George John Dasch and the Nazi Saboteurs
Shortly
after midnight on the morning of June 13, 1942, four
men landed on a beach near Amagansett, Long Island,
New York, from a German submarine, clad in German
uniforms and bringing ashore enough explosives, primers,
and incendiaries to support an expected two-year
career in the sabotage of American defense-related
production. On June 17, 1942, a similar group landed
on Ponte Vedra Beach, near Jacksonville, Florida,
equipped for a similar career in industrial disruption.
The
purpose of the invasions was to strike a major blow
for Germany by bringing the violence of war to our
home ground through destruction of America's ability
to manufacture vital equipment and supplies and transport
them to the battlegrounds of Europe; to strike fear
into the American civilian population, and diminish
the resolve of the United States to overcome our
enemies.
By
June 27, 1942, all eight saboteurs had been arrested
without having accomplished one act of destruction.
Tried before a Military Commission, they were found
guilty. One was sentenced to life imprisonment, another
to thirty years, and six received the death penalty,
which was carried out within a few days.
The
magnitude of the euphoric expectation of the Nazi
war machine may be judged by the fact that, in addition
to the large amount of material brought ashore by
the saboteurs, they were given $175,200 in United
States currency to finance their activities. On apprehension,
a total of $174,588 was recovered by the FBI -- the
only positive accomplishment of eight trained saboteurs
in those two weeks was the expenditure of $612 for
clothing, meals, lodging, and travel, as well as
a bribe of $260.
So
shaken was the German intelligence service that no
similar sabotage attempt was ever again made. The
German naval high command did not again allow a valuable
submarine to be risked for a sabotage mission.
On
September 1, 1939, World War II opened in Europe
with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. The
United States remained neutral until drawn into the
world conflict by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. War was declared against Japan
by the United States on December 8, 1941; and, on
the 11th, Germany and Italy declared war against
the United States.
During
the early months of the war, the major contributions
of the United States to oppose the Nazi war machine
involved industrial production, equipment, and supplies
furnished to those forces actively defending themselves
against the German armed forces. That industrial
effort was strong enough to generate frustration,
perhaps indignation, among the Nazi high command;
and the order was given, allegedly by Hitler himself,
to mount a serious effort to reduce American production.
German
intelligence settled on sabotage as the most effective
means of diminishing our input. In active charge
of the project was Lieutenant Walter Kappe, attached
to Abwehr-2 (Intelligence 2) who had spent some years
in the United States prior to the war and had been
active in the German-American Bund and other efforts
in the United States to propagandize and win adherents
for Nazism among German Americans and German immigrants
in America. Kappe was also an official of the Ausland
Institute, which, prior to the war, organized Germans
abroad into the Nationalsozialistiche Deutshe Arbeiterpartei,
the NSDAP or Nazi Party, and during the conflict,
Ausland kept track of and in touch with persons in
Germany who had returned from abroad. Kappe's responsibility
concerned those who had returned from the United
States.
Early
in 1942, he contacted, among others, those who ultimately
undertook the mission to the United States. Each
consented to the task, apparently willingly, although
unaware of the specific assignment. Most of the potential
saboteurs were taken from civilian jobs, but two
were in the German army.
The
trainees, about twelve in all, were told of their
specific mission only when they entered a sabotage
school established near Berlin which instructed them
in chemistry, incendiaries, explosives, timing devices,
secret writing, and concealment of identity by blending
into an American background. The intensive training
included the practical use of the techniques under
realistic conditions.
Subsequently,
the saboteurs were taken to aluminum and magnesium
plants, railroad shops, canals, locks, and other
facilities to familiarize them with the vital points
and vulnerabilities of the types of targets they
were to attack. Maps were used to locate those American
targets, spots where railroads could be most effectively
disabled, the principal aluminum and magnesium plants,
and important canals, waterways, and locks. All instructions
had to be memorized.
On
May 26, 1942, the first group of four saboteurs left
by submarine from the German base at Lorient, France,
and on May 28, the next group of four departed the
same base. Each was destined to land at points on
the Atlantic Coast of the United States familiar
to the leader of that group.
Four
men, led by George John Dasch, age 39, landed on
a beach near Amagansett, Long Island, New York, about
12:10 a.m., June 13, 1942. Accompanying Dasch were
Ernest Peter Burger, 36; Heinrich Harm Heinck, 35;
and Richard Quirin, 34.
George John Dasch
|
Ernest Peter Burger
|
Heinrich Harm Heinck
|
Richard Quirin
|
On
June 17, 1942, the other group landed at Ponte Vedra
Beach, Florida, south of Jacksonville. The leader
was Edward John Kerling, age 33; with Werner Thiel,
35; Herman Otto Neubauer, 32 (no photo available);
and Herbert Hans Haupt, 22. Both groups landed wearing
complete or partial German uniforms to ensure treatment
as prisoners of war rather than as spies if they
were caught in the act of landing.
John Kerling
|
Werner Thiel
|
Herbert Hans Haupt
|
Having
landed unobserved, the uniforms were quickly discarded,
to be buried with the sabotage material (which was
intended to be later retrieved), and civilian clothing
was donned. The saboteurs quickly dispersed. The
Florida group made their way to Jacksonville, then
by train to Cincinnati, with two going on to Chicago
and the other pair to New York City.
Contents of box recovered from spot
where buried on beach south of Jacksonville,
FL, showing electric blasting caps, pen and
pencil delay mechanisms, detonators, ampoules
of acid, and other time delay devices
|
Pen and Pencil assembled for use as
delay device
|
Disassembled timing device showing
component parts
|
Capsule containing sulphuric acid encased
in a rubber tubing for protection
|
The
Long Island group was less fortunate; scarcely had
they buried their equipment and uniforms, in fact,
one still wore bathing trunks, when a Coast Guardsman
patrolling the shore approached. He was unarmed and
very suspicious of them, more so when they offered
him a bribe to forget they had met. He ostensibly
accepted the bribe to lull their fears and promptly
reported the incident to his headquarters. However,
by the time the search patrol located the spot, the
saboteurs had reached a railroad station and had
taken a train to New York City.
Dasch's
resolution to be a saboteur for the Fatherland faltered
-- perhaps he thought the whole project so grandiose
as to be impractical and wanted to protect himself
before some of his companions took action on similar
doubts. He indicated to Burger his desire to confess
everything.
On
the evening of June 14, 1942, Dasch, giving the name "Pastorius" called
the New York Office of the FBI stating he had recently
arrived from Germany and would call FBI Headquarters
when he was in Washington, D.C., the following week.
On the morning of Friday, June 19, a call was received
at the FBI, Washington, from Dasch, then registered
at a Washington hotel. He alluded to his prior call
as "Pastorius" (of which Headquarters was
aware) and furnished his location. He was immediately
contacted and taken into custody.
During
the next several days he was thoroughly interrogated
and he furnished the identities of the other saboteurs,
possible locations for some, and data which would
enable their more expeditious apprehension.
The
three remaining members of the Long Island group
were picked up in New York City on June 20. Of the
Florida group, Kerling and Thiel were arrested in
New York City on June 23, and Neubauer and Haupt
were arrested in Chicago on June 27.
The
eight were tried before a Military Commission, comprised
of seven U.S. Army officers appointed by President
Roosevelt, from July 8, to August 4, 1942. The trial
was held in the Department of Justice Building, Washington,
D.C. The prosecution was headed by Attorney General
Frances Biddle and the Army Judge Advocate General,
Major General Myron C. Cramer. Defense counsel included
Colonel Kenneth C. Royall (later Secretary of War
under President Truman) and Major Lausen H. Stone
(son of Harlan Fiske Stone, the Chief Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court).
All
eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Attorney
General Biddle and J. Edgar Hoover appealed to President
Roosevelt to commute the sentences of Dasch and Burger.
Dasch then received a 30-year sentence, and Burger
received a life sentence, both to be served in a
federal penitentiary. The remaining six were executed
at the District of Columbia Jail on August 8, 1942.
The
eight men had been born in Germany and each had lived
in the United States for substantial periods. Burger
had become a naturalized American in 1933. Haupt
had entered the United States as a child, gaining
citizenship when his father was naturalized in 1930.
Dasch
had joined the Germany army at the age of 14 and
served about 11 months as a clerk during the conclusion
of World War I. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army
in 1927, and received an honorable discharge after
a little more than a year of service.
Quirin
and Heinck had returned to Germany prior to the outbreak
of World War II in Europe, and the six others subsequent
to September 11, 1939, and before December 7, 1941,
apparently feeling their first loyalty was to the
country of their birth.
Postwar
debriefing of German personnel and examination of
records confirmed that no other attempt was made
to land saboteurs by submarine; though in late 1944,
two persons, William Curtis Colepaugh and Erich Gimpel,
were landed as spies from a German submarine on the
coast of Maine in a rather desperate attempt to secure
information. They, too, were quickly apprehended
by the FBI before accomplishing any part of their
mission.
In
April, 1948, President Truman granted executive clemency
to Dasch and Burger on condition of deportation.
They were transported to the American Zone of Germany,
the unexecuted portions of their sentences were suspended
upon such conditions with respect to travel, employment,
political, and other activities as the Theater commander
might require, and they were freed.
Although
many allegations of sabotage were investigated by
the FBI during World War II, not one instance was
found of enemy-inspired sabotage. Every suspect act
traced to its source was the result of vandalism,
pique, resentment, a desire for relief from boredom,
the curiosity of children "to see what would
happen," or other personal motive.
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