Operation Seagull II (''"Unternehmen Möve II"'' or ''"SeeMöve"'' in German) was an

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 ...

II. sanctioned mission planned in June 1942 as a refinement of

Operation Seagull I Operation Seagull I (''"Unternehmen Möwe I"'' or ''"Seemöwe"'' in German) 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 (economic). The plan envisioned the use ...

. The plan envisioned in Seagull II was to use an Irish Abwehr agent (''"V-Manner"''), who would parachute into the area of south-east of Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, recruit a sabotage team from any willing IRA personnel in the area, and attack important "targets of opportunity" in the immediate vicinity. Both operations were to be controlled by radio and with each sabotage team in Ireland and Scotland liaising with each other via radio contact.

Agents involved and failure of mission

The agent selected for Seagull II was

James Brady James Scott Brady (August 29, 1940 – August 4, 2014) was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the seventeenth White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, Brady b ...

aka. "Agent Metzger". Brady was a native of Strokestown in Roscommon, Ireland who had been stationed in Norway with the British Army. He had been captured by the German Army after they occupied the Channel Islands on 30 June 1940. At the time of the invasion he had been in jail on

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

convicted of the attempted murder of a British police officer. Following his capture he was detained in Stalag XX A (301) where he came into contact with fellow Irishmen, possibly including IRA member Frank Ryan under his pseudonym "Mr. Richards". Brady was recruited by the Abwehr around mid 1941 and subsequently issued a South American passport under the identity of "de Lacy." In preparation for the Seagull II mission Brady underwent a series of intensive Abwehr supervised training courses including a radio course at the Abwehr school at

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

. Following the completion of their training both agents- Brady for Seagull II and Andrew Walsh aka. "Agent Vickers" for Seagull I were to fly to occupied Norway and prepare for their flight aboard a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor to their dropzone. Shortly before takeoff to Norway, Haller received a call from Abwehr II HQ in Berlin who ordered him to return to Berlin with both of the Irish agents immediately. On arrival it was explained that prior to their takeoff for Norway, Andrew Walsh had been overheard confiding to fellow POW Thomas Cushing that he planned to turn himself into the police on landing in England after hiding the money the Abwehr had given him for operational funds. Cushing had informed on Walsh and both were arrested by the Gestapo.It is likely that the communal flat where the Irish POW were housed was under SD surveillance. For a description of what happened to Walsh & Brady see Mark M Hull 'Irish Secrets' page 355. After this, Operation Seagull I was permanently cancelled.

Military context

Operation Seagull II was planned in tandem with

, its genesis can be seen in the context of 1940 - 1941 Abwehr successes in recruiting agents from POW Irish nationals held at Stalag XX A (301), sometimes referred to as " Friesack Camp". The overall focus of the Abwehr was intelligence gathering but there was a great deal of latitude at the regional planning level in the Abwehr's structure. This led to a series of missions which with the benefit of hindsight appear to be entirely flawed. The agent taking part in Seagull II would have found a rich target environment in Northern Ireland. The presence of US Army Troops from early 1942 onwards, and the activities of the RAF operating from the region would have presented targets the Abwehr were interested in hurting. However, IRA assistance in the operation may have been harder to come by. By 1942 the organisation had all but been destroyed in Éire, and the complete failure of the IRA Northern Command's Northern Campaign, (September - December 1942), demonstrated that the organisation was entirely curtailed by wartime restrictions,

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

, and in Northern Ireland, the activities of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

and British Army. It is fair to say that Abwehr staff both at regional Ast level and in Berlin were largely unaware of the problems the IRA faced, and its overall ineffectiveness as an organisation or guerilla force.

Involvement of the IRA

There was no involvement or prior knowledge of Operation Seagull II by the IRA in Ireland, although it is possible that Frank Ryan, an IRA member located/stranded in Germany and working with the Abwehr, was aware of the mission.

Footnotes

Further information and sources

* Mark M. Hull, ''Irish Secrets. German Espionage in Wartime Ireland 1939-1945'', 2003,

Notable Abwehr operations involving Ireland

Operation Lobster In 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 (german: Unternehmen Hummer). It remained in place despite the collapse of plans ...

Operation Lobster I Operation Lobster I (''Unternehmen Hummer I'' in German) was an Abwehr plan to infiltrate three German agents into Ireland, in July 1940. It was part of a wider series of missions carried out within the framework of Operation Lobster during Wor ...

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* Operation Whale * Operation Dove (Ireland) * Operation Osprey * Operation Sea Eagle *

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* Plan Green *

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