Englandspiel

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The Englandspiel was the German name for an elaborate counter intelligence operation mounted by the German Abwehr in the Netherlands during the Second World War.

British Special Operations Executive (SOE) was sending Dutch intelligence agents into the occupied Netherlands during the war, but the operation was penetrated by the German contra-espionage in the early stages (1942) and continued under German control. "Clandestine" radio transmissions from the Netherlands fed the British fake information. Despite the fact that the apprehended radio operator tried everything to let his superiors in London know he had been caught, all the while agents dropped in the Netherlands were apprehended upon arrival. Most of them (54 out of 59) perished in the concentration camp of Mauthausen (1944).

After the war reproaches have been made to the SOE for serious flaws in the preparation of the missions, and for ignoring warnings that agents had been caught (notably the absence of the "security key" (a change in the transmission protocol)). However, it has also been argued that SOE had set up the operation for the single purpose of leading the Germans into believing that an invasion would take place in the Netherlands (rather than Normandy), and knowingly sent the operatives to their deaths.