British spy files shed light on Nazi saboteurs

[n2doc]

JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press
Updated 03:24 a.m., Monday, April 4, 2011

LONDON (AP) — The four men wading ashore on a Florida beach wearing nothing but bathing trunks and German army hats looked like an unlikely invading force.

Declassified British intelligence files describe how the men were part of Nazi sabotage teams sent to the U.S. in June 1942 to undermine the American war effort.

They were trained in bomb-making, supplied with explosives and instructed in how to make timers from "easily obtainable commodities such as dried peas, lumps of sugar and razor blades."

Fortunately for the U.S., they were also spectacularly unsuccessful.

"It was not brilliantly planned," said Edward Hampshire, a historian at Britain's National Archives, which released the wartime intelligence documents Monday. "The Germans picked the leader for this very, very poorly. He immediately wanted to give himself up."


Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/British-spy-files-shed-light-on-Nazi-saboteurs-1320485.php