In February 1944, the Nazis began planning R-Netz, networks of trained espionage agents, wireless operators, saboteurs and assassins. Once the Allies invaded Western Europe, their missions were to stay behind in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Greece; to collect military, economic and political intelligence to be brought back or transmitted by wireless to their German controllers; to acquire new identity cards, currency and ration books; to locate and sabotage military and industrial targets and assassinate key military and political leaders. Operation EASTER EGG involved the burial of over 1,000 dumps of explosives and sabotage equipment before the retreat of the German forces to Germany. Only a select few knew of their existence. When British, American and Canadian troops occupied Southern Italy, some of the stay-behind agents surrendered or were denounced and captured. As counter-intelligence officers threatened them with execution as enemy agents, ome revealed the location of the sabotage dumps and hidden wireless sets. Most provided details of the schools where they had been trained, their instructors, the syllabus, their missions and the names and descriptions of other students. As the Allies advanced northwards, more arrests were made which reduced the effectiveness of Hitler's R-Netz. But there were other reasons why the stay-behind agents failed to achieve their German masters' dreams. Bernard O'Connor's Destroying Hitler's R-Netz Volume IV tells for the first time the human stories of Nazi intelligence officers, their stay-behind agents in Italy and the Allied counter-intelligence officers who helped neutralise the potentially very serious threat to the Allies' occupation plans.
O'Connor, Bernard: - Bernard O'Connor has taught Geography, History, Religious Education, Citizenship and English in Britain, Australia, Taiwan and China. Now living in the Shropshire Hills, UK, he has researched many aspects of local history. His first publications were on the social, economic, archaeological and environmental impact of the 19th and 20th century coprolite industry in the UK, France, Spain and the United States. This was open-cast mining of phosphatic nodules, thought by some at the time to be fossilised dinosaur droppings. He has also researched and published work on RAF Tempsford, described as Churchill's Most Secret Airfield during WW2. From here the RAF's Special Duties Squadrons (and for a time the US Carpetbaggers) sent in over 600 secret agents and supplied the many resistance groups in occupied Europe. He has published numerous accounts of the women agents, sabotage training and sabotage operations (including blackmail sabotage) in Norway, Denmark, Holland (the Netherlands), Belgium, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar He has written accounts of German-trained agents infiltrated into Britain; Soviet Comintern agents brought to Britain and infiltrated by SOE into Western Europe; Spanish Republicans trained for missions in Spain, and surrendered or captured anti-fascist Soviet, Austrian and German soldiers who were trained for SOE sabotage and subversion missions. After researching the two Italian Comintern agents infiltrated into Italy by the SOE, he went on to investigate Italian women who helped SOE officers He also investigated Hitler's R-Netz, stay-behind agents in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Italy. He is an accomplished speaker and Zoom presenter.
