''
Abwehr'' Lieutenant colonel Hermann Joseph Giskes (28 September 1896 – 28 August 1977), a
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
veteran and a survivor of
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
, was an
intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
primarily stationed in the occupied Netherlands, and head of ''Abwehr'' Section IIIF. He is best known as one of the leading lights behind the ''
Englandspiel
Englandspiel (''England Game''), or Operation North Pole (german: Unternehmen Nordpol), was a successful counterintelligence operation of the (German military intelligence) from 1942 to 1944 during World War II. German forces captured Allied r ...
'' operation. Giskes' activities were responsible for supplying a great deal of disinformation to British intelligence services for much of World War II, and for the arrest of more than 50
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) agents, nearly all of whom were executed. Giskes first succeeded in gaining the partial cooperation of captured British agent Hubertus Lauwers, who sent encrypted messages (but missing
security checks) back to the British SOE headquarters at Giskes' direction, under duress. Then dozens of agents parachuted in succession, and were captured by the Germans, along with tons of equipment.
When it became apparent that the penetration had been uncovered, Giskes on 1 April 1944 sent the following message
in clear
In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted.
Overview
With the advent of comp ...
(unencrypted text) to London:
To '' he SOE section chiefs' Messrs Blunt,['Blunt' refers to a pseudonym used by Major Charles Blizard, Head of N (Dutch) Section SOE.] Bingham[Major ]Seymour Bingham
Seymour may refer to:
Places Australia
*Seymour, Victoria, a township
* Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria
*Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria
* Seymour, Tasmania, a locality
...
, his successor as Head of N Section. and Succs Ltd., London.
In the last time you are trying to make business in Netherlands without our assistance stop we think this rather unfair in view of our long and successful co-operation as your sole agents stop but never mind whenever you will come to pay a visit to the Continent you may be assured that you will be received with the same care and result as all those who you sent us before stop so long.
At the end of the war, Giskes was interrogated by
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from ...
at Camp 20,
Iserlohn
Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region.
Geography
Iserlohn is locat ...
, before release. He then worked for US intelligence services in Europe.
See also
*
Leo Marks
Leopold Samuel Marks, (24 September 1920 – 15 January 2001) was an English writer, screenwriter, and cryptographer. During the Second World War he headed the codes office supporting resistance agents in occupied Europe for the secret Special ...
- the
SOE cryptographer who claimed to have become increasingly suspicious of Abwehr penetration of the Dutch circuit
Notes
References
;Bibliography
*
*
*
* (Originally published by
Bastei Lübbe as ''London ruft Nordpol : das erfolgreiche Funkspiel der deutschen militärischen Abwehr'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giskes, H. J.
Abwehr personnel of World War II
1977 deaths
1896 births
Military personnel from Krefeld
German Army personnel of World War I