An infamous incident from November 1939 when British intelligence were approached by members of a German resistance group. They originally arranged to meet them in neutral Holland, in the city of Venlo, but at the last moment this was changed to a pub in a border village. Unknown to them it was a well-prepared trap by the German SD. When the British agents (accompanied by a Dutch colleague) arrived, German agents roared across the border in a car, killed the Dutch agent and arrested the British agents. Both British men ended the war in Dachau but survived. The Nazis later used the pretext of Dutch collaboration with the British secret service as a pretext to invade Holland, and the British government never again trusted overtures from any German organisation claiming to be anti-Nazi. Go2War2.nl - The Venlo incident Sigismund Payne Best: The Venlo Incident The Venlo Incident (1939)
I recently read several books on Dieterich Bonhoeffer who was a member of the German Abwehr and the resistance. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned with Captain Best when Bonhoeffer was executed and Best later relayed his final message to Bishop George Bell.
I was under the impression, from this article and other sources that the Venlo Incident was a joint Reichssicherheitshaupamt (RSHA, or the Reich Central Security Office), and SD operation which had Heydrich’s approval. I thought also that it was Walter Schellenberg and Alfred Naujocks of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) which staged the kidnapping instead of the Abwehr, and Abwehr agents. I do know that this influenced the relationships between any true anti-Hitler groups in Germany, and the British to the extent that from then on literally no approach from them to the west was taken seriously. Goto: Undercover: Walter Schellenberg – January '97 World War II Feature
Not a biggie Gordon, I just remembered that the Abwehr and Sicherheitsdienst were so busy spying on each other, and trying to be the "lead" power in espionage, that Heyrich and Canaris, while friends of a sort were at odds politically and in operations.
If,I am not wrong,the cause for the Venlo thing was the failed attack on Hitler.Hitler was convinced it was the work of the SIS and gave the order for the execution of the Venlo plan ,hoping that the British agents would confess that the British government was behind the attack .
I believe that was a contributing factor, Hitler was pretty certain that Eiseler (sp?) whose bomb had nearly killed him in that Beer Hall explosion in Munich was a British agent. Eiseler actually lived until near the end of the war in a KZ, with constant attempts to tie him to British Intel., he acted alone, but Hitler couldn't ever accept that.
Clint is right. The Venlo incident was a Walter Schellenberg inspired sting and yes, Payne Best was with Dietrich Boenhoffer just before the latter was executed at Flossenburg KZ on April 9 1945. Although Payne Best had been sent elsewhere by the time that Boenhoeffer was hanged in Flossenburg. The British did some kidnapping of their own with General Kreipe, Commander of German forces on Crete being abducted and kidnapped by Patrick Leigh Fermor and his gang. later in the war.An event shown in the Dirk Bogarde movie-''Ill Met By Moonlight'' which also featured Marius Goring as Kreipe. Goring had previously played Odette Churchill's Abwehr interrogator and torturer in the 1950 British movie ''Odette'' starring Anna Neagle as Odette Churchill.