A couple of blogs ago, I introduced another notebook mystery from the files of German spy, Josef Jakobs. During his court martial on August 4 and 5, 1941, Josef was presented with a notebook, contained in a wallet, which apparently contained dates, times and locations of possible assignations with other German agents. I initially thought […]
Mysterious Notebook referenced in Camp 020 Interrogations Read More »
In the last blog, I introduced another notebook mystery from the files of German spy, Josef Jakobs. During his court martial on August 4 and 5, 1941, Josef was presented with a notebook, contained in a wallet, which apparently contained dates, times and locations of possible assignations with other German agents. I initially thought this
Tracking the Mysterious Notebook Read More »
Over the last couple of years, I have written a series of blogs about a couple of mysterious notebooks found in the KV 2/27 file on Josef Jakobs at the National Archives. The two notebooks, one blue and the other black, belonged to a lad named Kenneth Clifford Howard. Given that there was not a
Mysterious Notebook at the Court Martial of German Spy Josef Jakobs Read More »
A book came out last year, written by a German author, that outlines the widespread use of drugs in the Third Reich. One of the main drugs was Pervitin, whose active ingredient is methamphetamine – today known as crystal meth. I had come across suggestions of this before, that the German troops favoured methamphetamine while
Pervitin in Josef Jakobs’ Pocket Read More »
Well, this is interesting. Some budding poet has written a few verses about Josef and his execution. While the poem is short, there is an interesting discussion in the comments from other readers. Most are quite taken with the line: … but died he did, and the chair never healed. Indeed, a moving line. I
A Poem about Josef Jakobs Read More »
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 »
When German spy Josef Jakobs parachuted into a potato filed on Dovehouse Farm the night of January 31, 1941, he had a Shell Touring Map in his possession. The map was a fold-out variety and relatively small-scale. Not the best map for a would-be spy! When MI5 examined the map, they noticed that a triangle
A Theory for the Marks on Josef Jakobs’ Shell Touring Map Read More »
When I first laid eyes on the declassified MI5 documents on Josef Jakobs, I was completely lost. One almost needs to be a cipher expert to decipher some of these documents. Over the years, I’ve become much more familiar with the terminology, the different divisions of MI5 and MI6, as well as the cast of
Deciphering MI5 Documents Read More »
A few years ago, two prescriptions from the estate of London chemist H.A. Rowe went up for auction. One was for Rudolf Hess, who was held at the Tower of London in May 1941 and the other was for Josef Jakobs, who was executed at the Tower in August 1941. The Tower of London was
Lt. R.W. Taylor – Doctor at the Tower of London Read More »
Between the summer of 1940 and the spring of 1941, the German Abwehr (Intelligence Service) attempted to insert a number of espionage agents into Great Britain. Some were sent by boat, others were sent by aircraft. There has been a fair bit of discussion about which German aircraft was used to drop the parachute agents.
The Heinkel 111 – Deliverer of Spies Read More »