Fifth Columnists and Sabotage in 1940 France from Various Sources

1st Guards Brigade HQ

 

1st Guards Brigade HQ

 

1st Guards Brigade HQ

 

11.15 Hrs on 19th May 1940




001 HOGGETT A 4128671 4TH BN 19/05/1940 CHESHIRE REGIMENT
002 LUCKING KSB 42126 4TH BN 19/05/1940 CHESHIRE REGIMENT
003 NURSAW GH 4124961 4TH BN 19/05/1940 CHESHIRE REGIMENT
004 TAYLOR ST 4128499 4TH BN 19/05/1940 CHESHIRE REGIMENT
005 WALLIS RA 5383464 1ST BN 19/05/1940 OXFORD AND BUCKS LIGHT INFANTRY
006 WILLIAMS MR 38500 4TH BN 19/05/1940 CHESHIRE REGIMENT

 

A personal account by Gordon Spring within the book mentioned above.

...An officer came up and told us that he would lead us to the coast road. We walked for a few days with no food or anything to drink. We slept a little where we could-anywhere. Suddenly a despatch rider came up and said to us that our officer was leading us the wrong way. He was an imposter, a German, leading us to captivity. We shot the officer. Were we right or wrong? This is the state we had now reached. We were around Lille but managed to slip the net at 3.00 in the morning.

 

I've tended to be a little dismissive of the 'fifth columnist' thing but this photo which Rewdco posted on another thread intrigues me.

The man in the suit is just so incongruous in a Dunkirk with the fires still burning. He's far too relaxed to be a French civilian, isn't he ?

 

I've tended to be a little dismissive of the 'fifth columnist' thing but this photo which Rewdco posted on another thread intrigues me.

The man in the suit is just so incongruous in a Dunkirk with the fires still burning. He's far too relaxed to be a French civilian, isn't he ?

Well, in the Netherlands civil and semi-militarized services of the Germans followed the tail of the front formations to seize and safequard all that was of meaning to the German machine, such as military plants, industrial facilities, telecom facilities, etc. Also, we quickly saw quarter-masters of the German administration to be. The Abwehr and Rüstungsamt - for example - often operated in regular civilian clothing as did many of the German civil administration clerks. And these people had themselves photographed all the time when sight seeing the recent battle fields. We saw many of these people, usually in larger teams, during or very shortly after the battle for the Netherlands roaming the newly gained facilities, supplies and weapon caches.

 

Anyone studying the 1940 France and Flanders Campaign is eventually bound to bump into often very emotional accounts related to so-called ‘Fifth Column’ activities. These typically ranged from sabotage, espionage, assassination, hit-and-run sniping, sapping morale, undermining authority and creating as much chaos, panic and confusion as possible. The subsequent climate of fear, suspicion and distrust Fifth Columnists managed to create gangrened virtually everyone and everything. It would therefore not be much of an understatement to say that the Fifth Column very effectively paved the road for the Wehrmacht’s successes in the West. However, strangely enough, in light of Fifth Columnists’ undeniable impact on British, Belgian and French military operations, their activities remain cloaked in mystery and are only covered by a mere handful of books.

For quite a while now, I have been hesitant about whether or not I should be starting a dedicated Fifth Column thread in order to discuss the subject on this forum. Even to this day, merely mentioning the Fifth Column often surfaces the memory of unsavory events which many would be more than happy to be left buried in the past. My growing fascination for this subject, however, has now triggered me to cross the Rubicon and open Pandora’s box.

It is frequently suggested that the Fifth Column was just a myth born out of ambient paranoia or that Fifth Columnists were merely a ragtag bunch of politically misguided amateurs fancying themselves spies or saboteurs. Personally, I tend to disagree: the mere scale and undeniable German successes they helped achieving suggest to me a professional military planning, training, coordination and execution.

One should also bear in mind that in May 1940, virtually anyone could be considered a suspect: a Belgian policeman, a French officer, a local postman, a priest or even a nun could potentially be a German agent in disguise... Panicking people reported enemy parachutists everywhere! This toxic paralysing climate also led to a series of very unfortunate incidents, some with fatal consequences, often involving innocent civilians.

I tend to think there is still quite a lot to be learned regarding what happened at the time. I would therefor invite and welcome any contribution. Though I am very much aware that this thread may potentially trigger some virulent reactions, I nonetheless think it’s about time to lift the lid on this topic.

KR,
Christian

 

Hello Christian a very interesting subject a thread here
Fifth Columnists and Sabotage in 1940 France from Various Sources

 

A bump for this thread
Termites in the woodwork - German Fifth Column activities in May 1940

 

Blimey! How could I have missed this?
Thank you for bringing this to my attention!

 

I feel I own everyone, especially the Admin, an apology for inadvertently duplicating an already existing thread... I still don't understand how I was able to overlook it. Perhaps senility is already slowly kicking in? Please hereby accept my sincere mea culpa.

Needless to say I now feel quite embarrassed... probably not unlike this 'inconspicuous' suspect arrested by French navy personnel in the vicinity of Dunkirk in late May 1940 (source: ECPAD).



Since the last entry in the original thread dates back from July 2011, I would like to propose, if the Admin agrees, to resuscitate this topic here, starting afresh. If not, another option would be to deleted this thread and continue the discussion where it ended in thirteen years ago. I'll leave the matter to the Admin's wisdom.

As to me, I am currently studying some very interesting sources which contain enough interesting issues to fuel a great many (hopefully revealing) discussions. My intention is to share my findings with the community and see what pops up.

KR,
Christian

 

Christian dont worry just keep going and add info. the mods if they see fit will merge the thread
Add more info it is very interesting