I want to explain that prior to entering the sabotage school, I did not actually know that the final groups would be as they are set out above, but we learned while in the school which men were to be attached to myself, as the leader of Group 1, and to KERLING as the leader of Group 2.
All of the above-mentioned persons, including JOSEPH SCHMIDT (alias Joseph Swenson), who was attached to my group originally, ERNST ZUBER and “SCOTT” (last name unknown) began attendance on or about April 10, 1942, at a sabotage school conducted by the German High Command at Quenz Lake, which is located near Brandenburg, Germany, about 60 miles from Berlin. The quarters which we occupied at Quenz Lake were on an estate formerly owned by a wealthy Jew, whose estate was on the edge on Quenz Lake. The buildings at the school were equipped with an up-to-date laboratory, classrooms, sleeping quarters, gymnasiums, proving grounds, and other facilities for giving the students proper and expert instructions and thorough training for sabotage work. Lieutenant KAPPE was in charge of the entire class at the sabotage school, and he was assisted in this job by REINHOLD BART, a young man who formerly lived somewhere in New Jersey.
There were two instructors in the school, namely Dr. KÖNIG and Dr. SCHULTZ. During the course of the sabotage school, all of us received instructions in the manufacture and use of high explosives, in the making of incendiary devices with ordinary chemicals and apparatus which could be bought readily in the United States, formulas for the making of the various explosives and incendiaries in sabotage work. Many of the devices and explosives were tried out by us, and we were also given a brief training in the use of firearms. The actual instruction at Quenz Lake took approximately three weeks. The general routine was to attend classes and have study periods Monday through Thursday of each week. On Friday and Saturday, Lieutenant KAPPE and REINHOLD BART would more or less direct our activities, and we would go over our plane for the trip to the United States, make up cover stories for use in the United States, rehearse these cover stories, and such like. Also, while at the school, we had several hours of instruction in secret ink writing to be used in corresponding with the men after we reached the United States. We were taught three different formulas for making secret link, but I do not recall these formulas in detail, but believe some of the other men may recall these formulas more clearly.
The sabotage school was terminated on or about April 30, 1942, and the entire group then proceeded back to Berlin, with the exception of ZUBER and SCOTTY, who had dropped out of the group during the course of the training. Upon our arrival in Berlin, the entire group of nine men was given a 12-day vacation, with the exception of myself and KERLING.
We were instructed to report back to Berlin on May 11 for the purpose of receiving additional instructions in secret ink writing. We both arrived back at the German High Command in Berlin on that date, and were each provided with secret ink and wrote, each on a separate handkerchief, the names and addresses of contacts to be used by the group leaders in the United States. There also appeared on each handkerchief the password to be used by the group, and also the name by which this mission to the United States for sabotage purposes, which was to be known by the German High Command as “Franz Daniel Pastorius.”
It should be noted that this name was chosen because it was the name of one of the first Germans to take a group of emigrants to the United States many years ago. I have given the handkerchief containing this information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Also, on this occasion, EDDIE KERLING and myself were each given three matches, the tips of which were treated with a chemical to be used for writing secret messages to an address in Lisbon, Portugal, in which name and address in Portugal appears on the handkerchief mentioned above. Only the group leaders were supplied with these matches, and they were only to be used for sending messages through the Lisbon mail address back to the German High Command.
On May 12, 1942, the remaining men in both groups returned to Berlin, and we were all given some additional training with specific emphasis on completing all arrangements for our departure for the United States. From May 12 through May 15, both groups were taken on inspection tours and were shown in detail factories and other installations similar to those which we would be required to sabotage in the United States, so that we would be entirely familiar with such matters, and would know the most vulnerable point in the various types of factories, and other points which were to be attacked in this country.
We were taken to the railroad shops in Berlin and were shown the vulnerable points on locomotives, freight cars, and other railroad equipment. We were taken on a trip up the river from Berlin where we were shown the various types of locks at the river dams, and it was pointed out to us how each type of lock could be most readily and effectively sabotaged. We were also taken to several light metal plants of IG Farben Industries at Bitterfeld and Aachen, where light metals, such as aluminum and magnesium were being manufactured.
At these plants, we were also shown the points most vulnerable for sabotage attacks, and special emphasis was placed on attacking the powerhouse and electrical facilities for these plants to cripple the electrolysis processes used in the manufacture of these light metals. We were accompanied throughout these tours by Lieutenant KAPPE, and on some of the trips, we were also accompanied by Dr. SCHULTZ and Dr. KÖNIG who had been our instructors at Quenz Lake.
At all of these points on our tours, we were received very well, but the purpose of our tour was concealed, and it was made to appear that we were receiving this training to perform counter-sabotage work against the Russians.
According to instructions received through Lieutenant KAPPE from the German High Command, the following were the assignments of the two groups as to sabotage objectives in the United States:
Group 1, of which I was the leader, was instructed to attack particularly the light metal industry in the United States. Our first objective was the Aluminum Company of America plant at Alcoa, Tennessee. Our second objective was the Aluminum Company of America plant at East St. Louis, Illinois. Our third objective was to attack the cryolite plant at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and our fourth objective was to attack the locks at the river dams located along the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Louisville, Kentucky. Having successfully accomplished our attacks on these four objectives, we were then instructed to conduct a general nuisance type of sabotage wherever the judgment of the leader indicated the most damage and confusion would result, such as throwing bombs in department stores operated by Jews, in railroad stations, and other like places.
Group 2, headed by KERLING, was instructed by the German High Command to attack, as I recall, first a large light metal plant near Niagara Falls, New York; second, the Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Newark, New Jersey; third, the railroad bridge over Hell’s Gate, East River, New York City; and fourth, various points along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, which was considered a very strategic railroad in the United States.
After completing the above assignments, Group 2 was also instructed to conduct a general nuisance type of sabotage similar to the instructions of Group 1.
After the tour of inspection, which I have mentioned above, all the men in both groups returned to Berlin, and we were all given two days’ vacation to return home for the last time, and to close up our private affairs. We all reassembled in Berlin on May 20, 1942, for final instructions, and were given a farewell party by officials of the German High Command. I should mention that throughout our training in Germany for our mission to the United States, it was constantly impressed upon us that we were soldiers.
Prior to leaving Berlin, I and each of the other men were required to sign a contract with the German High Command. I presume that the contracts signed by the other men were similar to my own. In my contract, it was agreed that I would be paid the monthly amount of 600 ℛℳ, and that 200 ℛℳ of this money would be paid to my parents in Speyer-on-the-Rhine, Germany, and the remaining 400 ℛℳ would be deposited in the Deutsche Bank in Berlin to my account.
In my contract, I also pledged myself to secrecy regarding my mission until my death, and we were given to understand that, in all our activities, we were subject to military discipline for a breach of confidence or turning traitor to our country, even to the extent of the death penalty. I clearly understood from that contract, that as a solider of the German Army under the German High Command, I was to undertake a secret mission to the United States. My contract also indicated that if my wife returned to Germany, she would be taken care of by the government, and that if I succeeded in returning to Germany, I would be given employment by the German Government.
In conversation with Lieutenant KAPPE during my training in Germany for the mission to the United States, there was a discussion which indicated that I might be made a Commercial Attaché of some German Consulate abroad, if I was successful in returning to Germany after the war.
On May 22, 1942, both groups, accompanied by Lieutenant KAPPE, departed from Berlin by train, and proceeded to Paris, France, both groups remaining there until Monday morning, May 25, 1942, when we all proceeded by train to Lorient, France, which is a German submarine base on the French coast.
Prior to the departure of either group from Lorient, France, Lieutenant KAPPE gave to each, myself and KERLING, $50,000 to be used to cover unusual expenses of each group in connection with their mission in the United States. We had previously turned over four bags, to the German High Command. Three of these bags were for KERLING’S group, and a Gladstone bag for myself. The German High Command had constructed a secret compartment in each bag, and it was in these secret compartments that the $50,000 for each group was hidden. At the time, the money was turned over to KERLING and myself by Lieutenant KAPPE.
Lieutenant KAPPE also gave to each, KERLING and myself, four watertight canvas money belts, each containing $4,000, one to be given to each man, including the leaders as the first installment of their pay of $9,000 for two years’ sabotage work in the United States. Lieutenant KAPPE also gave to each, KERLING and myself, $5,000 for each man under the group leader, and including the group leader, to be given to each man at a time to be decided upon in the discretion of the leader, as the second installment of their $9,000 pay for two years.
Lieutenant KAPPE also gave to each, KERLING and myself, $445 for each of the four men in both groups, to be given to each man prior to landing in the United States for ready spending money.
All the money given by Lieutenant KAPPE, as outlined above, to both KERLING and me, was contained in the secret compartments of our bags, with the exception of the money belts containing $4,000 each, and the $445 for each man as ready cash. All of the money given to KERLING and me by Lieutenant KAPPE was in United States currency, most of which was in bills of $50 denominations.
I permitted each man in my group to fit his money belt to his person, and then to place his initial on the belt. Then I held the money belts of all the men in my group, together with their ready cash of $445 each, until just prior to the time when we effected our landing in the United States.
I forgot to mention that JOSEPH SCHMIDT (alias Joseph Swenson), who was originally designated as one of the members of my group, was found to be suffering from a venereal disease while we were in Paris, and he was sent back.
It is my belief that SCHMIDT will be one of the members of a third sabotage group to be sent to the United States, the leader of which group I understand will be WILLIAM BRAUBENDER (alias Billy Smith), whose name to the German High Command will be known only as DEMPSEY.
I became acquainted with both SCHMIDT and BRAUBENDER, but do not know who will comprise the other members of this third group. From what I heard, I understand that they will bring with them radio equipment, which will be installed in an automobile, so that transmission can be made in various locations considerable distances apart, so that this group can communicate with Germany direct.
The third group was scheduled to come to the United States, possibly sometime in July or August, and we made arrangements to make a contact with this group at the Jefferson Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri.
I should also mention that, after effecting our landing in the United States, KERLING and I, as leaders of the two groups, had arranged to meet on July 4 in the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati, Ohio. In case the meeting on July 4 was unsuccessful, we agreed to meet on subsequent dates, which were specified at the same meeting place.
Further, it was agreed, while we were still in Berlin, that neither group would make any contacts prior to the meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 4, 1942, and our instructions were that no acts of sabotage were to be committed for two months after our arrival in this country.
Group 2, headed by KERLING, and also including HERMANN NEUBAUER, HERBERT HAUPT, and WERNER THIEL, departed from Lorient, France, on a German submarine at about 8:00 p.m. on May 26, 1942. This group was scheduled to sail in German submarine 203, but there is some doubt in my mind as to whether that submarine was actually used. However, Group 2 was scheduled to land on the beach at a point near Jacksonville, Florida. Since Group 2 left Lorient, France, on May 26, 1942, I have not had contact personally with KERLING, NEUBAUER, HAUPT or THIEL.
On the evening of May 28, 1942, I, accompanied by RICHARD QUIRIN (alias Richard Quintas), HEINRICH HARM HEINCK (alias Henry Kayner), and ERNST PETER BURGER, were rushed to the pier at Lorient about 7:30 p.m. We took with us to the pier four boxes which had been loaded for us by officials of the German High Command with high explosives and incendiary material, fuses, ignition devices and so forth, which were to be used by my group in carrying out sabotage in the United States.
We boarded German submarine 202 (official name the Innsbruck) with the four boxes mentioned above and the money which Lieutenant KAPPE had previously given to me. We proceeded to the open sea escorted by several German warships.
I am not clear in my mind as to the exact course followed by the German submarine in proceeding to the United States, but we proceeded under the surface and on the surface until we were nearing the United States coast.
Shortly after midnight and during the early morning hours of June 13, 1942, we arrived in the German submarine about 400 meters off the coast of Long Island. It was extremely foggy, making visibility difficult, and we did not know our exact location, but after taking their bearings, the crew of the submarine was of the opinion that we were in the vicinity of East Hampton, Long Island, New York, which was the point where it had been planned originally that my group would land in this country.
I, RICHARD QUIRIN, HEINRICH HARM HEINCK, ERNST PETER BURGER, and two German sailors from the submarine were loaded in a rubber boat alongside the submarine, together with our four boxes of explosives and sabotage equipment, and our civilian clothing. We paddled ashore and finally effected a landing and immediately unloaded the boat on the beach. According to instructions given before, each man took one of the boxes and carried it up on the high level of the beach.
I went immediately to the top of the beach and took a look at the surroundings. I noticed to my horror that there were beacons to the left of us and beacons to the right of us, so I thought we should act quickly. I ran back to the boat, gave the boys instructions to take off their dungarees, which they had been wearing during their trip over in the German submarine, and to put on their civilian clothes. I was still dressed in my dungarees. I left the boys to go back and see how the two sailors were making out. They were struggling with the boat and looking for their lost oars. I helped them to pull the boat further on the land and to turn the boat over to get rid of the water, which had come over the sides during our landing. I was thinking that the landing was perfect and that the two German sailors should return to the submarine as soon as possible and that they should only wait until I could bring them the duffle bag containing the dungarees which they were supposed to taken back to the submarine in accordance with the instructions of the captain of the German submarine.
As I was talking to the fellows and giving them last instructions, and had started back on the shore, I saw to my horror a tall person walking along the shore towards us with a flashlight in his hand. I realized immediately that this could not be one of our men and in order to prevent this person from recognizing the two men with me as sailors of the German Navy, I approached the stranger on the beach in rapid steps. I recognized him as an American sailor of the Coast Guard. He asked me:
What are you doing down here? What’s up here?
I explained to him that we were lost; that we had left East Hampton to go down to Montauk Point and had become lost en route. The man said to me:
What do you mean East Hampton and Montauk Point? Do you know where you are?
I told him I thought he should know and asked him where his station was located. He said:
It is right up there. My station is Amagansett.
I knew immediately that we were off our original landing as we had planned to land on the beach at East Hampton, Long Island, New York.
The sailor boy asked me to come along to his station, and I was confronted with a very ticklish problem. In order to carry out instructions of the captain of the submarine, I had to lure the man back to the rowboat, so that he could be overpowered by the two sailors and taken out to the submarine. On the other hand, I didn’t want to do this, nor did I want to go to the station with him, as it would be hard to explain what we were doing at the time, because the bags and the boxes of explosives were laying on the beach.
I realized that the other fellows were losing their heads completely, so I decided to use a little psychology and see if I could bribe the sailor. I then approached the sailor directly and told him that I knew we had disobeyed and that we had done the wrong thing, and that I thought it best to forget it if I would offer him something. As I stood there talking to him and he refused to be bribed, ERNST PETER BURGER came towards me and addressed me in German. I interrupted him immediately and told him to get back with the other guys. I noticed that the sailor boy was scared, so I spoke to him in the following words:
You have got a father and mother at home, boy. You would like to see them, wouldn’t you? You have undoubtedly given your oath to do your duty and I am telling you that, by taking this money which I am offering you, you are doing nothing else but your duty. So please take it. My name is GEORGE JOHN DAVIS [the name which I had agreed to use as an alias while in the United States]. What is your name?
He said:
Frank Collins, sir.
I eventually gave this FRANK COLLINS what I thought was $300 which I counted out to him in the dark and dense fog, with the aid of his flashlight. COLLINS then seemed to be willing to let us go, and he said:
All right sir, but now scram out of here, will you please.
After COLLINS had left me, we quickly took all the boxes containing explosives and other sabotage material back from the beach and buried them in the sand with several short German shovels we had brought from the submarine. We then changed to our civilian clothes and paced all our dungarees in a bag and also buried the bag. The excitement was such that we probably dropped a number of articles on the beach in the vicinity, but we wanted to get going away from that place. In the excitement, the two German sailors returned to the submarine in the rubber boat without taking the bag containing the dungarees back to the submarine with them in accordance with instructions.
After we had buried everything on the beach at a point which we thought we could locate later when we returned to recover this material, we proceeded on foot further inland. We moved around some in a group bur decided to lay low until daybreak in the belief that we were probably surrounded.
At daybreak, I led QUIRIN, HEINCK, and BURGER by a rather indirect route to the Amagansett, Long Island, Station of the Long Island Railroad, where we arrived about 5:30 a.m. on June 13, 1942. From the distance we had walked, I would judge that the four of us landed from the German submarine on the beach a few miles east of Amagansett, Long Island.
We waited at the station in Amagansett until the station opened, and then I purchased four tickets for Jamaica, Long Island, telling the ticket agent that we had been out fishing in explanation of our rather untidy appearance. The four of us caught the 6:57 a.m. train out of Amagansett, Long Island, and arrived at Jamaica, Long Island, about 9:00 a.m. By prearrangement, BURGER and I stayed together and QUIRIN and HEINCK went off together as we had agreed to purchase clothing in Jamaica, so that we would not be so conspicuous when we arrived in New York City. BURGER and I purchased sufficient clothing in Jamaica to improve our appearance, then returned to the Jamaica station and caught a Long Island train into Pennsylvania Station, New York City.
We checked into the Governor Clinton Hotel. BURGER was assigned to Room 1421 and I was assigned to Room 1414. Subsequently, on Saturday, June 13, 1942, we purchased some additional clothing at R.H. Macy & Company’s department store to make ourselves appear less suspicious because BURGER did not even have any luggage when he checked into the Governor Clinton Hotel. At the time we checked into the Governor Clinton Hotel, I had in my possession the Gladstone bag which the German High Command had fitted up with the secret compartment for transporting the money which had been given to me by Lieutenant KAPPE. I should mention that, just prior to landing from the submarine, I had given QUIRIN, HEINCK, and BURGER their money belts, each supposed to contain $4,000.00, and also $419.00 in cash. It was originally supposed to be $445.00 in cash to each man, but I found some bills with Japanese writing on them and I decided to leave them on the submarine, so the ready cash given out came to $419.00 apiece.
Later in the day on Saturday, June 13, 1942, by pre-arrangement, BURGER and I met QUIRIN and HEINCK in the balcony of the Horn & Hardart Cafeteria located on 7th Avenue in the vicinity of 34th Street. We conferred at the time, and I gave QUIRIN and HEINCK instructions as to how they should proceed and conduct themselves as to locating a place to live. Again by prearrangement, BURGER and I met QUIRIN and HEINCK about 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 14, 1942, in the vicinity of Grant’s Tomb, located near East 116th Street and Riverside Drive in New York City.
BURGER and I returned later in the evening to our rooms at the Governor Clinton Hotel and I wish to state that since that time, I have not seen QUIRIN or HEINCK.
While traveling to the United States on the German submarine, I had plenty of time to think and conceived the idea that we should have some means of identifying to each other a messenger or stranger whom we might send between us after we arrived in the United States. I noticed that part of the insignia of the sailors on the submarine was a small silver-colored light metal porcupine pig. These were shaped approximately like a porcupine, were made of some light metal like aluminum, and were only about one-eighth or one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Accordingly, I had one of the sailors on the submarine make us eight of these little metal porcupine pigs. I kept two of them myself and gave two each to QUIRIN, HEINCK, and BURGER, with the instructions that, when they sent anyone to me or between themselves, who could be received safely, that this individual was to be given one of these porcupine pigs, and that when the stranger or messenger contacted another member of the group, he would present the porcupine pig for safe identification. All of us, to the best of my knowledge, brought these porcupine pigs ashore but I do not believe that they were ever used in the manner intended.
I might also mention that it was our instructions from the German High Command to survey the situation after we reached the United States and to enlist in our cause any persons who appeared to be entirely loyal to the Nazi cause, and could be trusted to assist and have knowledge of our mission in this country. By this period, KERLING’S and my group, which were, to the best of my knowledge, the first such groups sent to America by the German High Command to commit sabotage, were to build up a German sabotage organization in the United States with headquarters, sense of communication, and exchanging ideas, so that when other groups would be sent over from time to time in the future, there would already be a German sabotage organization active in this country, into which they could fit. It was believed that this procedure would develop the most efficient system in the United States and would also accomplish the greatest amount of good for the Nazi cause in this country.
I have carefully read the above statement which is all true and correct to be best of my knowledge. Accordingly, I am voluntarily signing below, and I am also signing each of the other sixteen pages, which are all a part of this statement.
Witnesses:
N. D. WILLIS
F. G. JOHNSTONE
Special Agents
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Department of Justice
607 Foley Square, U.S. Courthouse
New York, New York
The above statement contains the substance of admissions made to us by George John Dasch. He read the statement on July 2, 1942 in our presence and objected to signing it and refused to state that the facts as related reflected his statements or admission to us. We are attaching a part of the specific objections made by Dasch to the statement.
N. D. WILLIS
F. G. JOHNSTONE
FBI, NYC