![Denhaag monument englandspiel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Denhaag_monument_englandspiel.jpg)
Englandspiel (''England Game''), or Operation North Pole (german: Unternehmen Nordpol), was a successful
counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
operation of the (German military intelligence) from 1942 to 1944 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 opposin ...
. German forces captured
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
resistance agents operating in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and used the agents' codes to dupe the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
's clandestine organization, the
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), into continuing to infiltrate agents, weapons, and supplies into the Netherlands. The Germans captured nearly all the agents and weapons sent by the United Kingdom (Britain).
Englandspiel was a "catastrophe" for SOE and the
Dutch resistance, "a textbook illustration, the world over, in how not to conduct clandestine work." Fifty-four SOE agents sent from England were captured by the Germans and 50 were executed. The Dutch resistance was substantial in numbers but lacked weapons. If armed, as had been the objective of SOE, it might have played an important role helping the allied military forces in their failed attempt to expel the Germans from the Netherlands in 1944.
Background
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was created by the United Kingdom on July 22, 1940, in accordance with Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's directive to "set Europe ablaze." The objective of the SOE was to undertake "
irregular warfare
Irregular warfare (IW) is defined in United States joint doctrine as "a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations." Concepts associated with irregular warfare are older than the te ...
" with sabotage and subversion in countries occupied by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and other
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. SOE agents in occupied countries allied themselves with
resistance
Resistance may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm:
** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title
** ''T ...
groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Section N was created within SOE to deal with the Netherlands. Section N had four chiefs during the war: RV Laming, Charles Blizard (known as Blunt), Seymour Bingham, and RI Dobson. In the words of
MRD Foot, official historian of the SOE, Section N was "not always noted for efficiency."
The opposite numbers of the SOE leaders in the German-occupied Netherlands were Majors
Hermann Giskes
'' Abwehr'' Lieutenant colonel Hermann Joseph Giskes (28 September 1896 – 28 August 1977), a First World War veteran and a survivor of Verdun, was an intelligence officer during World War II primarily stationed in the occupied Netherlands, and he ...
of the
Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
and Joseph Schreider of the
Sicherheitsdienst
' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
(SD), the intelligence service of the
SS.
The Netherlands presented geographical challenges to the
Dutch resistance and the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
intelligence agencies wishing to infiltrate agents and supply arms and supplies to the resistance groups. The country was densely populated and lacked forests and mountains where resistance forces could hide; isolated areas suitable for landing aeroplanes or parachute drops of arms and supplies for the resistance were hard to find; the coast was flat and the beaches guarded and often mined by the Germans, offering little opportunity to bring in agents and supplies by boat or submarine. Moreover, the Netherlands did not border any neutral, unoccupied country which could be used as a staging ground for resistance activities.
Bad beginning
In late summer 1941, a Dutch agent of the British intelligence agency
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
was arrested by the Germans in the Netherlands. He had with him a large number of coded messages, and a German cryptographer, Sergeant E. G. May, learned the MI6 cipher system. In February 1942, two MI6 agents were captured in the Netherlands, which added to the German knowledge of the British codes. At the time, SOE depended upon MI6 for its communications and ciphers.
Meanwhile, SOE was training Dutch agents to infiltrate into the Netherlands to help a fledgling resistance movement. The agents complained about the deficiencies of their training program. They were given clothing easily identifiable as British to be worn in the Netherlands, security was lax and SOE could not provide the agents in training with names and addresses of contacts and safe houses that they would need in the Netherlands. In response, the British confined the disaffected trainees and released them only in December 1941 after a complaint by the Dutch government-in-exile in England, and the agents signed a agreement to remain silent about their complaints.
SOE's first two Dutch agents, wireless operator
Huub Lauwers and saboteur Thys Taconis, parachuted into the Netherlands on the night of 6/7 November 1941. Lauwers was captured on 6 March 1942. He was persuaded to send messages to SOE in London, but he omitted from the messages the two security checks (deliberate errors) that were required to be introduced into messages by the sending agent, the scheme for which was known only to the agent and SOE. The presence of security checks in messages indicated that the sender was the legitimate agent and was acting under free will. The absence of security checks represented a vitally-important
duress code
A duress code is a covert distress signal used by an individual who is being coerced by one or more hostile persons. It is used to warn others that they are being forced to do something against their will. Typically, the warning is given via some ...
, which should have warned SOE that the sender was either an impostor or a legitimate agent who had been captured and
coerced
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
into working for the Nazis. Repeatedly ignoring the significance of the absent security checks was a serious violation of the SOE's own transmission protocol. However, SOE London ignored the absence of the security checks and accepted the messages as genuine. Lauwers continued to transmit messages without the security checks and even inserted the letters CAU and GHT ("Caught") at the beginning and end of messages. SOE London paid no attention.
The messages that Lauwers transmitted as a prisoner of the Germans included requests that additional agents and supplies be sent to the Netherlands. SOE responded positively. Agents and supplies, including weapons, were usually flown out of Britain at night and dropped by parachute from converted
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its or ...
bombers or landed in fields by
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War.
After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...
STOL
A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...
aircraft. SOE air operations were based at
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Sandy, Bedfordshire, Sandy, Bedfordshire, England and south of St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, England.
As part of the Royal Air Force Special Duty Service, the airfield wa ...
. The agents and supplies were met on arrival and captured by the Germans.
Playing England
Several captured Dutch radio operators continued broadcasting encrypted messages but without security checks, which should have alerted SOE that they had been compromised. SOE's head of codes
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 ...
later claimed to have realised that unlike all other coded messages from agents in other countries, the Dutch messages contained no errors. He reasoned that was because they were coded not in the field by harried and harassed wireless operators but by expert German cryptographers. The Dutch messages were too good to be genuine. In the documentary ''Churchill's Secret Army'', Marks recounts how a wireless operator ended a telegraphic radio communication with "HH", which stood for ''Heil Hitler'' and was the usual closing for German communications. The other party instantly replied "HH", which indicated that the transmitter was a German who was used to adding "HH" to messages automatically and not a British agent, who would have been confused by the two letters. Finally, Marks sent a Dutch agent in the Netherlands a deliberately garbled message. Marks reasoned that no ordinary SOE agent could decrypt the message, but the German cryptographers would. The Dutch agent responded to the garbled message, which indicated to Marks that he was transmitting under the control of the Germans. Marks reported the findings to his superior, who told him to not discuss the matter with anybody else; no action was taken.
German wireless operators reported mock resistance groups and sabotage successes to SOE London. When SOE London requested for an agent return to England, he would suddenly meet with a calamity of some sort and so he could not return. In January 1943, Marks wrote a report to SOE leaders about his suspicions that all or nearly all SOE agents in the Netherlands were in German hands, but it was months before any action was taken. Neither the Dutch section, overseeing operations in the Netherlands nor other services were notified of his suspicions. The failure of SOE leadership to respond to signs that the Dutch program was controlled by the Germans was probably motivated by both denial of warning signs and interdepartmental competition between SOE and the rival
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
("C") from which SOE had been created.
End
In the fall of 1943, two Dutch SOE agents, Pieter Dourlein and John Ubbink, escaped from Haaren concentration camp, made their way to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, and reported Englandspiel to the Dutch legation there, which passed the information along to the British government. The two agents then used one of the
escape and evasion lines to get to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and hence to London. The Abwehr's Giskes, however, anticipated their arrival by sending a fake message, ostensibly from another SOE agent, that Dourlein and Ubbink were
turncoat
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the ...
s who became German agents. Both were imprisoned on their arrival in London and remained in a British prison until after the
Normandy invasion
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...
in June 1944. They were later honoured by the Dutch government.
Englandspiel was already on its last legs in the fall of 1943. The
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF), which supplied the planes and pilots for SOE, had suspended SOE flights to the Netherlands after May 1943 because of the high casualties to aircraft and airmen. The RAF had noticed that its flights to the Netherlands always arrived without opposition and that landing areas were "too bloody perfect", but planes were fired upon during their return trip to England and suffered unusually-high losses. In less than a year, 12 RAF aircraft were shot down during their return flight from SOE missions in the Netherlands.
The end of Englandspiel came on 1 April 1944, with Giskes sending a taunting message to SOE complaining about the lack of recent business from England given that he had been servicing them for so long. Giskes' message also promised a warm welcome to any further agents SOE wished to insert into the Netherlands.
Aftermath
![Mauthausen-englandspiel1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Mauthausen-englandspiel1.jpg)
The fifty Dutch SOE agents that had been captured by the Germans were transported to
Mauthausen concentration camp
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
in September 1944 as allied military forces were advancing into the Netherlands, and eventually executed. Giskes, the Abwehr mastermind of Englandspiel, was arrested by the British, but after the war was employed by the United States during the
occupation of Germany
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
.
Some of the officials of the
Dutch government-in-exile
The Dutch government-in-exile ( nl, Nederlandse regering in ballingschap), also known as the London Cabinet ( nl, Londens kabinet), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the Germ ...
in London refused to cooperate with SOE when the details of Englandspiel became known to them. They were ordered to do so by the Dutch
Prince Bernhard
, house = Lippe
, father = Prince Bernhard of Lippe
, mother = Armgard von Cramm
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld
, birth_place = Jena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany
, death_date = ...
, and a fresh start was made in mid-to-late 1944 under new leadership at SOE. Twenty-five well equipped and trained sabotage teams of two Dutch agents each were parachuted into the Netherlands. However, engendered by Englandspiel the British distrusted the Dutch resistance which prevented it from having an impact in
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...
, the unsuccessful offensive by allied military forces in the Netherlands in September 1944. The spearhead of the British forces, the First British Airborne Division, was ordered not to cooperate with the resistance. Had it not been ignored, the resistance would have been helpful in providing badly needed intelligence and communications to the division which had to be withdrawn from the battlefield after heavy losses.
Conspiracy theories in the Netherlands alleged that a traitor in SOE caused the Englandspiel and that Dutch agents were sacrificed to conceal allied plans for an invasion of the Netherlands. "For many, it was simply impossible to fathom how the devastation caused by ''das Englandspiel'' could have been the result of stupidity and ineptness." The contrary and more accepted view of M.R.D Foot is that “the agents were victims of sound police work on the German side, assisted by Anglo-Dutch incompetence in London."
Agents
![Plaquette Englandspiel Binnenhof Den Haag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Plaquette_Englandspiel_Binnenhof_Den_Haag.JPG)
During the ''Englandspiel'' the following agents (amongst others) were dropped in the Netherlands:
* 28 August 1940: Lodo van Hamel, sent to
Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in .
Etymology
The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cent ...
in
South Holland
South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...
.
* 5 July 1941: Aart Alblas, dropped near
Nieuweschans
Bad Nieuweschans (also ''Lange Akkeren''; ; Gronings: ''Nij-Schans''; German: ''Bad Neuschanz'') is a village in the north-eastern Netherlands on the border with Germany. It forms part of the municipality of Oldambt. Nieuweschans means "new fort ...
in
Groningen
Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
, arrested 16 July 1942.
* 6 November 1941: Huub Lauwers and Thijs Taconis, dropped near
Ommen
Ommen () is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the Vecht valley of the Salland region in Overijssel. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a ...
in
Overijssel
Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the ...
. Lauwers was arrested on 6 March 1942, Taconis on 9 March 1942.
* 9 December 1941: Wim van der Reijden, sent to
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...
, arrested on 13 February 1942.
* 23 February 1942: Evert Radema and E.W. de Jonge, sent to
Katwijk aan Zee
Katwijk aan Zee (literally, ''Katwijk-upon-Sea'') is a seaside resort located on the North Sea at the mouth of the Oude Rijn. It is situated in the municipality of Katwijk and the province of South Holland.
History
The Origin till the Gol ...
, Radema was arrested on 29 May 1942, De Jonge on 22 May 1942.
* 28 February 1942: Gerrit Dessing, dropped near
Ermelo in
Gelderland
Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
, returned via
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
to England on 2 September 1943.
* 27 March 1942: Nol Baatsen, dropped near Kallenkote, east of
Steenwijk
Steenwijk (; Low German: ''Steenwiek'', ''Stienwiek'' English: ''Stenwick'') is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality.
Steenwijk received city ...
in Overijssel and immediately arrested
* 29 March 1942: Jan Molenaar and Leo Andringa, dropped near
Holten
Holten (Dutch Low Saxon: ''Hooltn'') is a village in the municipality of Rijssen-Holten in the Dutch province of Overijssel. Holten is located in a forested area just south of the Holterberg, a hill, and is part of the Sallandse Heuvelrug Nati ...
in Overijssel; Molenaar was injured and committed suicide (
by pill), Andringa was arrested on 28 April 1942.
* 29 March 1942: Gosse Ras and Han Jordaan, dropped near Holten in Overijssel, Ras was arrested on 1 May 1942, Jordaan two days later.
* 5 April 1942: Henk Sebes and Barend Kloos, dropped near Harskamp,
Ede in Gelderland, Sebes was arrested on 8 May 1942, Kloos on 29 April 1942.
* 18 April 1942: Jan de Haas (as a replacement for Molenaar), brought to
Castricum
Castricum () is a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands.
Castricum is a seaside town in the province of North Holland. It draws in a fair share of tourists who mainly come to visit the beach and nearby dune ...
, arrested on 28 April 1942.
* 29 May 1942: Herman Parleviet and Toon van Steen, dropped near Kallenkote, east of Steenwijk in Overijssel and arrested immediately.
* 22 June 1942: Jan van Rietschoten and Jo Buizer, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and arrested immediately.
* 26 June 1942: George Jambroes and Jozef Bukkens, dropped near Kallenkote, east of Steenwijk in Overijssel and arrested immediately.
* 23 July 1942: Gerard Jan van Hemert, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and arrested immediately.
* 24 September 1942: Karel Beukema toe Water and Cees Droogleever Fortuyn, dropped near
Balloo in
Drenthe
Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...
and arrested immediately.
* 24 September 1942: Mooy and Jongelie, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 1 October 1942: Aart van Giessen, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 21 October 1942: Meindert Koolstra, dropped near Ermelo in Gelderland and arrested immediately.
* 23 October 1942: Jan Hofstede and Christiaan Pouwels, dropped near Holten in Overijssel and immediately arrested.
* 28 November 1942: de Kruijff and Charle Ruseler, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 29 November 1942: John Ubbink and Herman Overes, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 13 February 1943: Trix Terwindt, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 16 February 1943: Van de Nor, Kees Hulsteijn and Braggaar, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 18 February 1943: Gerrit van Os and Jan Kist, dropped near
Voorthuizen
Voorthuizen (Dutch Low Saxon: ''Voorthuzen'') is a village in the municipality of Barneveld, in the Dutch province of Gelderland. Voorthuizen was founded, according to legend, near a crossing of a ford ('Voorde') of the Ganzenbeek, a brook that ...
in Gelderland and immediately arrested.
* 18 February 1943: Wim van der Wilden and his cousin Piet van der Wilden, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 19 February 1943: Pieter Dourlein, dropped near Ermelo in Gelderland and immediately arrested.
* 21 April 1943: Klaas Wegner, Freek Rouwers and Ivo Uytvanck, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 21 May 1943: Oscar de Brey, Anton Mink and Laurens Punt, dropped and immediately arrested.
* 7 October 1944: (After the end of Englandspiel) Harmen Koopmans and G. Ensink, dropped at
Dokkum
Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks). ...
and immediately arrested. Koopmans killed at De Woeste Hoeve near
Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...
.
In popular culture
* ''Englandspiel'' is the basis for the 1956 Italian film 'London chiama Polo Nordo/The House of Intrigue', directed by Duilio Coletti with Curt Jurgens, and based upon the novel by Hermann J. Giskes, head of the German wartime counterespionage ''Abwehr'' in the Netherlands.
* The ''Englandspiel'' is also featured in the Dutch World War II adventure novel trilogy
Vliegers in het Vuur (1963) by the Dutch author
Klaas Norel.
* The ''Englandspiel'' is mentioned implicitly in
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...
's 1965 satirical spy novel
The Looking Glass War
''The Looking Glass War'' is a 1965 spy novel by John le Carré. Written in response to the positive public reaction to his previous novel, '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'', the book explores the unglamorous nature of espionage and the d ...
. British spy and old hand Fred Leiser, who is to infiltrate East-Germany with an obsolete radioset in the Cold War, was one of the very few agents sent by the British who survived in The Netherlands during World War II.
* The 1977 Dutch movie
Soldier of Orange
''Soldier of Orange'' ( nl, Soldaat van Oranje, ) is a 1977 Dutch romance-thriller film directed and co-written by Paul Verhoeven and produced by Rob Houwer, starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé. The film is set around the German occupation o ...
(Dutch title: ''Soldaat van Oranje'') by
Paul Verhoeven
Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...
was based on an autobiographical novel by
Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema
Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (3 April 1917 – 26 September 2007) was a Dutch writer who became a resistance fighter and RAF pilot during the Second World War. Near the end of the war he was adjudant (assistant) to Queen Wilhelmina. He was ...
and dramatises the wartime history of the Englandspiel. A successful long-running musical ''Soldaat van Oranje'' was performed in the Netherlands since 2010 and treats the same subject matter.
* ''Englandspiel'' is the subject of the "Confusion Was Their Business" episode (1998) of the ''Secrets of WWII'' documentary series, and of the "Dead on Arrival" episode (2012) of the ''Secret War'' documentary series,
which both aired on the
Military Channel
American Heroes Channel (formerly Military Channel and originally Discovery Wings Channel) is an American multinational pay television television network, channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The n ...
in the United States.
* ''Englandspiel'' is the historical inspiration for
"Elise" (2015), the last episode in Season 8 of the historical television drama ''
Foyle's War
''Foyle's War'' is a British detective fiction, detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by ''Midsomer Murders'' screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV (TV network), ...
''.
References
Notes
Further reading
*
* (translated by Arthur Barker)
*
*
*
* {{cite book , last=Marks , first=Leo, author-link=Leo Marks , title=
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941-1945, year=1998 , publisher=
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
, isbn=0-684-86780-X
External links
Website about EnglandspielGuide to Englandspiel
World War II occupied territories
Netherlands in World War II
Abwehr operations
World War II espionage
Dutch resistance
Reich Security Main Office
Special Operations Executive