GERMAN HOAX
BRITISH AND DUTCH DECEIVED
(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 23. “After 13 months, Allied intelligence officers have almost completed piecing together ’the story of one of the greatest hoaxes of the war,” says The Hague correspondent of the ‘‘Daily Express.” “It was played by the Germans against the British and Dutch Governments, and it cost many lives and nearly wrecked the Dutch underground movement.
“The hoax began when two agents dropped by the Royal Air Force in Holland in 1941 on the orders of the Netherlands War Department in London, were captured and tortured by the Gestapo until they disclosed the code used between the underground and Radio Orange. German Intelligence, using the code and the men’s names, got in touch with London and gave information unharmful to the Germans, but making it look as if the underground was doing yvell. “The German hoax worked well throughout 1942. ‘Send 10,000 English cigarettes, chocolate, and another radio,’ was one request which was promptly answered by the Royal Air Force. The Germans replied: ‘Thanks for the fags.’ “Becoming more venturesome, the Germans asked for all kinds of supplies. They also learned about the explosives and arms carried by Allied spies, demolition agents dnd saboteurs, and sought to drain the reserves by requesting that more agents should be dropped into Holland, as a result of which 40 Netherlanders fell into Gestapo Hands. Some refused to talk and others munched their little sugarcoated pills bringing death in a few seconds. Others, under torture, talked. ‘The Germans tried hard to break up Holland’s underground movement. Using a Dutch traitor to gain the underground’s confidence, through his knowledge of the code, they rounded up the Ringers’ Committee—one of the Sons * amous underground organisa-
The hoax ended when one of the last men to be dropped in Holland under German orders escaped from his captors managed to return to England, and told the full story. The Germans, realising that the game was up when their instructions were no longer heeded, sent a final message to London stating: ‘Thanks for all the things you sent us’.’’ *
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Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24910, 25 June 1946, Page 5
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350GERMAN HOAX Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24910, 25 June 1946, Page 5
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