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World War II: German Saboteurs Infiltration
of America - British Intelligence MI5 Files
93 pages of British Security Service MI5 files copied from material held at the
British National Archives, covering the infiltration of the United States during
World War II by German saboteurs. Because of the practice of British secrecy
involving security matters, these files were not released to the public until
April 2011.
On June 13, and June 17, 1942 two groups of German sabotage agents landed
on Long Island and Florida as part of a German Abwehr operation. Operation
Pastorius was the codename for the failed operation. The mission was named
by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of Abwehr, the German military
intelligence organization. Canaris named the mission after Francis Daniel
Pastorius, who was the leader of the first organized settlement of Germans in
America.
The files consist of a 1943 report written by British agent Victor Rothschild who
was sent to United States to be briefed on the incident. The report covers the
sabotage mission's objectives; The German personnel sent on the mission;
Information about the training the German agents received at sabotage school;
and the equipment to be used during the operation.
During the first few months after the United States officially entered World
War II, America's major contribution to the war was industrial. America was
able to produce and supply weapons, ammunition, equipment and supplies to
nations already actively engaged in fighting against Germany. This infusion of
American production stung the German war machine. German high command
ordered action to reduce American war production. However, with an ocean
separating Germany and U.S. facilities the ability to use conventional military
tactics was limited. German intelligence decided that sabotage would be the
most viable means to interrupt American production.
“The task of the saboteurs was to slow down production at certain factories
concerned with the American war effort,” Rothschild wrote in his report. “The
sabotage was not to be done in such a way that it appeared accidental,” he