Spies
Seventeen men were executed for spying during World War II.
Soon after the beginning of World War II, the government, in an effort to deal with an expected influx of German spies, introduced The Treachery Act of 1940, which stated:
“If, with intent to help the enemy, any person does, or attempts or conspires with any other person to do any act which is designed or likely to give assistance to the naval, military or air operations of the enemy, to impede such operations of His Majesty’s forces, or to endanger life, shall be guilty of felony and shall on conviction suffer death.”
This Act came into force on 23 May 1940 and mandated the death penalty. It was necessary as the Treason Act of 1351 (see later) only applied to British citizens.
Operation Lena
German spies were under the control of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence organization. The sending of spies to Britain was code-named “Operation Lena” and was controlled by a group of anti-Nazi Abwehr officers who did not want the agents to be successful. They therefore selected unsuitable agents and had them trained by incompetent persons to ensure failure.
There were two departments at Hamburg charged with sending agents to Britain:
- “I L” (section [Roman numeral I], subsection L for Luft = air)
- “I M” (section [Roman numeral I], subsection Marine = Navy)
IL was under the command of Nikolaus Ritter, a.k.a. Dr. Rantzau, and parachuted agents into Britain.
IM landed their agents on Britain’s shores by naval means—some of them in the south (codename “Hummer Süd”, or Lobster South), some in the north (codename “Hummer Nord”, or Lobster North).
In her 2014 book on Operation Sealion, Monika Siedentopf considered Operation Lena finished by 1941 (she calls Jakobs, Richter, Glad, and Moe “stragglers”), as in the spring of 1941, Ritter was transferred from Abwehr Hamburg to North Africa to be in charge of a special unit whose mission was to infiltrate spies into Egypt.
After 1941, agents were sent to Britain from “neutral” countries such as Spain and Portugal by normal passenger ships. This applied to Timmerman, Dronkers, Winter, Job, Neukermans, and Vanhove.
The 17 Executed Spies
| Name | Age | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Rudolf Waldberg & Carl Meier | 25 / 24 | 10th December 1940 | Pentonville |
| Charles A. van der Kieboom | 26 | 17th December 1940 | Pentonville |
| George Johnson Armstrong | 39 | 9th July 1941 | Wandsworth |
| Werner Heinrich Walti & Karl Theo Drueke | 34 / 25 | 6th August 1941 | Wandsworth |
| Josef Jacobs | 43 | 15th August 1941 | Tower of London (shot) |
| Karel Richard Richter | 29 | 10th December 1940 | Wandsworth |
| Alphonse L. E. Timmerman & José Estelle Key | 28 / 34 | 7th July 1942 | Wandsworth |
| Duncan Scott-Ford | 21 | 3rd November 1942 | Wandsworth |
| Johannes Marinus Dronkers | 46 | 31st December 1942 | Wandsworth |
| Franciscus Johannes Winter | 40 | 26th January 1943 | Wandsworth |
| Oswald John Job | 58 | 16th March 1944 | Pentonville |
| Pierre Richard Neukermans | 28 | 23rd June 1944 | Pentonville |
| Joseph Jan Vanhove | 27 | 12th July 1944 | Pentonville |
| John Amery (Treason) | 33 | 19th December 1945 | Pentonville |
| William Joyce (“Lord Haw Haw”) (Treason) | 39 | 3rd January 1946 | Wandsworth |
| Theodore John William Schurch (Treachery) | 27 | 4th January 1946 | Pentonville |
Note: There appear to be discrepancies in the spellings of various names, and where more than one spelling has been found, the alternatives are also given. The names listed here are those under which these men were tried and hanged in Britain. Part of the problem may have been that British typewriters did not have German characters such as ü or ä, so names such as Drücke were misspelt as Drueke, and Wälti as Walti.
José Waldberg, Carl Heinrich Meier, and Charles A. van der Kieboom
On the morning of Tuesday 3 September 1940, two single-masted French fishing boats, “La Mascotte” and “Rose du Carmel”, sailed across the Channel and moored off the Kent coast near Dungeness.
Four men disembarked and made their way to the beach in two rowing boats. They were:
- Josef Rudolf Waldberg, known as “José,” aged either 22 or 25, from Mainz in Germany. Recent research suggests his real name was Henri Lassudry, a Belgian.
- Carl (or Karl) Heinrich Cornelis Ernst Meier, aged 24, a Dutch-born Nazi sympathizer from Koblenz.
- Charles Albert van der Kieboom, aged 25, Dutch-born in Japan, spoke perfect English.
- Sjoerd Pons, aged 28, also Dutch.
All four were agents of the Abwehr and had been sent to spy on troop and ship movements. They had money, provisions, a radio transmitter, and a revolver.
Their arrival on the beach was reported to authorities, and all four were quickly rounded up. They were taken to MI5’s interrogation centre, Camp 20, at Latchmere House in Ham, Richmond, London, where they made statements.
Trial and Execution
They were tried in camera at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Wrottesley from 19–22 November 1940.
- José Waldberg pleaded guilty.
- Carl Meier and Charles van der Kieboom were convicted after 90 minutes of jury deliberation and sentenced to death.
- Sjoerd Pons was acquitted.
Waldberg and Meier were hanged at Pentonville Prison on Tuesday 10 December 1940 by Stanley Cross, assisted by Albert Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell.
Van der Kieboom appealed, though later withdrew his appeal. His execution was delayed until Tuesday 17 December 1940 and was carried out by Stanley Cross, assisted by Herbert Morris.
George Armstrong
Thirty-eight-year-old George Johnson Armstrong, a marine engineer from Newcastle upon Tyne, became the fourth man to be executed for espionage during World War II when he was hanged at Wandsworth on Wednesday 9 July 1941. He was a known Nazi sympathizer before the war.
Armstrong was British and had traveled to the still-neutral USA in early 1941. There, he approached the German consul in Boston and offered his services as a spy.
He was arrested by the US Immigration Service and held pending deportation. British authorities were apparently tipped off by their American counterparts, as Armstrong was arrested on his return to Britain on 23 February 1941.
Trial and Execution
Armstrong came to trial on 8 May 1941 before Mr. Justice Lewis at the Old Bailey. As usual, the proceedings were held in camera. He was charged under the Treachery Act 1940:
“On or about 19 November 1940, being a British subject in the U.S.A, with intent to help the enemy, did an act designed or likely to give assistance to the Naval, Military or Air operations of the enemy or to endanger life, to wit did write and endeavour to send a letter to Dr. Herbert Scholz, German Consul at Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., offering his services, information and assistance to the said Dr. Herbert Scholz.”
His appeal was heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal on 23 June 1941 and was dismissed. He was hanged on Wednesday 9 July 1941 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade.
Armstrong weighed 154 lbs and was given a drop of 7’ 3”. Quoting from the LPC4 form, this produced the following injuries:
“Separation of the medulla from spinal cord. Fracture of hyoid and thyroid. Extensive injury to the medulla and brain stem. Spine dislocated between 5th and 6th vertebrae.”
Karl Theo Drueke, Werner Heinrich Wälti and Vera Eriksen
Karl Drueke (on the LPC4 form; correctly as Drücke in the German press) was a 35-year-old German citizen who had been born in Grebenstein, Hessen, on 20 March, 1906. He used the alias François de Deeker.
Werner Heinrich Wälti (given as Walti on the LPC4 form), whose real name may have been Robert Petter, held a forged Swiss passport according to which he was a 25-year-old Swiss citizen, born in Zurich on 14 December, 1915. With them was Drücke’s girlfriend, Vera Eriksen, who was Russian by birth and used a variety of aliases.
Arrival in Scotland
They flew by seaplane from Stavanger in Norway on 29 September, 1940. Under cover of darkness in the early hours of the morning of 30 September, the trio was dropped off between Portgordon and Buckie in Banffshire, Scotland, to undertake spy missions. They rowed ashore in a rubber dinghy, which they then attempted to sink.
They made their way to nearby railway stations. Eriksen and Drücke went to Portgordon station and found they had two hours to wait before the first train. A railway worker noticed their unusual accents and wet shoes and legs, and reported the pair to the police, who arrested them.
Wälti remained at large a little longer, but the rubber dinghy, which had survived their attempt to sink it, was spotted from the air. Examination showed that it had most likely carried two or three occupants, and a manhunt was launched.
Capture of Wälti
Wälti had walked to Buckie and from there took a train to Aberdeen. There he aroused suspicion but was allowed to board a train to Edinburgh. He was arrested at Edinburgh’s Waverley Railway Station a little later while trying to reclaim his suitcase from the left luggage office. It contained some clothes and a smaller suitcase containing a radio transmitter.
His identity card was easily recognizable as a fake, showing a continental numeral “one” with an upstroke. It didn’t help either that he tried to reach for the Mauser pistol he carried in his trouser pocket when approached by police.
Vera Eriksen: “The Beautiful Spy”
Much mystery surrounds Vera Eriksen, “The Beautiful Spy,” born Vera (von) Schalburg in Russia either on 23 November 1907 or 10 December 1912. She had worked as a Russian and German agent. She was sent to Britain by the Abwehr, presumably to spy on prominent military personnel at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
Vera’s Letter from Prison
In Holloway Prison, Vera Eriksen wrote the following touching letter to Karl Theo Drücke on 22 December 1940:
“My dear Theo, I’d like to ask you again to speak the truth, it will be good for both of us. Hans did not want you to die. And I ask you, if you love me, to try to save both of us. It is so awful to imagine to die like this, and your mother and my parents will not survive it either when they read it in the papers, and we must not do it. Dear, dear Karl-Theo, I am pregnant, and for the sake of our child try to help us. All the best, yours, Vera.”
“Hans” may have been Vera’s former husband (or at least lover), Abwehr officer Hilmar Dierks, who died on 2 September 1940 in a car crash and who was known to use the aliases “Hans von Wedel” and “Hans zum Stuhreck”.
A Calculated Deception
This moving letter, however, was nothing but a lie. A few days after her arrival, Vera claimed to be six weeks to two months pregnant, but five days later, she told the Medical Officer at Holloway that she believed she had miscarried. Upon examination, the doctor found signs which he thought were suggestive of an early abortion but not conclusive.
So, when she wrote that letter, she was certainly no longer pregnant (if she ever had been). She wrote it because she was anxious to save “Deeker’s” life, who had so far remained rather obstinately silent.
Dr. Harold Dearden, psychiatrist at Camp 020, during a visit suggested to her that such a letter might cause “Deeker” to tell the truth, which was, said he, the only thing that might—just might—still weigh in his favour. It worked. The next day, after the doctor had delivered the billet doux (with interrogators’ consent), Drücke handed the orderly officer a slip of paper with his real name and address in Brussels.
Legal Challenges and Trial Preparations
In February 1941, Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police was busy compiling everything needed for a trial—prosecution exhibits, statements, and the like. Colonel Hinchley-Cooke visited Vera to obtain a statement for trial at the Old Bailey.
During this interview, Vera said Dr. Dearden had come to Holloway and told her, “I would be off trial if I told everything and that I would not be shot or hanged.” This was duly recorded, signed, and witnessed.
A Misstep in Interrogation Strategy
Colonel Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens, commander of Camp 020, was annoyed to read this and took the doctor to task. The latter hastened to assert he had said nothing of the sort. But the damage was done.
Colonel Hinchley-Cooke feared that a jury might be swayed by a prisoner’s statement that an inducement had been offered, even if false. This could jeopardize the trial not only of Vera but of her two companions. The prosecution could call Dr. Dearden as a Crown witness to refute Vera’s claim, but that would risk revealing too much about the methods at Latchmere House.
By mid-March 1941, the police file—including Vera’s dangerous statement—was typed and ready for the prosecution. Yet, when Lawrence A. Byrne, Senior Prosecution Counsel, wrote an opinion on 1 April, he had already been told that “Baroness Vera von Wedel should not be prosecuted.”
Decision Not to Prosecute Vera
Someone—likely the Director of Public Prosecutions—had decided Vera should be spared. Reasons may remain unknown to this day (her MI5 file is heavily “weeded”), but legal and procedural challenges likely influenced the outcome.
Trials and Executions
Drücke and Wälti were tried in camera at the Old Bailey on 12–13 June before Mr. Justice Asquith. Colonel Hinchley-Cooke appeared as an expert witness, explaining the significance of the items in their luggage. Their appeals were dismissed on 21 July, and both were hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 6 August 1941 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Albert Pierrepoint, Harry Kirk, and Stanley Cross.
Vera’s Fate
Vera was the only one from whom MI5 and SIS hoped to gain intelligence. Standard Camp 020 methods of coercion didn’t work. Instead, she responded to respectful treatment.
Agent U35, Jonah “Klop” Ustinov (father of Peter Ustinov), was assigned to debrief her. She spent two weeks in his Gloucestershire home in February 1942. Ustinov believed she tried to help MI5, though her knowledge of the Abwehr was limited.
Vera von Wedel a.k.a. Eriksen a.k.a. Schalburg a.k.a. Staritzky was later interned on the Isle of Wight, reporting on fellow internees. Her MI5 file contains letters between her and the Ustinovs up to early 1945.
After the war, she was deported to Germany on 29 October 1945. The British Army of the Rhine lost track of her—at least officially. A Hamburg death entry states she died on 8 February 1946 from pneumonia and heart failure. Yet some believe she faked her death, returned to England, married, and died in 1993.
No Woman Was Hanged for Espionage
No woman was hanged for espionage in Britain. In 1941, Dorothy Pamela O’Grady was caught in restricted areas on the Isle of Wight, cutting army lines, and possessing classified documents. She was sentenced to death, but after appeal, served 14 years in Holloway.
Josef Jakobs
Josef Jakobs was born in Luxembourg on 30 June 1898 to German parents. By 1940, he was a non-commissioned officer in the army’s meteorological service and also worked for the Abwehr.
Parachute Landing and Capture
On 1 February 1941, Jakobs was flown to England from Schiphol, Holland, and parachuted into Huntingdonshire. He landed at Dovehouse Farm, Ramsey Hollow, breaking his ankle.
He fired three shots to summon help and was rescued by two farm workers who were also Home Guard members. Found in his possession were:
- A wireless transmitter
- A map marked with airfield locations
- Food
- A spade
- £498 in cash
He was charged with espionage under the Treachery Act 1940.
Court Martial and Execution
Jakobs was tried by military court martial at the Duke of York’s HQ, Chelsea, on 4–5 August 1941. The charge:
“Committing treachery in that you at Ramsay in Huntingdonshire on the night of 31 January/1 February 1941 descended by parachute with intent to help the enemy.”
He pleaded not guilty, but the evidence was overwhelming. He was convicted and sentenced to death by shooting.
On 15 August 1941, he was executed at the Tower of London, tied to a chair with a white target pinned to his chest. The eight-man firing squad from the Scots Guards included three with blank rounds. Bernard Spilsbury’s post-mortem revealed five bullets hit Jakobs, one piercing the heart.
Jakobs became the last man executed at the Tower of London. He was buried in a civilian grave at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green.
His granddaughter, Giselle K. Jakobs, wrote “The Spy in the Tower”, a 450-page biography chronicling his life, trial, and death.
Karel Richard Richter
On 10 December 1941, 29-year-old Karel Richter was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade. This was the man whom Albert describes in his biography as giving him serious trouble. Albert refers to Richter as Schmidt in his book (pages 136–138).
With great difficulty, Albert got the wrist straps on, but Richter was a powerfully built man, standing 5’ 11½” tall and weighing 172 lbs. He fought the warders every inch of the way and managed to get his hands free, splitting the arm strap from one hole to the next. Finally, the warders got Richter onto the trap, but just as Albert was pushing the lever, Richter jumped and violently shook his head, thus loosening the noose, which slipped from under his chin to a point under his nose. However, it still did the job, and to everyone’s surprise and relief, there was a fracture/dislocation between the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae and crushing of the spinal cord.
Richter was born on 29 January 1912 at Kraslice in the Sudetenland and was a Czechoslovakian citizen. In November 1940, he was recruited as a spy by the Abwehr and underwent training in Hamburg and The Hague. He was sent to Britain to spy on Wulf Schmidt, who was a German spy working in Britain and whom German authorities suspected of being a double agent—which he was.
Richter was flown to England and parachuted down near the village of London Colney in Hertfordshire on the night of 12/13 May 1941. He hid in a wood and emerged when he thought it was safe. A passing lorry driver asked him for directions, which he was unable to give. The driver noticed his accent and a few moments later saw a policeman, PC Alec Scott, to whom he reported his suspicions.
The officer detained Richter and found he had rather a lot of money, maps, and a compass on him. A search of nearby woods located the parachute he had used, together with a loaded pistol and a wireless transmitter. He was tried in camera at the Old Bailey between 21–24 October 1941 before Mr. Justice Tucker. He appealed his conviction, but this was dismissed.
Some of his MI5 interviewers thought it was a mistake to publish his execution, thus alerting the Germans to the fact that he had been caught and possibly strengthening their suspicion against Wulf Schmidt.
Alphons Louis Eugene Timmerman
Alphons Timmerman was born in Ostend, Belgium, on 1 August 1904. Before the war, he had worked as a ship’s steward and was familiar with several British ports. When Germany invaded Belgium, he attempted to escape to England but was arrested and jailed in Spain. His release was negotiated by the Belgian Consul, and he finally arrived in the UK on 1 September 1941.
As a matter of routine, he was interrogated by British Security and was found to have materials in his possession for writing invisible messages, plus a considerable sum of money in pounds sterling and US dollars.
Timmerman was tried at the Old Bailey on 20 May 1942 before Mr. Justice Humphreys, and was hanged at Wandsworth on Tuesday, 7 July 1942. With him on the gallows was José Estelle Key. As it was a double execution, the hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, had two assistants, Harry Kirk and Steve Wade. Timmerman weighed just 120 lbs and was given a drop of 8’ 7”.
José Estelle Key
José Estelle Key was a British citizen, having been born in Gibraltar on 1 July 1908. Here, he was able to observe the movements of naval vessels and troops. He was arrested on Gibraltar under the Emergency Powers (Defence of the Realm) Act 1939, as he was in possession of information which he was intending to send to Germany.
He was sent to London for trial, which took place at the Old Bailey from 15–18 May 1942, also before Mr. Justice Humphreys. His appeal was dismissed on 22 June 1942, and he was hanged alongside Timmerman on Tuesday, 7 July 1942.
Duncan Scott-Ford
Twenty-one-year-old Duncan Alexander Croall Scott-Ford became the youngest person to be executed under the Treachery Act 1940 when he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on the morning of Tuesday, 3 November 1942.
At age 16, Scott-Ford joined the Royal Navy and served until 1941, when he was court-martialled and sentenced to two years in prison for dishonesty, followed by dishonourable discharge. This was later reduced to six months plus honourable discharge. Upon release from Winchester Prison in late 1941, he joined the Merchant Navy.
In February 1942, he joined the crew of the S.S. Finland, which sailed for Lisbon on 11 April. Here, he was approached by German agents offering substantial rewards for information on British ship movements. He was able to give them some information, but soon they realised that he did not know much and threatened to pass his information to the British Embassy in Lisbon if he didn’t give them what they wanted.
On his return to Salford Docks in Manchester on 18 August 1942, Scott-Ford was questioned by security police and later arrested under the Emergency Powers (Defence of the Realm) Act 1939. Inside his wallet were pieces of paper with ship movements recorded.
On 1 September 1942, he was charged under Section 1 of the Treachery Act 1940: “On the British ship SS Finland, with intent to help the enemy, did an act between 7–9 August 1942, that is, he did record information relating to the movements and composition of a convoy.”
Scott-Ford was tried in camera at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Birkett on 16 October 1942. Sub-Lieutenant Wilfred Wood, RNVR, from the Intelligence Division, Admiralty, testified that the information collected by Scott-Ford would prove extremely useful to the enemy. He was convicted and did not appeal.
He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk, at Wandsworth at 9 am on Tuesday, 3 November 1942. Scott-Ford stood 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 132 lbs. Pierrepoint gave him a drop of 8 feet 5 inches, leading to fracture dislocation of the 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae.
Johannes Marinus Dronkers
Johannes Marinus Dronkers was born near Utrecht in Holland on 3 April 1896. Before the war, he was working as a post-office clerk in The Hague. He was an admirer of Hitler and a member of the Dutch Nazi Party. He received training as a spy in The Hague and was duly sent to Britain.
Together with two other Dutchmen, Jan de Langen Bruno and John Alphonsus Mulder, he sailed to Britain in a small yacht, the Joppa. The trio were picked up off Harwich on the East Coast by a British vessel on 18 May 1942 and were routinely interviewed as refugees.
It was clear that de Langen and Mulder were genuine and no charges were brought against them. But under questioning, Dronkers admitted his reason for being in the UK was to report on troop movements and send his information to addresses of spy agencies in Stockholm and Lisbon. He was found to possess materials for producing invisible ink.
Dronkers was tried at the Old Bailey from 13–17 November before Mr. Justice Wrottesley. His appeal was dismissed and he was hanged at Wandsworth on Thursday, 31 December 1942, by Albert Pierrepoint and Steve Wade.
Franciscus Johannes Winter
Franciscus Johannes Winter was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on 17 January 1903 and had been a ship’s steward before the war. He arrived in Britain aboard ship on 31 July 1942, claiming refugee status, and was thus interviewed by security staff.
He initially maintained his story of being a refugee who had managed to escape from Belgium via Spain. He would later admit that his story was “a pack of lies” and that his real motive was to report on the movements of military convoys using invisible ink on letters to be sent to German spy agencies.
He was convicted of espionage at the Old Bailey on 4 December 1942. His appeal was heard on 11 January 1943 and was dismissed.
Winter was hanged at Wandsworth on Tuesday, 26 January 1943, by Albert Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell. His was the only spy execution of 1943.
Oswald John Job
Oswald John Job was born to German parents in Stepney, London, on 4 July 1885, and at 59 was the oldest of the spies. He had moved to France and lived in Paris since 1911. He was interned in 1940 due to his country of origin. He made friends with his German guards and was recruited by German intelligence, who moved him to Spain in 1943, from where he was able to travel to London on 1 November 1943.
The British Postal Censorship Service noticed a frequent exchange of letters between the Job family and Job’s former friends in the St. Denis internment camp. However, Job’s relatives, when interviewed, denied ever sending the letters or knowing the inmates in the internment camp.
When security personnel visited Job, they found espionage equipment, and he was therefore arrested, coming to trial at the Old Bailey from 24–26 January 1944 before Mr. Justice Stable.
Job was hanged at Pentonville on 16 March 1944 by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk.
Pierre Richard Charles Neukermans
Twenty-eight-year-old Pierre Richard Charles Neukermans was born on 1 May 1916 in Waarbecke, Belgium, and had served in the Belgian Army before being invalided out in 1938. He tried to escape from occupied Belgium without success and was later recruited by German intelligence.
On 16 July 1943, he obtained legal access to Britain as a refugee and was allowed to work as a clerk in the offices of the Belgian government in England. He was later found to be sending information on ship movements between Britain and the Belgian Congo to the SS officer who had helped him “escape” from Nazi-occupied Belgium.
Neukermans was arrested on 2 February 1944 and under interrogation admitted that he was a spy. He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Macnaghten from 28 April–1 May 1944 and had his appeal dismissed on 8 June.
He was hanged at Pentonville by Albert Pierrepoint and Alex Riley on Friday, 23 June 1944.
Joseph Jan Vanhove
Twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Jan Vanhove (also given as Van Hove) was another Belgian from Antwerp. He worked there as a waiter and was also involved in the black market. He offered his services to German intelligence and was moved to France to spy on French workers building airfields in Northern France.
He then travelled to Sweden, where he contacted the British Embassy in Stockholm, offering his services fighting for the Allies. The British suspected that he was a double agent and allowed him to take a ship to the UK.
He was arrested on entry into Britain on 11 February 1943, having travelled from Stockholm by sea. Under interrogation, he admitted he was intending to work as a German agent.
Vanhove was tried at the Old Bailey on 23–24 May 1944 before Mr. Justice Hallett. His appeal was dismissed on 27 June 1944. Vanhove was executed at Pentonville by Albert Pierrepoint and Steve Wade on Wednesday, 12 July 1944.
Theodore Schurch
27-year-old Theodore William John Schurch was born in London to Swiss parents on 5 May, 1918. He was a Nazi supporter who had joined the British Union of Fascists in 1934. In 1936, he joined the British Army, serving with the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver.
He was captured by the Italians while fighting at Tobruk in North Africa. He decided to offer his services to his captors and spied on his fellow prisoners of war, passing back useful information to Axis authorities. He was arrested in Rome in March 1945.
Schurch was tried at the Duke of York’s HQ, Chelsea, by Military Courts Martial on 17 September, 1945. He faced nine counts under the Treachery Act of 1940, plus one count of desertion. Five counts related to his activities in North Africa during 1942, and four to his later time in Rome during 1943.
He did not call any witnesses in his defence, but the prosecution were able to call several ex-prisoners of war to identify Schurch as the person who had been asking them questions about what they had been doing and where they were serving prior to capture. Schurch was convicted on all ten charges and received the mandatory death sentence on the treachery convictions.
Theodore Schurch was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 4 January, 1946, by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Riley. He became the last person to die for a crime other than murder in the UK.
Spies Who Were Not Executed
In some cases, spies were seen by MI5 as more useful alive than dead, as they could be turned and become double agents. John Masterman, chairman of the XX (“Double Cross”) or Twenty Committee, gave a logical if somewhat cynical reason why some spies were turned and others were executed:
There needed to be a (to the Germans) credible mixture of successful and failing agents: “Some had to perish, both to satisfy the public … and also to convince the Germans that the others were working properly and were not under control. It would have taxed even German credulity if all their agents had apparently overcome the hazards of landing.”
Captured by Sea
On 23 September, 1940, the cutter La Part Bien was captured in the Channel by a British patrol boat and forced to enter the harbor of Plymouth. On board were the Swedish captain, Hugo L.L. Jonasson, and two Belgians, Gerald J.M. Libot and (first name unknown) de Lille. They spent the remainder of the war at Camp 020.
The fishing cutter Josephine, under Dutch captain Cornelius Evertsen, entered port at Fishguard on 12 November 1940 with four crew and three passengers, allegedly from Cuba. Evertsen confessed to being an Abwehr agent. His mission was to land the Cubans on the south English coast together with sabotage material (explosives hidden in cans labelled “Green Peas”). All seven men were kept in prison until the end of the war.
Hummer Nord Operation
Another “Hummer Nord” enterprise was the landing, on 25 October, 1940, near Nairu in Scotland, of Norwegians Gunnar Edvardssen and Leywald Lund, and German Otto Joost, in a rubber dinghy. Whatever they intended to tell people, their cover was blown when, in Joost’s luggage, a tin of German Nivea-Creme was found, along with an aluminum oar with a German manufacturer’s inscription. Vera Erikson identified Edvardssen when she was shown his photo, so he must have been an Abwehr agent too. The three men were kept in prison until the end of the war.
Parachute Agents of “I L”
During the night of 5/6 September, 1940, Gösta Caroli came down near Denton, near Northampton. He was turned and used as a double agent, codenamed “SUMMER.” It was over his radio that Abwehr announced the arrival of two more parachutists. Caroli was in detention until the war’s end.
On 19 September, 1940, Wulf Schmidt landed near Cambridge. He became double agent “TATE.” Wulf Dietrich Christian Schmidt was born 7 December 1911 at Abenraa, in Denmark (his mother was Danish, his father German).
The third parachute agent who landed at the end of September / beginning of October 1940 is a bit of a mystery. There is no Kew file accessible to the public on him. Various publications call him differently: Kurt Karl Goose or Karl Grosse. He was turned as a double agent, and his codename was “GOOSE” or “GANDER.” He was another who was kept in detention as long as the war lasted.
Probably in the first days of November, a parachute agent landed who for quite some time would remain undetected. His parachute was found on 3 November, 1940 near Haversham in Berkshire. On 1 April 1941, he was found dead in an air raid shelter in Cambridge. He evidently had shot himself after his money and food ration cards had run out. His real name was Engelbertus Fukken, but he was known as Jan Willem Ter Braak.
On the night of 6/7 April, 1941, Norwegians Tor Glad and Helge John Moe landed by dinghy after a seaplane had dropped them off in the Moray Firth, Scotland. They became double agents “MUTT” and “JEFF” and returned to Norway when the war was over. Mutt and Jeff is Cockney rhyming slang for deaf, as in mutt ‘n jeff. Somebody in MI5 had a sense of humour, it seems.
MI5 used them to fake acts of sabotage which were radioed to Germany and even covered by the press for further corroboration. It appears that these two were professional sabotage agents with no connection to Operation Lena.
Rogério de Menezes
The only foreign agent tried and sentenced to death under the Treachery Act who was not executed was a young Portuguese working in a minor capacity at the Portuguese embassy in London. His name was Rogério de Magalhães Peixoto de Menezes, and he was an agent of the Sicherheitsdienst, the intelligence service of the SS.
Starting in August 1942, de Menezes was observed sending letters to his sister via the diplomatic bag, which had enclosures. These were to be handed to an agent named Mendez, and they contained writing in secret ink—among other things, describing British anti-aircraft defences.
In February 1943, the Portuguese ambassador was approached by a high Foreign Office official and told about the goings-on in his embassy. Diplomatic status was removed from de Menezes, and he was prosecuted under the Treachery Act.
Even before he came to trial, a great clean-up took place in Lisbon. On 9 April, 1943, MI5’s Guy Liddell noted in his diary that “there have been twenty-three arrests in Lisbon including the head of the Sicherheitsdienst.” Portugal’s Antonio Salazar ordered his police to put an end to German espionage in Lisbon—and they did.
De Menezes was tried at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death on 2 April 1943, but received a commutation to penal servitude for life on 31 May. He was brought to Dartmoor prison and was not allowed to communicate with anybody on the outside. MI5 wanted the Germans to be unsure whether he had been executed or not. In 1949, he was released and deported.
Traitors
Definition of Treason
Treason was defined by The Treason Act of 1351, as follows:
“When a Man doth compass or imagine the Death of our Lord the King, or of our Lady his Queen or of their eldest Son and Heir; or if a Man do violate the King’s Companion, or the King’s eldest Daughter unmarried, or the Wife of the King’s eldest Son and Heir; or if a Man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm, or be adherent to the King’s Enemies in his Realm, giving to them Aid and Comfort in the Realm.”
This Act, passed during the reign of King Edward III, was amended over the centuries but remains in force today. The death penalty was mandatory for treason until the passing of The Criminal Justice Bill on July 31, 1998, which made it a non-capital crime.
The original Act, in force during the War, clearly made giving aid to the King’s Enemies treasonable, but it only applied to British citizens. There was doubt in government circles that it could apply to citizens of countries other than Great Britain.
Under this Act, one man was hanged in Malta in 1942, and two men were hanged after the War in the UK. They were Carmelo Borg Pisani, John Amery, and William Joyce.
John Amery
John Amery was born on 14 March, 1912 in Chelsea, London, to the Right Honourable Leo Amery and his wife, Florence. Leo Amery was a Conservative MP who later served as a Cabinet Minister.
John Amery was sent to Harrow School, where he was a difficult pupil. He left after one year. As an adult, he was a failure at everything he did. However, he was virulently anti-Communist and admired the doctrines of the German National Socialist Party.
In 1936, at the age of 24, he left Britain, having been declared bankrupt, and moved to France. He travelled to Austria, Italy, and Germany, but continued to live in France after the German occupation. In September 1942, Amery left France for Germany, having come into conflict with the Vichy government. There, as a guest of the Reich, he made propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the Nazis.
He travelled to prisoner of war camps, inviting British prisoners to aid the war on Communism by joining The British Free Corps. This came to naught, and Amery left Berlin in late 1944 and moved to Italy to support Mussolini. He was captured by Italian partisans on Saturday, 7 July, 1945 and handed over to the British. He was flown from Milan to London and charged with treason on arrival.
An initial trial date of 12 September, 1945 had been fixed, but this was postponed to allow Amery’s brother, Julian, to fly to Spain to see if he could find evidence that John had become a Spanish citizen and therefore did not owe allegiance to the Crown. As there was no evidence to support this, Amery was tried for treason at the Old Bailey on 28 November, 1945 before Mr. Justice Humphreys.
The proceedings lasted just 8 minutes, as Amery pleaded guilty. The judge made sure he understood the consequences of his plea, and Amery assured him that he did. Only one sentence was permitted under the law, and Mr. Justice Humphreys sentenced him to death by hanging.
The execution was carried out at Wandsworth Prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Henry Critchell, at 9.00 a.m. on Wednesday, 19 December, 1945. Amery was buried in an unmarked grave within the prison, but in 1996, at the request of the family, his body was exhumed, the remains cremated, and the ashes scattered in France.
Albert Pierrepoint described him as “the bravest man I ever hanged.” A probably apocryphal story is attributed to Amery in his last moments. Greeting Albert as he entered the condemned cell, Amery reportedly said: “Mr. Pierrepoint, I’ve always wanted to meet you, but not, of course, under these circumstances.” A prison official contradicted this and stated that “Amery did extend his hand and said ‘Oh! Pierrepoint.’ Upon which Pierrepoint took his hand and placed it behind his back for pinioning and that the conversation was entirely limited to that remark.” The latter seems more likely.
William Joyce – “Lord Haw Haw”
William Joyce, nicknamed “Lord Haw Haw” because of his posh British accent and trademark “Germany calling” at the start of his radio propaganda broadcasts from Germany, held a British passport and as such owed allegiance to the Crown. Thus, these broadcasts made him guilty of treason.
He had applied for a British passport on 4 July, 1933, giving his birthplace as Galway in Ireland. His passport was renewed in July 1938 and again a year later.
Thirty-nine-year-old Joyce was actually an American citizen, even though he claimed to be Irish. He had joined the British Fascist Party in 1933, moving to Germany on 25 August, 1939, before the outbreak of war.
With the fall of Hamburg to the Allies, Joyce tried to escape to Denmark via Hamburg, but was shot in the leg and captured by British forces there on 28 May, 1945.
He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Tucker on 17–19 September, 1945. His defence argued that, as an American citizen, he owed no allegiance to the Crown and thus was not guilty of treason. The prosecution argued that, as a British passport holder, he did owe this allegiance.
He was convicted and sentenced to death. His appeal was dismissed on 1 November, 1945, but Joyce was permitted a further appeal to the House of Lords in view of the point of law raised by the passports. The Law Lords, by a four to one majority, rejected his appeal, and he was hanged at Wandsworth by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Riley, at 9.00 a.m. on Thursday, 3 January, 1946.
A Maltese Traitor – Carmelo Borg Pisani
Carmelo Borg Pisani was born on 10 August, 1915 at Cottonera, Malta, to a well-respected Catholic and Nationalist family. Later, he would study in Rome and admired Mussolini. He joined the Fascist Party of Italy and the Black Shirt (Camicie Nere) movement. He took part in the Italian occupation of Greece.
Pisani believed strongly in Maltese independence from British rule, which he felt was destroying “the Latin soul” of the island.
On 18 May, 1942, Pisani was sent to Malta as a spy, arriving by sea at the Dingli Cliffs in Ras id-Dawwara. He found a suitable cave, but bad weather destroyed his food and equipment, forcing him to seek rescue by a British naval patrol. He was taken to the Military Hospital at Mtarfa, where he was recognized by a childhood friend, Captain Tom Warrington. This led to his arrest and transfer to Corradino Prison, where he was interrogated and charged with treason.
His trial took place in camera on 12 November, 1942, before just a panel of judges. Although Pisani could show that he had handed in his British passport and had an Italian one, the judges still considered him to owe allegiance to the Crown. His activities fighting in Greece further weakened his defence.
He was convicted and sentenced to death on 19 November, 1942. He was hanged nine days later at Corradino Prison at 7:34 a.m. on 28 November, 1942.
Saboteurs on Gibraltar
Gibraltar was of great strategic importance to the British during the War, as it was the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. There was a large naval base there during the War, housing a fleet known as Force H. There was also an underground “city” created by tunnelling into the rock. These man-made caverns housed barracks, offices, and a fully equipped hospital.
Given the above, it was not surprising that efforts were made to sabotage the facilities, coordinated by Abwehr, the German military intelligence organization from neighbouring Spain, led by Captain Friedrich Hummel.
Hummel had contacted Spanish Lt. Colonel Eleuterio Sánchez-Rubio Davila, an intelligence officer nominally stationed with the Spanish Army’s General Staff at Algeciras but really based in La Línea, and a member of the Falange (a fascist group), with the aim of establishing a network of saboteurs with access to Gibraltar. Sánchez-Rubio designated Emilio Plazas Tejera, also a member of Falange, as operations chief of the organisation.
David Scherr, the Security Intelligence Officer at Gibraltar, thought “Plaza’s gang,” as he called them, was responsible for nine attempted or actual acts of sabotage between early 1941 and mid-summer 1942.
However, only two men were caught, tried, and executed for sabotage. They were Luis López Cordón-Cuenca (born 21 August, 1920) and José Martin Muñoz (born 28 July, 1924), both young Spaniards from La Línea de la Concepción. They had been charged with offences against Regulation 23 of the Gibraltar Defence Regulations of 1939.
This section states that:
“If any person, with intent to assist the enemy, attempts to do any act which is designed or likely to impede naval, military or air operations of H.M. Forces or to endanger life, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall on conviction on indictment, suffer death.”
Cordón-Cuenca was one of the men approached by Plazas’ group. Bombs were smuggled across the frontier to Gibraltar by an agent working for the group. These were passed to Cordón-Cuenca, who hid them in the Empire Fruit Shop at 114 Main Street, where he worked, while he waited for an instruction to hand the bombs to a saboteur.
When he was arrested in June 1943, he had in his possession a bomb which was intended to blow up the Ragged Staff Magazine armaments tunnel in the Royal Dockyard at Gibraltar—one of the most important ammunition depots on the Rock. At the time, it was full of ammunition in readiness for the Sicily landings.
Cordón-Cuenca was tried before the Supreme Court of Gibraltar between 19 and 25 August, 1943, and was sentenced to death by His Honour John McDougall on Wednesday, 25 August, 1943 (also stated as 31 August). He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted of treachery under the above Regulation.
Cordón-Cuenca appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and this was heard on Monday, 13 December, 1943.
Muñoz pleaded guilty to his charges at trial before the same judge on Monday, 11 October, 1943. He had been employed as a labourer at the dockyard and crossed from Spain into Gibraltar each day. He was recruited by a Spaniard in La Línea.
Muñoz succeeded in smuggling a bomb into Gibraltar and placing it on an 11,000-gallon petroleum tank in the fuel enclosure of Coaling Island, causing a serious fire on 30 June, 1943, which spread rapidly to surrounding fuel drums. Defence Security Officer Lt. Colonel Henry Clement Medlam noticed the fire at around 1.45 p.m. and, in his report, wrote:
“Drums of petrol were exploding all round me and were being flung into the air by the force of the explosion.”
The bomb was described as a “clam” type weapon and had a two-and-a-half-hour time delay mechanism.
An agent codenamed “NAG” was able to provide authorities with the necessary information to enable the identification and arrest of Muñoz. NAG was a Basque lorry driver employed at Gibraltar Dockyard, who immediately told his employer when he was approached by a German agent.
Muñoz was arrested by Sgt. Ferro of the Gibraltar Security Police at 9.15 a.m. on the morning of 29 July, 1943, as he tried to enter Gibraltar. Muñoz also had components for a second bomb hidden under coal in the basement of Café Imperial, which he revealed during interrogation.
Muñoz’s execution was delayed as a result of Cordón-Cuenca’s appeal.
The Home Office sent Albert Pierrepoint a telegram summoning him to London. Harry Kirk, who was to be his assistant, joined him there. They departed on 8 January from an aerodrome near Bristol in an RAF plane that took them to Lisbon. They then flew along the Spanish coast to Gibraltar. They were taken to the Moorish Castle, where Cordón-Cuenca and Muñoz were housed and where Gibraltar’s gallows stood.
Luis López Cordón-Cuenca and José Martin Muñoz were hanged on Tuesday, 11 January, 1944. Albert Pierrepoint reportedly set drops of 6’10” for each man.
Postscript
NAG was able to provide a remarkably complete picture of German sabotage operations against Gibraltar. For this, NAG was awarded a medal after the war.
On 6 January 1944, the Governor of Gibraltar sent a report of a meeting he had had with the Spanish Consul General to the Foreign Office, during which it was made clear that allowing Abwehr to operate in Spain and continue further sabotage operations must cease immediately. This, together with similar diplomatic steps through other channels, finally yielded the desired result, and the Spanish government published a statement declaring “strict neutrality” on 3 February 1944. This led to the end of German secret activities in southern Spain.
A German Spy Hanged in France by the US Military
Early Life and Wartime Service
Günther Ohletz was born at Oberhausen in Germany on 26 April 1924. He was the first spy to be executed by the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) and apparently the only one by hanging.
Hitler came to power when Günther Ohletz was nine. He practically did not know any other social system than the one created by Nazism, and when he was 15, war broke out. Like many others of his age group, he wanted his share of soldiering, and at 16 years of age, volunteered for the SS. But they didn’t want him yet.
One year later, he was accepted and assigned to a regiment which was part of the 10th SS Panzerdivision “Frundsberg.” He made his first battle experiences in the region of Kovel in Ukrainia, but when D-Day came, his division was hurried to Normandy in order to fight back the advancing Allies. Günther was 20 years old by now and had gained promotion to Rottenführer – something like a corporal in other armies.
The Mission in Civilian Clothes
On 10 August 1944, Oberscharführer Seel, Günther’s platoon leader, said:
“I don’t like the way these guys go on patrol. They go out, lie down in the grass and they all rest and come back and tell me that they haven’t seen anything. I am completely in the dark as to where the enemy is. I would like you to go out on a patrol in civilian clothes. Get yourself some civilian clothes in one of these houses.”
When Günther came back dressed for the occasion, Seel handed him a piece of paper on which he had explained, for the benefit of the German outpost line, that this civilian was really an SS Rottenführer on a reconnaissance mission.
Günther started out on his mission. Hearing some shooting a few hundred yards to the south, he went to see what was there but found only the tracks of a non-German armoured vehicle and some spent cartridges. When he passed what was supposed to be the German outpost line, he did not see anybody but just found some pieces of equipment.
He found more tracks of armoured vehicles, crossed a river, went cross-country, found another road going south, passed a water mill… and then he met Lt. Max M. VanPatton.
The Encounter and Arrest
Together with another officer and two soldiers, the officer in Company D, 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, had left the village of St. Georges de Rouelley in a northerly direction. After about a mile, the car met a civilian smoking a cigarette. The lieutenant stopped to ask whether the civilian knew the location of the enemy.
The civilian made a blank face. The lieutenant tried his best French: “Le boche?” and drew a swastika in the dirt. “Nix compre” was the answer. Now this did not sound French, and not English either. But “nix” for “nothing” was an expression a German might use…
The “civilian” was searched, and the Americans found a Luger pistol on him. That was enough to arrest him and return him to St. Georges, where he was searched again, and more thoroughly. A soldbuch (a military passport and pay book) was found, and a German army identification tag.
Trial and Sentence
One week later, Günther was interrogated by a master sergeant of the Military Intelligence. He freely spoke about his mission and admitted everything.
On 7 September 1944, near Le Perray, a Military Commission sat and tried the case pursuant to paragraph 1 of Special Orders No. 240. The specification of the charge was:
“In that Rottenführer Günther Ohletz, 21st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, German Army, did, in the zone of operations of the Armies of the United States near Saint Georges de Reuelle, France, on or about 10 August 1944, act as a spy by endeavouring, while disguised in civilian clothes, to obtain information with intent to impart same to the enemy.”
With Günther’s confession on record, the defense had a rotten job. The only thing that could be done was to plead his youth in mitigation of punishment.
The Commission found the defendant guilty of espionage and sentenced him to hang. The sentence was reviewed on the 13th, reviewed again on the 19th by the Army Group Judge Advocate, and finally confirmed. Everything had been done by the book, army-style.
Execution at Caserne Mortier
On 23 September, the US Army opened the Seine Disciplinary Training Center, complete with gallows. It was situated in the southeast of Paris in the Caserne Mortier, named after a French Marshal of Napoleonic times. On 7 October 1944, Günther was to be executed there.
However, there was no hangman.
Army regulations so far had ordered that “The trap will be actuated personally by the officer charged with the execution of the sentence.” Usually, that would be a career officer in the Military Police, for instance, Major Mortimer H. Christian, the Commandant of the Seine Section DTC. But so far only one hanging had occurred in France, and for that, the US Army had flown in their English contractor, Thomas William Pierrepoint.
It was clear that this had been an exception, and that an army hangman had to be found. Enquiries to that effect had already turned up likely candidates, but in this case, Major Christian still had to do it personally. It is possible that it was even the first hanging in his 48 years of life that he was present at.
Final Moments
In the evening of October 7 at about ten o’clock, Major Christian led the execution party into the death chamber at the Caserne Mortier. Günther was accompanied by two sergeants as guards and an army chaplain.
They mounted the steps of the gallows and on the platform met two assistants, whose names the “Report of Proceedings” does not mention. An army surgeon took post about eight feet from the gallows, facing the scaffold, and the Recorder who had the task to write everything down stood near the wall at the foot of the steps. One brigadier general, three colonels, two lieutenant colonels, and one captain formed a line in order of rank at a distance of about 24 feet: the witnesses.
Günther did not have much to say when he was asked his last words:
“Only that I thank the Chaplain, and I was not a spy.”
Leg strap, hood, and noose followed, adjusted by one of those unnamed assistants. Major Christian faced about and cut the rope which released the weight which sprung the trap. It was 10:05 p.m.
“The body swayed only lightly and without jerks, tremors or convulsions, hung suspended in the lower screened portion of the scaffold,” wrote the Recorder (how could he know if the scaffold was screened?).
At 10:18 p.m., Captain Edward M. Sullivan, the surgeon, declared Günther dead. The assistants took Günther’s body down and handed it to two soldiers of the Quartermaster Graves Registration Service who had come in with a litter.
The chaplain “administered the last rites of the faith of the prisoner,” which probably means that Günther was a Catholic and received the Extreme Unction. Since this involves, among other things, that Günther’s hands had to be anointed, it was rather unfortunate that:
“(T)he assistants were unable to remove the handcuffs due to a faulty lock mechanism.”
Then the litter bearers left, after handing the Recorder a receipt for the remains—in quintuplicate.
Burial and Legacy
Günther Ohletz was buried in a cemetery 20 miles southeast of Paris which the US Army had started that year. After the war, the US Army collected their dead from here and reburied them at Epinal. The empty graves were filled by the remains of German soldiers who were brought from the vicinity and from other war grave sites.
Today, this is the Cimetière Militaire Allemand at Solers, with 2,228 German graves. Günther Ohletz is buried in Block 1, Row 4, Grave 131. Who knows—perhaps even with his handcuffs still on.
Note: 31 other men were shot for spying by the US Army in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
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