Barbarossa (June - December 1941), the Siege of Leningrad (September 1941 - January 1944), Operation Nordlicht ("Northern Light", August - October 1942), and the Battle of Stalingrad (July 1942 - February 1943). The failed conquest had depleted German resources, and its military-industrial complex was unprepared to defend the Großdeutsches Reich (Greater German Reich) against the Red Army's westward counterattack. By early 1943, the German government began recalling from combat many scientists, engineers, and technicians. They returned to work in research and development to bolster German defence. The recall from frontline combat included 4,000 rocketeers returned to Peenemünde, in northeast coastal Germany.
“Overnight, Ph.Ds. were liberated from KP duty, masters of science were recalled from orderly service, mathematicians were hauled out of bakeries, and precision mechanics ceased to be truck drivers.”
- Dieter K. Huzel, Peenemünde to Canaveral
The Nazi government's recall of their now-useful intellectuals for scientific work first required identifying and locating the scientists, engineers, and technicians, then ascertaining their political and ideological reliability. Werner Osenberg, the engineer-scientist heading the Wehrforschungsgemeinschaft (Defence Research Association), recorded the names of the politically cleared men to the Osenberg List, to reinstate them to scientific work.
In March 1945, at Bonn University, a Polish laboratory technician found pieces of the Osenberg List stuffed in a toilet. The list subsequently reached MI6, who transmitted it to U.S. Intelligence. Then U.S. Army Major Robert B. Staver, Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, used the Osenberg List to compile his list of German scientists to be captured. Wernher von Braun, Germany's premier rocket scientist, headed Major Staver's list.
In Operation Overcast, Major Staver's original intent was only to interview the scientists, but what he learned changed the operation's purpose. On 22nd May 1945, he transmitted to the U.S. Pentagon headquarters Colonel Joel Holmes's telegram urging the evacuation of German scientists and their families, as most "important for the Pacific war" effort. Most of the Osenberg List engineers worked at the Baltic coast German Army Research Centre Peenemünde, developing the V-2 rocket. After capturing them, the Allies initially housed them and their families in Landshut, Bavaria, in southern Germany.
Beginning on 19th July 1945, the U.S. JCS managed the captured ARC rocketeers under Operation Overcast. However, when the "Camp Overcast" name of the scientists' quarters became locally known, the program was renamed Operation Paperclip in November 1945. Despite these attempts at secrecy, later that year the press interviewed several of the scientists.
For years the scientists were held or invited to work in scientific bases around the USA under contract. In 1959, 94 Operation Paperclip men went to the United States.
Overall, through its operations to 1990, Operation Paperclip imported 1,600 men, as part of the intellectual reparations owed to the US and the UK, valued at $10 billion in patents and industrial processes.
So how does this mean that a deal had been struck with Hitler? Surely this was the USA and Russia helping themselves to their war reparations.
It was known Hitler had a double, it would be too easy to replace Hitler in the bunker with one of his doubles, kill him and burn the evidence, as has been written earlier. Is there proof that Hitler escaped?
My evidence is witness. Of course, a witness would need to be proved to be reliable, but think, why would a witness lie in the case of Hitler’s escape from Berlin? Hitler’s end, as described in the history books is enough, the end of a mad vicious dictator. Why lie that he has escaped? There is no reason to lie. That would be my logic. So now I needed to find any witnesses that categorically state they had some part in or saw Hitler anywhere other than a burnt grave in Berlin beyond 4th May 1945.
So began a trawl of any document I could find relating to the subject. There were thousands, and Karen was brilliant at sifting through the mass and only passing on to me to scrutinise the useful parts. We made a brilliant team, with access to the most secret of documents and reports that any other reporter or writer would certainly not have access.
The Honeys and the trap
Timeline - June 1976
During this time, one thing that continued to worry me was Jenny, and who she said she was. There was something about finding the folder that started all this that just didn’t seem right to me. It was time to find out. Since February when I had passed Jenny’s personnel file to a specialist team to deep investigate. Unknown to Jenny and Karen, they had re-checked her background, followed her every move, in and out of Century House, tapped phone lines, intercepted letters, read and returned them looking perfectly normal at the post office. The result of all this work, nothing. Nothing could be found that she was anything but a hard-working secretary, working honestly and diligently, apart from the one folder she had removed to my possession, but now returned to its correct place, hidden from requests under the 30 years Act back at Hanslope Park. I hadn’t told the investigation team about the folder. I had checked that it had arrived as it should have done and not spirited away as suspiciously as it had arrived.
I have no idea why, but I couldn’t take the result of the deep check team as I should have. It was just something about the folder, its contents and lack of any routing record. Something in my mind wasn’t right with that part of her story. So I decided there should a test, a test for Jenny. A bait was needed to draw her out if she was anything but what she appeared.
Early June, now almost five months into this project, I phoned to ask Karen to arrange for me to see Jenny.
“Come over to my home for dinner Friday evening, we’ll make a night of it,” Karen suggested. This was perfect, I would have the chance to “loosen Jenny up” with drinks and some fun. Best of all I’d stay the night and be with the love of my life. Karen wanted me to stay, but she had no idea I was going to set up Jenny with a bait trap.
“Karen, do you trust me?” I asked on the phone to her.
“Of course I do, I couldn’t work with you if I didn’t. I trust you completely,” she replied.
“Whatever happens I need you to trust me and that there is a reason for everything I do. I may flirt a bit with Jenny” I told Karen.
“Oh, you still don’t trust her,” Karen got it right away, there was no pulling the wool over her eyes. It was almost that she could read my mind.
“OK, do what you have to do, flirt all you like, but trust me, she is my best friend, I know her better than anyone, you’ll see,”
“I ask nothing but your trust, I love you, but I have to do something to allay my feelings that she is more than she seems, these are strong feelings, you know me and when I get this feeling there’s always a reason,” we weren’t arguing, we never did. Karen was just torn between loyalty to her best friend and me. I understood that and couldn’t get cross with her for standing up for her friend.
The following Friday evening, I arrived at Karen’s flat loaded with bottles of wine, chocolates and flowers for both girls. Jenny answered the door intercom and buzzed me in, I went by the lift to the fourth floor and Jenny was already waiting at the open door to Karen’s flat. She looked very attractive, really cute in a black tight-fitting top and mini skirt, she had the sexiest tanned legs, shapely and fit looking. I kissed a greeting on Jenny’s cheek, she smelt very nice too, she was wearing an expensive perfume her whole image was sexy and irresistible. As I kissed her, I said how nice she looked and passed her the flowers and some chocolates. June
