As a piece of history in November 1939, the "Venlo Incident" not only paved the way for Hitler's invasion of Europe, but also played an important role in the intelligence war in World War II.
Since then, restraint between Britain and Germany has ceased to exist and has been replaced by the use of force, which has escalated the intelligence war. Agents in cafes were no longer able to meet the demands of war, and violence became the norm.
Franz Fisher made contact with two of the most important British intelligence agents on the continent in early September 1939. Fisher claimed to be a representative of an anti-Hitler underground within the German team and asked the British if they would be interested in meeting with important members of the group.
At that time, Major Stevens' public identity was a staff member of the British office in The Hague, the Netherlands, and Captain Best had lived in the Netherlands for a long time and had started a company of his own, which was a cover for intelligence activities.
Both were ** officers of MI5 of the British Intelligence Service, and Stevens was in charge of intelligence activities against Germany. Prior to this, the British had heard that there was a secret anti-Nazi organization called the "Black Band" within the German army, whose members included some veteran generals and officers, and their leader was General Beck, who had been the chief of the German army's general staff.
Convinced that Hitler's military adventures would bring disaster to Germany, the members of the "Black Band" had been plotting to overthrow the Nazi regime. Stevens knew that London was very concerned about this situation, so he showed great interest in this sudden uninvited guest, hoping to establish contact with the conspirators through Fisher, and then help them overthrow Hitler's regime, and at least obtain a lot of valuable information.
Despite this, Stevens was still very careful, because the new British intelligence chief, Sir Stuart Menheath, had taken special care of him: the counterintelligence capabilities of Nazi Germany's intelligence services should not be underestimated, so as not to fall into the trap.
On October 30, Stevens began negotiations with the other side, but his colleague Best and he unwittingly fell into a trap carefully laid by German intelligence.
Franz Fisher was no ordinary German, but an officer of the SS Reich Security Service, codenamed "F479". And the so-called Captain Shermel was actually the head of the Foreign Intelligence Section of the Intelligence Department of the Security Service, and the head of the 1st SS commando unit, Wardslamb.
The whole operation was planned by Reinhardt Heydrich, the head of the Security Bureau, whose purpose was to understand the relationship between the British and the anti-Nazi organization within the German army, in order to completely destroy this organization and destroy the entire British intelligence network on the European continent.
The traps of Heydrich and his family were eventually directed by himself, reported directly to the SS leader Himmler, and finally delivered to Hitler. In Amsterdam, Stevens had a long conversation with Slamb, culminating in a memorandum that included goals such as the overthrow of the Nazi regime, immediate rapprochement with Western countries, the restoration of the independence of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, and the restoration of the gold standard.
In order to win the trust of the British, Slamb even promised that the British attitude towards the new German regime should be "equal". Immediately after the talks, Stevens reported to his immediate boss, Menheath, who was encouraged by the results.
The next day, in order to further deceive the British, Slamber introduced the army doctor, Captain Hersmann, who was actually his good friend Max de Klinis, a professor of psychology at the University of Berlin and the Shalit Hospital.
Slambu claimed that he was the right-hand man of the leader of the "Black Band". The personable and well-mannered Klinis was naturally the perfect fit to be the general's aide-de-camp.
Soon, the British believed him as if they were Slamb. Klinis then further suggested that his superiors (a general, of course) would be willing to fly to London for talks at the highest levels with the British.
The British, believing it to be true, gave Slambu a wardrobe radio station and a password to use the On-4 call sign to communicate directly with the British Intelligence Service.
On October 31, Best drove two Germans out of the Dutch border. A few days later, the message came from On-4: the general was willing to fly to London on November 9.
Menshes thought it might be General Baker himself, so he arranged for an RAF Anson to pick him up. At the same time, he instructed Stevens not to go to the border to talk to the Germans again, just in case, and if there were problems, to The Hague and Amsterdam.
On 7 November, Stevens and Slamb finalised their itinerary and decided to meet at the Café Bacchus on the Dutch-German border on 9 November before heading to Denmark for a flight to the UK.
On the evening of November 8, Slambu rested early and took a sleeping pill so that he could have enough energy the next day. At midnight, when he was sleeping soundly, the ** at the head of the bed suddenly rang, and the voice of the SS leader Himmler came from the earpiece.
He claimed that when Hitler attended the annual meeting of Nazi veterans at the Munich beer hall that night, there was a ** incident at the scene, and several old party comrades were killed, and the damage was considerable".
British intelligence planned an assassination operation, much to the fury of Nauyox and Heydrich Hitler. Although there is no conclusive evidence, Germany** has continued to spread rumors about it, offering a reward of $200,000 for clues to the assassin.
Hitler even ordered immediate retaliation by kidnapping the two British agents and escorting them back to Berlin. Heydrich had no choice but to carry out this decision by sending Alfred Nauyoks, the commander of the 1st SS commando group, to the Netherlands with 20 hand-picked SS soldiers to assist Slamb in his mission.
Nauyox excelled in this kind of task, and he was responsible for assassinations, kidnappings, and other activities in the Security Bureau. With the cooperation of Slamb, they set off in the early morning of November 9.
Slambu discussed a plan of action with Nauyox and then drove from Düsseldorf. At around 2 p.m., Slambu arrived at the Bacchus Cafe in the Dutch town of Venlo at the agreed time, which is an ordinary border café with a children's playground not far away, and everything seems to be calm.
However, in a hidden location in Germany, Nayox and his SS soldiers were nervously waiting for Slamb's signal. Best's blue Buick car drove up, they noticed the unusual atmosphere, stopped for a while, and then slowly drove to the corner and stopped in front of the café.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Srambu signaled to Nauyokos to act.
The intelligence war has entered a new stage, and the appearance of Slambu makes Best and others relax their vigilance, but the unexpected happens. The roar of huge engines came from the German border, and three Mercedes cars rushed to the café, loaded with SS soldiers equipped with automatic **.
A soldier fired a submachine gun at a Dutch soldier at a border post, knocking down two men. Mercedes Benz blocked the way of the Buick, and all the actions were pre-planned.
Nauyox and four SS men jumped out of another car and grabbed the British and the driver. Nauyox personally handcuffed them, but ignored the Dutch ** officer Crope, who was in the same car.
Kroper quickly pulled out his pistol, but was fired by two NP-38 submachine guns, almost breaking it in two. The Mercedes did not turn around, but reversed directly, and the SS personnel began to strafe around.
A few minutes later, the vehicle was back on German territory and the operation was successfully completed. Best and Stevens were quickly taken to Berlin and thrown into the basement of the Security Bureau. Hitler was so pleased with the operation that he received Slamb, Nauyox and other SS personnel involved in the operation and awarded them the Iron Cross.
The Venlo affair "had obvious benefits for the Third Reich, starting with the fall of two British intelligence officers into the hands of the Germans, leaving the British intelligence system in a difficult position on the continent, and the generals who had intended to overthrow the Nazi regime had to be more cautious."
In addition, Hitler used this to accuse the Netherlands** of violating the principle of neutrality and of assisting Britain in its intelligence activities against Germany.
Six months after the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the Germans launched an offensive against the rest of Europe.