Operation Dove (Ireland)
Encyclopedia
Operation Dove also sometimes known as Operation Pigeon, was an Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...

sanctioned mission devised in early 1940. The plan envisioned the transport of IRA Chief of Staff Seán Russell
Seán Russell
Seán Russell was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence...

 to Ireland, and on the arrival of Frank Ryan
Frank Ryan (Irish republican)
Frank Ryan was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army, editor of An Phoblacht, leftist activist and leader of Irish volunteers on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War....

 in Berlin three days before the launch of the operation, it was also decided to transport him during the operation.

Russell's arrival and activities in Germany

Seán Russell
Seán Russell
Seán Russell was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence...

 had arrived in Berlin on 5 May 1940, four days after arriving in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 from the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Russell was informed of Operation Mainau
Operation Mainau
Operation Mainau was a German espionage mission during the Second World War. It was sanctioned and planned by the German secret service and executed successfully on May 1940...

, the plan to parachute Dr. Hermann Görtz
Hermann Görtz
Hermann Görtz was a German spy in Britain and Ireland before and during World War II.-First trip to Broadstairs:Hermann Görtz arrived in Britain on the 29 August 1935 with a secretary, Marianne Emig. They spent a few weeks in Suffolk and eventually moved to Broadstairs and rented a house...

 into Ireland. Russell was asked to brief Görtz on Ireland before his departure that night, but missed his takeoff from the Fritzlar
Fritzlar
Fritzlar is a small German town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. It can reasonably be argued that the town is the site where the Christianization of northern Germany began and the birthplace of the German empire as a political entity.The...

 airfield near Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

.

By 20 May, Russell had begun training with Abwehr in the use of the latest German explosive ordnance. This training was conducted at the Abwehr training school/lab in Berlin-Tegel, which specialised in the design of explosives as everyday objects. Russell also visited the training area for the Brandenburg Regiment, the 'Quenzgut,' where he observed trainees and instructors working with sabotage materials in a field environment. Because he received explosives training, his return to Ireland with a definite sabotage objective was planned by German Intelligence. His total training time with German Intelligence lasted over three months.

Immediate context

While Görtz had landed successfully, the capture of the German agents from Operation Lobster I
Operation Lobster I
Operation Lobster I was an Abwehr plan to infiltrate three German agents into Ireland, , in July 1940...

 did not prevent Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...

 allowing the transport of Russell to continue. Both Russell and Frank Ryan departed aboard from Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...

 on 8 August — the mission was dubbed Operation Dove.

Russell became ill during the journey and complained of stomach pains. U-65 was not staffed with a doctor and he died on 14 August 100 mi (86.9 nmi; 160.9 km) short of Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

. He was buried at sea and the mission aborted.

Further information and sources

  • Mark M. Hull, Irish Secrets. German Espionage in Wartime Ireland 1939-1945, Dublin:Irish Academic Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7165-2756-5

Notable Abwehr operations involving Ireland

  • Operation Lobster
    Operation Lobster
    In 1940 the Germans decided to send agents and saboteurs to infiltrate Britain from Norway and Northern France. This plan was given the codename Operation Lobster...

  • Operation Lobster I
    Operation Lobster I
    Operation Lobster I was an Abwehr plan to infiltrate three German agents into Ireland, , in July 1940...

  • Operation Seagull
    Operation Seagull
    Operation Seagull was a British action during the Second World War to destroy several Nazi-controlled industrial targets including a smelter at Arendal, with the help of Kompani Linge agents from Norway....

  • Operation Seagull I
    Operation Seagull I
    Operation Seagull I was an Abwehr II sanctioned mission devised in May 1942. The plan was the brainchild of Kurt Haller and an expert from Abwehr I-Wi...

  • Operation Seagull II
    Operation Seagull II
    Operation Seagull II was an Abwehr II. sanctioned mission planned in June 1942 as a refinement of Operation Seagull I...

  • Operation Whale
    Operation Whale
    Operation Whale was the name of two separate German Intelligence plans conceived in 1940.*" Unternehmen Walfisch" was an aborted plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland...

  • Operation Osprey
    Operation Osprey
    Operation Osprey was a plan conceived by the German Foreign Ministry and Abwehr II. mid 1942. The plan was an enlargement of Operation Whale...

  • Operation Sea Eagle
    Operation Sea Eagle
    Operation Sea Eagle sometimes referred to as Operation Dove II was a German Foreign Ministry plan conceived in May 1941 after the collapse of planning around Operation Whale .The operation was to involve landing a seaplane on a lake in Ireland to supply the Irish Republican...

  • Plan Kathleen
    Plan Kathleen
    Plan Kathleen, sometimes referred to as Artus Plan, was a military plan for the invasion of Northern Ireland sanctioned by Stephen Hayes, Acting Irish Republican Army Chief of Staff, in 1940...

  • Operation Green (Ireland)
    Operation Green (Ireland)
    Operation Green often also referred to as Case Green or Plan Green , was a full scale operations plan for a German invasion of Ireland in support of Operation Sea Lion . Despite its detailed nature, Green is thought to have been designed only as a credible threat, a feint, not an actual operation...

  • Operation Mainau
    Operation Mainau
    Operation Mainau was a German espionage mission during the Second World War. It was sanctioned and planned by the German secret service and executed successfully on May 1940...

  • Operation Innkeeper
    Operation Innkeeper
    Operation Innkeeper was an aborted plan devised in Autumn 1941 to send two Irish Abwehr agents to London on a sabotage mission....


See also

  • The Emergency
  • IRA Abwehr World War II - Main article on IRA Nazi links
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