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noted. “The saboteurs were however told that they must avoid killing or
injuring people as this would not benefit Germany.”
The saboteurs selected for the mission were eight Germans who had spent
time in the United States, two were American citizens. They were trained at a
sabotage school outside of Berlin where they studied chemistry, incendiaries,
explosives, timing devices, secret writing, and concealment of identity. The
targets planned for their mission included: hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls,
Aluminum Company of America's plants, Ohio River locks, the Horseshoe Curve
railroad pass near Altoona, PA, Pennsylvania Railroad's rail yards, a cryolite
plant in Philadelphia, Hell Gate Bridge in New York; and Pennsylvania Station
in Newark, New Jersey.
The first batch of saboteurs arrived by U-Boat, the U-202, named the
Innsbruck, at Amagansett, Long Island New York. They wore German military
uniforms, so that if caught they would be handled as POW's and not as spies.
The second batch came in on the U-boat U-584 and landed at Ponte Vedra
Beach, Florida.
The first group included George John Dasch. Victor Rothschild wrote in his
report, "It is abundantly evident that the leader of the first group of saboteurs
George John Dasch had every intention of giving himself up to the American
authorities and compromising the whole Expedition, probably from the
moment it was suggested to him in Germany that he should go to the USA on a
sabotage assignment." Dasch went to Washington DC to turn himself in to FBI
headquarters. He phoned FBI headquarters from his Washington D.C. hotel
room and agents arrived to take him into custody. The FBI agents at first
handled Dasch as if he was mentally unstable, until he showed them $84,000
he was given fund the operation. The other seven were taken into custody
over the next two weeks.
They were put on trial before a secret military tribunal comprised of seven U.S.
Army officers appointed by President Roosevelt. The trial was held in the
Department of Justice building in Washington. The prosecution team was lead
by Attorney General Frances Biddle and the Army Judge Advocate General,
Major General Myron C. Cramer. The Defense team was lead by Colonel
Kenneth C. Royall, who later became Secretary of War under President