A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about the notebooks belonging to Kenneth Clifford Howard – notebooks that now reside within one of Josef’s files at the National Archives. There is no evidence that the notebooks belonged to Josef, nor that they should have been placed within his file. One of the notebooks […]
On the Trail of Kenneth Clifford Howard Read More »
Over the years, I’ve amassed a fair few National Archive files on some of the WW2 spies. I thought I’d list them here. Just in case anyone is interested in trading hockey cards. For private study or educational/instructional use of course… Unless otherwise noted, all are KV 2… I’m particularly interested in enhancing my Liddell
National Archives Spy Files Read More »
A few years ago, I wrote a blog about the farewell letters of the executed spies in England. Those letters, written by condemned men on the day/night preceding their execution, were to have been delivered to their families after the Second World War. They never were. The letters sat in the files of MI5 and,
Enemy Property Act 1953 Read More »
The Book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany. Norman Ohler. Penguin Books. 2016. Summary This book was originally published in German in 2015, translated into English for 2016, and I got my hands on a copy a few weeks ago. It’s been translated into 25 languages and received rave reviews by numerous journalists. On the other
Book Review – Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany – Norman Ohler (2016) Read More »
Seventy-seven years ago, in the evening of January 31, 1941, Josef Jakobs left Schipol Aerodrome on the Continent in the belly of a matte-black HE-111 aircraft. Less than two hours later, he parachuted into England with a wireless transmitter strapped to his chest. He injured his right leg during his exit from the aircraft, smashing
Wanted: Parachute Spies – No Training Provided Read More »
Last year, I wrote a post on the Heinkel 11 (HE 111), an aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1930s as a civilian transport machine. Given the prohibitions against rearmament placed on Germany after WW1, the designers of the aircraft did an end-run by creating an aircraft that could ultimately be used as a fast
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – Germany’s Medium Bomber – Heinkel HE 111 Read More »
Last month, I ordered the West Mercia Police files on the Bella in the Wych Elm case. The price was a bit steep but… the idea of actually being able to access historical documents on the case was too tempting. The archivist at the Worcestershire County Archives admitted that the files contained quite a bit
The Disappointing West Mercia Police Files on Bella in the Wych Elm Read More »
The title of this blog is a bit of a stretch… it’s hard to say if Route #11 was the favourite bus of spies but it was definitely the route that showed up twice in the MI5 files (so far). When double agent TATE (Wulf Schmidt) radioed the German Abwehr in Hamburg that he desperately
London Bus Route 11 – Favourite Bus of Spies Read More »
New mysteries always seem to be popping up in the quest for information on Josef Jakobs and the other World War 2 spies who arrived in England on behalf of Germany. The recent interest, both on this blog, and in the news about Engelbertus Fukken (alias Jan Willem Ter Braak) has led me down some
Mysterious Spy Transmissions from England to Germany Read More »
Over the last few blogs, we’ve taken a look at the mysterious notebook that showed up at Josef Jakobs’ court martial on August 4, 1941. According to Josef, the notebook contained times, dates and locations where he could meet other agents and get further funds, if he needed them. I’ve dissected various aspects of the
Mysterious Notebook – Possible Assignation Characters Read More »