Karl Heinrich Meier

Karl Heinrich Meier was a Dutchman of German origin (then aged 24), who, with his accomplice Jose Waldberg, a German national (then aged 25), was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on 10 December 1940, following his conviction at the Old Bailey the previous month. These were the first executions under the Treachery Act 1940.[1]

Meier and Waldberg sailed in a fishing trawler across the English Channel on the night of 3 September 1940. Carrying a radio, a pistol, secret ink, maps, food and 60 pounds sterling, they landed at Dungeness. The following morning Meier tried to order a bottle of cider in the village of Lydd, failing to realise that English pub regulations prohibited alcohol sales in the morning. The landlady alerted the police, who arrested Meier and then Waldberg later that same morning.[2][3]

They both spoke good English, and carried papers showing them to be Dutch refugees from the Nazis.[4]

The two confessed and told of instructions they had received to "observe and report on military objectives, such as aerodromes, concentrations of troops, gun emplacements, and ammunition dumps" and to "mix amongst the civilian population in trains, beffets and public houses, listening carefully to all careless talk by indiscreet civilians".[5]

The Meier case was referred to in a television documentary The Germans Are Coming that screened on the Yesterday channel in 2011.[6]

References
  1. German Spies executed at Pentonville Prison, ww2today.com. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  2. Eike Frenzel,"Invasion der Amateure", Spiegel Online, 21 August 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. RISING SUN Pub of Lydd, dover-kent.com. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  4. "Spies: Agents Without Honour", Time magazine, 23 December 1940. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. "End of Two Spies: Their Working Methods Explained", The Guardian, 11 December 1940, p. 6.
  6. The Germans Are Coming, screened 6 December 2011 at 9pm. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
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