Operation Pelikan (german: Unternehmen Pelikan), also known as Projekt 14, was a German plan for crippling the Panama Canal during World War II. In mid-late 1943 the Wehrmacht had completed preparations to haul two

Ju 87 Stuka The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Cond ...

s with folding wings on two U-boats to an unnamed

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n island near the coast of Panama, reassemble the planes, arm them with "special bombs", and then send them to attack the

Gatun Dam The Gatun Dam is a large earthen dam across the Chagres River in Panama, near the town of Gatun. The dam, constructed between 1907 and 1913, is a crucial element of the Panama Canal; it impounds the artificial Gatun Lake, which in turn carries sh ...

. After completing the mission, the pilots would fly to a neutral country and seek internment. However, Germany called off the plan, for unknown reasons, at the last minute. Rumors among the Germans who planned the sabotage were that it had been called off due to betrayal. Most of these types of plans involved acts of sabotage using agents in place and/or landed by U-boat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelikan, Operation World War II espionage Military history of Germany during World War II Military history of Panama during World War II Military history of the United States during World War II 1943 in Germany 1943 in Colombia Nazis in South America

See also

References