Plan Kathleen
Encyclopedia
Plan Kathleen, sometimes referred to as Artus Plan, was a military plan
for the invasion of Northern Ireland
sanctioned by Stephen Hayes, Acting Irish Republican Army (IRA) Chief of Staff, in 1940. Plan Kathleen is frequently confused with Operation Green
, the German military plan to invade Ireland
drawn up in 1940.
, being incommunicado in the United States
as he pursued the propaganda arm of the S-Plan
. Russell was attempting to arrange passage to Berlin
(see Operation Dove
), having left Stephen Hayes as Acting Chief of Staff back in Ireland
.
While Russell's movements were unknown to Hayes, he sanctioned the drawing up an invasion plan to end partition and reunify the island of Ireland. The plan was written by an IRA volunteer called Liam Gaynor. Gaynor created the plan in early 1940, sometime before it was decided to send the plan to Nazi Germany via courier. Hayes had a couple of reasons for doing this; he wanted German assistance for IRA operations in Ireland, and he wanted to re-establish the IRA link with German Intelligence (Abwehr
) to secure arms and money. The courier for transporting the plan to Germany was a Dublin businessman with German heritage named Stephen Carroll Held. Held left for Germany and arrived on 20 April 1940. His first call was to the door of the first Abwehr
contact in Ireland, Oscar Pfaus. Pfaus then took Held to Berlin to meet with Abwehr Section-Leader, Kurt Haller. Held was instructed to produce a previous agreed means of identification that would prove that he was an emissary sent by the IRA. During this first meeting, he did not meet Hermann Görtz
, an Abwehr agent who was preparing to leave for Ireland, but he was introduced to him later. Due to his nervousness, the Abwehr were suspicious and they found the plan he carried extremely amateurish.
His mission complete (delivering the plan and an invitation from Hayes for a German officer to be sent to Ireland), Held returned to Ireland two days later. The Abwehr II war diary briefly records the entire incident beginning 20 April 1940:
Then on 24 April:
, in the vicinity of Derry
— an amphibious assault
. The aim of the plan was the conquest of Northern Ireland
via a simultaneous IRA insurgency
and use of German forces. The IRA were to be concentrated in the county of Leitrim
on the border facing Lough Erne
and Upper Lough Erne awaiting the arrival of German forces in Northern Ireland. However, the IRA plan gave no thought to how German troops were to be brought to Derry, how control of the sea approaches was to be obtained or where and how the coast of Northern Ireland was fortified. Görtz described the plan at the time and its limitations thus: "The plan was therefore completely useless. It nearly broke my heart, since it came from the IRA Chief of Staff."
Hull in "Irish Secrets" describes the plan so:
It is accepted that the plan was poorly constructed, and not treated with any seriousness by the Abwehr, or German Foreign Ministry although at this stage they did not recognise the IRA as "hopelessly immature". In so much as the plan was considered, it was considered a measure of IRA intent — willingness to assist. It is not known whether any serious planning was done around Kathleen, although the plan appears to have been widened in scope, maybe by Görtz, or perhaps Kurt Student
, who presented a similar plan to Hitler in January 1941, to include parachute drops of German troops around Divis Mountain and Lisburn
in combination with the amphibious assault on Lough Swilly
and Magilligan Point.
on 5 May. Before his departure, Görtz was instructed to begin contact with the IRA, assess the strength of the IRA and the feasibility of the plan. He did discuss the plan and strength of the IRA with Hayes upon his arrival in Ireland. By the time of these discussions, Russell was still alive, he had arrived in Berlin the day Görtz left although they did not speak together.
The discussions Görtz had with Hayes were entirely unproductive. Hayes and Görtz's had begun their negotiations on 17 May, meeting in the home of Stephen Held. Prior to this Görtz had probably already met with Seamus O'Donovan who had briefed him on the state of the IRA. At this meeting Hayes listed the strength of the IRA, which Görtz reported as "5000 sworn in members, of whom 1500 [are in] Northern Ireland. Hayes counts on a further 10,000 Northern Irish and 15,000 Southern Irish in the case of an armed revolt in Northern Ireland". However, Görtz expressed disappointment with Hayes:
At this meeting, Görtz claims that he directed Hayes to cease operations in Éire and instead concentrate operations on Northern Ireland. Görtz reports that Hayes said he would issue orders to that effect. Hayes is also reported to have said that the Irish Government had made contact with him via a priest, "Father O'Hara", with a view to incorporating the IRA within the Irish Defence Forces.
Görtz reports that Kathleen was discussed:
Görtz was to say later:
Görtz claims that after this meeting he sat down and worked out the details of shipping and landing arms in Ireland.
, Iseult Stuart (daughter of Maud Gonne
) was arrested on suspicion of also harbouring "Heinrich Brandy", the name Görtz was travelling under. Plan Kathleen was blown, and the Irish authorities were to immediately send it to MI5
in London
who later sent it to the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) in Belfast
. The details of the plan were to form the nucleus of joint Irish and British wargaming the following year, under the auspices of Plan W
— the combined response to a German invasion.
Hempel would try to negate the fear generated within the Irish political establishment by the discovery of Plan Kathleen. He was instructed to do this by underscoring German offers of military assistance should Britain invade Éire
.
on New Year's Day where Student was recovering from wounds received during the invasion of Holland
. At this point, Hitler was still obviously considering an invasion of Britain, and it was within this context that Student suggested a diversionary paratrooper attack on Northern Ireland to coincide with German landings on the south coast of England. Student suggested a plan whereby dummies dressed as paratroopers would also be dropped to confuse the enemy. According to Student:
Student suggested the best date for the operation would be in April, on the 25th Anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising
. His plan was to drop 20,000 paratroopers and 12,000 airborne troops by night on two areas of Northern Ireland. The first and larger force would land in the triangle between the northern half of Lough Neagh
and Divis Mountain above Belfast, capturing the RAF fields at Aldergrove
, Langford Lodge and Nutts Corner. At the same time, a second force of paratroopers would be dropped near Lisburn to destroy the planes on the Long Kesh airfield and cut road and rail links between Belfast and the south. Student's dummies would meanwhile be dropped over the Mourne and Sperrin Mountains to add to the confusion. At daybreak, Luftwaffe
fighter squadrons would then fly in from Brittany
and land on the captured airfields.
Student claimed after the end of World War II
that he thought the first part of the operation would have been a success, but if the landings in Britain had gone badly, he and his men would have fought through to the territory of Éire and asked to be interned rather than be captured by the British Army. Despite this sentiment, Student was unaware of the cooperation between Dublin and London around Plan W, and most likely any invasion of German forces would have triggered an invasion by the British. Hitler made no decision on the matter and Student was told the next day by Reichsmarschall
Hermann Göring
:
Military plan
A military operation plan is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organizations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in achieving objectives before or during a conflict...
for the invasion of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
sanctioned by Stephen Hayes, Acting Irish Republican Army (IRA) Chief of Staff, in 1940. Plan Kathleen is frequently confused with Operation Green
Operation Green (Ireland)
Operation Green often also referred to as Case Green or Plan Green , was a full scale operations plan for a German invasion of Ireland in support of Operation Sea Lion . Despite its detailed nature, Green is thought to have been designed only as a credible threat, a feint, not an actual operation...
, the German military plan to invade Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
drawn up in 1940.
Immediate context
Kathleen took place in the context of then IRA Chief of Staff, Seán RussellSeán Russell
Seán Russell was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence...
, being incommunicado in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as he pursued the propaganda arm of the S-Plan
S-Plan
The S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic, and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army . It was conceived by Seamus O'Donovan in 1938 at the...
. Russell was attempting to arrange passage to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(see Operation Dove
Operation Dove (Ireland)
Operation Dove also sometimes known as Operation Pigeon, was an Abwehr sanctioned mission devised in early 1940...
), having left Stephen Hayes as Acting Chief of Staff back in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
While Russell's movements were unknown to Hayes, he sanctioned the drawing up an invasion plan to end partition and reunify the island of Ireland. The plan was written by an IRA volunteer called Liam Gaynor. Gaynor created the plan in early 1940, sometime before it was decided to send the plan to Nazi Germany via courier. Hayes had a couple of reasons for doing this; he wanted German assistance for IRA operations in Ireland, and he wanted to re-establish the IRA link with German Intelligence (Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
) to secure arms and money. The courier for transporting the plan to Germany was a Dublin businessman with German heritage named Stephen Carroll Held. Held left for Germany and arrived on 20 April 1940. His first call was to the door of the first Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
contact in Ireland, Oscar Pfaus. Pfaus then took Held to Berlin to meet with Abwehr Section-Leader, Kurt Haller. Held was instructed to produce a previous agreed means of identification that would prove that he was an emissary sent by the IRA. During this first meeting, he did not meet Hermann Görtz
Hermann Görtz
Hermann Görtz was a German spy in Britain and Ireland before and during World War II.-First trip to Broadstairs:Hermann Görtz arrived in Britain on the 29 August 1935 with a secretary, Marianne Emig. They spent a few weeks in Suffolk and eventually moved to Broadstairs and rented a house...
, an Abwehr agent who was preparing to leave for Ireland, but he was introduced to him later. Due to his nervousness, the Abwehr were suspicious and they found the plan he carried extremely amateurish.
His mission complete (delivering the plan and an invitation from Hayes for a German officer to be sent to Ireland), Held returned to Ireland two days later. The Abwehr II war diary briefly records the entire incident beginning 20 April 1940:
"A personal emissary of the chief Irish agent (Jim (Seamus) O'DonovanSeamus O'DonovanSeamus O'Donovan was a leading volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.A native of County Roscommon, he was an explosives expert and reputedly invented the "Irish Wallflower" and "Irish Cheddar" devices. He subsequently became IRA Director of Chemicals in 1921...
) has arrived in Germany."
Then on 24 April:
"The representative sent from Ireland to Germany on behalf of Abwehr II's chief Irish agent departed according to plan on April 23 for Belgium by secret route."
Details of Plan Kathleen
According to Görtz, Kathleen consisted of a map, on which was the suggestion of a German landing similar to that at NarvikBattles of Narvik
The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April-8 June 1940 as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian city of Narvik as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War....
, in the vicinity of Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
— an amphibious assault
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
. The aim of the plan was the conquest of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
via a simultaneous IRA insurgency
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
and use of German forces. The IRA were to be concentrated in the county of Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
on the border facing Lough Erne
Lough Erne
Lough Erne, sometimes Loch Erne , is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne. The river begins by flowing north, and then curves west into the Atlantic. The southern lake is further up the river and so is named Upper...
and Upper Lough Erne awaiting the arrival of German forces in Northern Ireland. However, the IRA plan gave no thought to how German troops were to be brought to Derry, how control of the sea approaches was to be obtained or where and how the coast of Northern Ireland was fortified. Görtz described the plan at the time and its limitations thus: "The plan was therefore completely useless. It nearly broke my heart, since it came from the IRA Chief of Staff."
Hull in "Irish Secrets" describes the plan so:
The plan envisaged a landing in the neighborhood of Derry (in the manner of Narvik Operation WeserübungOperation WeserübungOperation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
) and a successful conquest of Ulster with assistance from the IRA. The IRA planned a ground offensive beginning in County Leitrim with a front on the Lower and Upper Lough Erne which would, somehow, lead to the destruction of all British forces in Northern Ireland. The bait for the Germans was supposed to be the change of neutralizing the RAF's use of Lough Erne as a tactical base against the U-boat fleet. The plan called for the deployment of 50,000 German troops."
It is accepted that the plan was poorly constructed, and not treated with any seriousness by the Abwehr, or German Foreign Ministry although at this stage they did not recognise the IRA as "hopelessly immature". In so much as the plan was considered, it was considered a measure of IRA intent — willingness to assist. It is not known whether any serious planning was done around Kathleen, although the plan appears to have been widened in scope, maybe by Görtz, or perhaps Kurt Student
Kurt Student
Kurt Student was a German Luftwaffe general who fought as a fighter pilot during the First World War and as the commander of German Fallschirmjäger during the Second World War.-Biography:...
, who presented a similar plan to Hitler in January 1941, to include parachute drops of German troops around Divis Mountain and Lisburn
Lisburn
DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...
in combination with the amphibious assault on Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three known glacial fjords in Ireland....
and Magilligan Point.
Aftermath of Kathleen
Plan Kathleen was sent to Germany in April 1940, and arrived around two weeks before Görtz was to parachute into Ireland as part of Operation MainauOperation Mainau
Operation Mainau was a German espionage mission during the Second World War. It was sanctioned and planned by the German secret service and executed successfully on May 1940...
on 5 May. Before his departure, Görtz was instructed to begin contact with the IRA, assess the strength of the IRA and the feasibility of the plan. He did discuss the plan and strength of the IRA with Hayes upon his arrival in Ireland. By the time of these discussions, Russell was still alive, he had arrived in Berlin the day Görtz left although they did not speak together.
The discussions Görtz had with Hayes were entirely unproductive. Hayes and Görtz's had begun their negotiations on 17 May, meeting in the home of Stephen Held. Prior to this Görtz had probably already met with Seamus O'Donovan who had briefed him on the state of the IRA. At this meeting Hayes listed the strength of the IRA, which Görtz reported as "5000 sworn in members, of whom 1500 [are in] Northern Ireland. Hayes counts on a further 10,000 Northern Irish and 15,000 Southern Irish in the case of an armed revolt in Northern Ireland". However, Görtz expressed disappointment with Hayes:
"I do not think it is necessary for me to describe the disappointment which I felt when I met Stephen Hayes, although I had already been warned. I expected someone like Léon DegrelleLéon DegrelleLéon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle was a Walloon Belgian politician, who founded Rexism and later joined the Waffen SS which were front-line troops in the fight against the Soviet Union...
[leader of the Belgian Rexists] or like the leaders of the Breton independence movement, or the Ukrainian leaders with whom I had become acquitained in Berlin. Hayes was an ex-footballer. At first he showed himself as a man of good personal qualities but that is not enough for the leader of nationalist extremists. Later his character deteriorated. I think from alcohol and fear."
At this meeting, Görtz claims that he directed Hayes to cease operations in Éire and instead concentrate operations on Northern Ireland. Görtz reports that Hayes said he would issue orders to that effect. Hayes is also reported to have said that the Irish Government had made contact with him via a priest, "Father O'Hara", with a view to incorporating the IRA within the Irish Defence Forces.
Görtz reports that Kathleen was discussed:
"We discussed the plan of a German invasion of Ulster on the basis of ′Plan Kathleen′ which Held had brought to Germany. I did not tell Hayes what I really thought about the plan but used the discussion about it only as a pretext to learn something about the real strength and state of readiness of the IRA. I said that the plan was the subject of a lively discussion in Germany but that one needed more military intelligence about Ulster before the plan could be executed. Thereupon Hayes asked what sort of information was needed.... Hayes then told me that the IRA had no weapons for any sort of major action. When I learnt of all that was needed in the way of weapons, I wondered exactly what was the military value of the IRA. I told Hayes flatly that the landing of a consignment of arms was just as impossible on the Ulster coast as on that of Éire. The one possibility was delivery on the high seas and that would only be feasible for small quantities. Hayes jumped at this idea. I immediately regretted having spoken about this at all because my remark led to wild and fantastic IRA discussions as to which island could be used for U-boat replenishment and which impossible bogs and mountains could be used as airfields."
Görtz was to say later:
"We always discussed the same things. In Ulster nothing was achieved on IRA initiative, in Éire the order to discontinue activities was not strictly obeyed."
Görtz claims that after this meeting he sat down and worked out the details of shipping and landing arms in Ireland.
Capture of the Plan
On 22 May 1940, Held′s house was raided and equipment brought by Görtz to Ireland including his parachute and Plan Kathleen were seized. The Garda waited for Held to arrive at the house and arrested him. They also found, in Görtz′s room, a typewriter and a file that contained military details about Irish harbours, airfields, bridges, roads, landing places, and the distribution of Irish Defence Forces. Around the same time, wife of Francis StuartFrancis Stuart
Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland before his death in 2000, his unwillingness to take a clear moral stance with regard to his years spent in Nazi...
, Iseult Stuart (daughter of Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride was an English-born Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress, best remembered for her turbulent relationship with William Butler Yeats. Of Anglo-Irish stock and birth, she was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of evicted people in the Land Wars...
) was arrested on suspicion of also harbouring "Heinrich Brandy", the name Görtz was travelling under. Plan Kathleen was blown, and the Irish authorities were to immediately send it to MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
who later sent it to the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC) in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. The details of the plan were to form the nucleus of joint Irish and British wargaming the following year, under the auspices of Plan W
Plan W
Plan W, during the Second World War, was a plan of joint military operations between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland devised between 1940 and 1942, to be executed in the event of an invasion of Ireland by Nazi Germany....
— the combined response to a German invasion.
Hempel would try to negate the fear generated within the Irish political establishment by the discovery of Plan Kathleen. He was instructed to do this by underscoring German offers of military assistance should Britain invade Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
.
The Kurt Student Plan 1941
Plan Kathleen, or a widened variant of the plan to take over Northern Ireland appears to have surfaced again in Nazi Germany during January 1941. During an audience with Hitler, General Kurt Student, commander of the German 11th Airborne Corps, discussed a plan to take over Northern Ireland and leave the territory of Éire free from, and unoccupied by, German troops. The discussions took place at the ObersalzbergBerghof (Hitler)
The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. Other than the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Hitler spent more time at the Berghof than anywhere else during World War II. It was also one of the most widely known of Hitler's...
on New Year's Day where Student was recovering from wounds received during the invasion of Holland
Battle of the Netherlands
The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...
. At this point, Hitler was still obviously considering an invasion of Britain, and it was within this context that Student suggested a diversionary paratrooper attack on Northern Ireland to coincide with German landings on the south coast of England. Student suggested a plan whereby dummies dressed as paratroopers would also be dropped to confuse the enemy. According to Student:
"...an even longer discussion followed on the question of the position of the Irish Free State. Hitler stated: 'Éire's neutrality must be respected. A neutral Irish Free State is of greater value to us than a hostile Ireland. We must be glad that Ireland has remained neutral up to the present. But we could not avoid trespassing on a small scale, through units losing their way by emergency landings at night, by dropping in the wrong area.'"
Student suggested the best date for the operation would be in April, on the 25th Anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
. His plan was to drop 20,000 paratroopers and 12,000 airborne troops by night on two areas of Northern Ireland. The first and larger force would land in the triangle between the northern half of Lough Neagh
Lough Neagh
Lough Neagh, sometimes Loch Neagh, is a large freshwater lake in Northern Ireland. Its name comes .-Geography:With an area of , it is the largest lake in the British Isles and ranks among the forty largest lakes of Europe. Located twenty miles to the west of Belfast, it is approximately twenty...
and Divis Mountain above Belfast, capturing the RAF fields at Aldergrove
Aldergrove
Aldergrove is the name of multiple places:* Aldergrove, British Columbia* Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, a village close to the site of:**RAF Aldergrove**Belfast International Airport* Aldergrove, Edmonton, a neighbourhood....
, Langford Lodge and Nutts Corner. At the same time, a second force of paratroopers would be dropped near Lisburn to destroy the planes on the Long Kesh airfield and cut road and rail links between Belfast and the south. Student's dummies would meanwhile be dropped over the Mourne and Sperrin Mountains to add to the confusion. At daybreak, Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
fighter squadrons would then fly in from Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and land on the captured airfields.
Student claimed after the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that he thought the first part of the operation would have been a success, but if the landings in Britain had gone badly, he and his men would have fought through to the territory of Éire and asked to be interned rather than be captured by the British Army. Despite this sentiment, Student was unaware of the cooperation between Dublin and London around Plan W, and most likely any invasion of German forces would have triggered an invasion by the British. Hitler made no decision on the matter and Student was told the next day by Reichsmarschall
Reichsmarschall
Reichsmarschall literally in ; was the highest rank in the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II after the position of Supreme Commander held by Adolf Hitler....
Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
:
"Do not trouble yourself needlessly about Ulster [Northern Ireland]. The FührerFührerFührer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...
does not want to invade Great Britain. From now on GibraltarOperation FelixOperation Felix was the codename for a proposed German seizure of Gibraltar during World War II. It never got beyond the staff study stage, even though planning continued into 1944, primarily because of Francisco Franco's reluctance to commit Spain to enter the war on the Axis...
will be the main task for you."
Further Information/Sources
- Hull, Mark M. Irish Secrets. German Espionage in Ireland 1939-1945, 2002 (Irish Academic Press) ISBN 0-7165-2756-1
- Stephan, Enno Spies in Ireland, 1963 (MacDonald) ISBN 1-131-82692-2 (reprint)
- Fisk, Robert "In time of War: Ireland, Ulster, and the price of neutrality 1939 - 1945" (Gill & Macmillan) 1983 ISBN 0-7171-2411-8
- Duggan, JP. "Herr Hempel at the German Legation in Dublin 1937 - 1945" (Irish Academic Press) 2003 ISBN 0-7165-2746-4
- Bowyer Bell J.J. Bowyer BellJ. Bowyer Bell was an American historian, artist and art critic.-Background and early life:Bell was born into an Episcopalian family on 15 November 1931 in New York City. The family later moved to Alabama, from where Bell attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, majoring in...
The Secret Army - The IRA. 3rd ed. 1997 - Released MI5 files on Görtz, Held and Plan Kathleen
Notable Abwehr Operations involving Ireland
- Operation Green (Ireland)Operation Green (Ireland)Operation Green often also referred to as Case Green or Plan Green , was a full scale operations plan for a German invasion of Ireland in support of Operation Sea Lion . Despite its detailed nature, Green is thought to have been designed only as a credible threat, a feint, not an actual operation...
- Operation LobsterOperation LobsterIn 1940 the Germans decided to send agents and saboteurs to infiltrate Britain from Norway and Northern France. This plan was given the codename Operation Lobster...
- Operation Lobster IOperation Lobster IOperation Lobster I was an Abwehr plan to infiltrate three German agents into Ireland, , in July 1940...
- Operation Seagull (Ireland)Operation Seagull (Ireland)Operation Seagull was an Abwehr II/Brandenburger Regiment sanctioned mission launched in September 1940...
- Operation Seagull IOperation Seagull IOperation Seagull I was an Abwehr II sanctioned mission devised in May 1942. The plan was the brainchild of Kurt Haller and an expert from Abwehr I-Wi...
- Operation Seagull IIOperation Seagull IIOperation Seagull II was an Abwehr II. sanctioned mission planned in June 1942 as a refinement of Operation Seagull I...
- Operation WhaleOperation WhaleOperation Whale was the name of two separate German Intelligence plans conceived in 1940.*" Unternehmen Walfisch" was an aborted plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland...
- Operation Dove (Ireland)Operation Dove (Ireland)Operation Dove also sometimes known as Operation Pigeon, was an Abwehr sanctioned mission devised in early 1940...
- Operation OspreyOperation OspreyOperation Osprey was a plan conceived by the German Foreign Ministry and Abwehr II. mid 1942. The plan was an enlargement of Operation Whale...
- Operation Sea EagleOperation Sea EagleOperation Sea Eagle sometimes referred to as Operation Dove II was a German Foreign Ministry plan conceived in May 1941 after the collapse of planning around Operation Whale .The operation was to involve landing a seaplane on a lake in Ireland to supply the Irish Republican...
- Operation MainauOperation MainauOperation Mainau was a German espionage mission during the Second World War. It was sanctioned and planned by the German secret service and executed successfully on May 1940...
- Operation InnkeeperOperation InnkeeperOperation Innkeeper was an aborted plan devised in Autumn 1941 to send two Irish Abwehr agents to London on a sabotage mission....
See also
- The Emergency
- Plan WPlan WPlan W, during the Second World War, was a plan of joint military operations between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland devised between 1940 and 1942, to be executed in the event of an invasion of Ireland by Nazi Germany....
- IRA Abwehr World War II - Main article on IRA Nazi links