” the spies wore civilian dress under their flying suit. The two statements are confusing. The only other agent who may have worn a military uniform under his flying suit was Kurt Karl Goose, a member of the Brandenburg Lehr Regiment zbV 800. He had met Wulf Schmidt at some point during their training and had told him that he was going to wear his uniform and bring his army paybook. While Goose’s file has never been released by the National Archives, anecdotal evidence indicates that he did indeed bring his Soldbuch (paybook) with him and was wearing a “Luftwaffe uniform”. He was desperate to avoid execution by proving that he was a soldier and not a crass spy. Although he was indeed a spy. Every other parachute spy was dressed in civilian clothes under their Luftwaffe flying suit.

In the video, we learn that the camouflage parachute was a paratrooper’s parachute, not a standard Luftwaffe parachute (with a white canopy). The paratrooper version could not be steered and was not as good as the Luftwaffe version. Given that the spies never practiced with the parachutes, and landed in darkness, it’s hard to see how a steerable parachute would have been of value to them.

Armed to the Teeth

The spies, according to Mark, were also equipped with forged papers, and a “considerable” amount of British pounds and US dollars (only two parachute spies had USD – Wulf Schmidt & Karel Richter).

The video also notes that all of the spies were armed with a handgun (and ammunition), the “usual models” being two different types of Mauser pistols. While most of the spies who parachuted into England were indeed equipped with pistols, Mausers were by now means the “usual models”. In some cases, the MI5 files make no mention of the type of pistol but we do know this:

• Caroli – automatic pistol
• Schmidt – pistol with six shots
• Goose – small automatic pistol
• Fukken – Fabrique nationale (Browning) pistol
• Jakobs – Mauser pistol (possibly an M1914/34 or an M1914 var. 4)
• Richter – Fabrique nationale (Browning) pistol (possibly an FN 1922)

In the video, Mark shows two Mauser photographs. The first Mauser in the video is an M1914/34 with the same calibre as the pistol Josef carried (7.65). The second Mauser is a WTP 1 but the image is actually of the pistol brought by Karl Theodore Drücke in September 1940, when he, Walti and Eriksen rowed ashore the Banffshire coast. It was never carried by a parachute spy.

The video also notes that all of the agents had a knife with which to cut themselves free of their parachute gear. It would also serve as a “useful and silent weapon”. Maybe if a spy wanted to go around stabbing people or slicing throats thereby getting their lovely civilian clothes covered in blood. The paratrooper gravity knife displayed in the video, was brought by Walti.

Reaching the Drop Zone

According to Mark, the aircraft that was used to drop the spies was based in occupied France, at either Chartres or Rennes Saint-Jacques. While Gartenfeld may have been based out of those locations, the spy flights often originated from other locations. Schmidt and Caroli, and possibly Fukken, for example, flew out of Brussels. Jakobs and Richter flew out of Schipol (Amsterdam). Even Goertz, it would seem from his MI5 files, flew out of Fritzlar, near Kassel, since the invasion of France and the Low Countries hadn’t even occurred when he left.

The video then outlines the flight path of the aircraft, low over the English Channel (to avoid radar) and then climbing to 20,000 feet once the coast was reached. Once the drop zone was reached, the plane would begin a shallow dive down to 1500-3000 feet altitude for the jump. Once the spy was delivered, the plane headed back to France or, more likely, the base from which it originated. Mark notes that insertion flights always took place when major air raids were taking place over England. Maybe. I’ve never heard that one before.

The final piece of kit was a small spade, strapped to their leg. I have never come across any bit of information that states that the small entrenching tool was strapped to the legs of the spy parachutists. Given that a parachute landing would require the spy to roll onto the side of their legs, one would think that a small spade strapped to their legs would cause significant damage. Once safely on the ground (and not all spies landed safely), the spy would bury their gear, hide their shovel and pick up their transmitter suitcase to start their mission.

Video Takeaway

“So there you have it, dozens of times in 1940 to 1941, armed German agents, dressed just like paratroopers, descended under parachutes all over Britain [not the British Isles?] and began their nefarious missions. Almost all were caught, with very few managing to remain at large for very long. And even fewer actually achieving very much on the espionage front. A few were successful but the British Government has yet to fully release their files. So it’s the failures that we know most about.”

The idea that the German Abwehr had several agents who evaded capture, and who managed to send messages back to Germany, is one that has been bandied about for decades. MI5 would like to argue that they caught all of the parachute spies but one does wonder. There are rumours about a spy who landed in the Mersey and drowned. Karel Richter’s file indicates that there may have been a spy at large in East Anglia. And then we have the body found in the Trow Gill cave. But rumours are not enough. Mark states that MI5 has yet to “fully” release the files of the successful spies. I’d like to see even the partially released files.

Photos & Sources

Some of the photographs in the video are uncaptioned and the viewer is left to wonder who/what they are and how they related to the story being told. The videos are of German paratroopers, not of German spies. Here are some notes on the various spy-related images:

• 0:43 – Hermann Goertz, dressed in civilian clothes – he landed in the Republic of Ireland in May 1940 – photo is from his MI5 file at Kew
• 0:54 – Josef Jakobs – parachuted into England January 1941 – photo is from his MI5 file at Kew
• 1:05 – radio equipment from the four spies who rowed ashore in Kent in September 1940 – photo is from their MI5 files at Kew
• 3:58 – rubber dinghy used by Drücke, Walti and Eriksen when they rowed ashore the Banffshire coast in September 1940
• 6:17 – Hermann Goertz in civilian clothes
• 6:25 – Hermann Goertz in his Luftwaffe uniform
• 7:16 – same radio equipment as earlier
• 8:35 – photo of a gravity knife and Mauser WTP 1 – photo is from After the Battle Magazine Volume 11 and, according to their caption, is of Drücke’s pistol & knife
• 11:29 – John (Helge) Moe (MUTT) and Tor Glad (JEFF), two spies who rowed ashore in Scotland from a seaplane in April 1941.

The video show notes state that the Primary Source was After the Battle, Volume 11. While this edition gives a nice overview of the spies who landed in England, it is almost 50 years out-of-date (published 1976). There are more recent sources that have told the stories of the spies who parachuted into England not to mention the MI5 files released to the National Archives. As for the Irish spies, Mark Hull published an excellent summary of those in The Journal of Military History in 2002.

Conclusion

While I was disappointed in the multiple inaccuracies in this video, it did force me to do a deep dive into the other parachute spies who landed in England. I have uncovered some interesting information in their MI5 files on their parachute gear and weapons which will lead to some future posts.