![]() ![]() Originally intended to gather information gauging the effectiveness of Nazi propaganda in the United States, the objective of Operation Magpie was later widened to include the gathering of technical engineering information, generally from public sources. They had previously landed agents on American shores by U-Boat as part of Operation Pastorius in June 1942, but that mission failed, resulting in the capture of all eight of the espionage agents who were deployed. Operation Magpie would be Germany's second and final attempt to insert agents onto the American mainland by submarine. The idea of landing spies in the United States originated with Nazi Germany's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and this particular operation was developed by the Schutzstaffel (SS). Despite a number of claims and speculations that the mission was intended to sabotage the Manhattan Project, no supportive evidence exists in the official investigative records. Operation Magpie was one of only two times the Germans landed agents on American shores by submarine during the war. When the war ended, their sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment by President Harry S. At the time, the military tribunal which named American citizens in a conspiracy to commit treason was only the third of its kind ever held in the history of the US. In February 1945, the two agents were convicted of espionage by a military court and sentenced to death. They spent nearly a month living in New York City, expending large amounts of cash on entertainment, but accomplishing none of their mission goals.Ĭolepaugh quickly lost his commitment to espionage, and hoping to avoid the death penalty for treason, turned himself in to the FBI and betrayed his partner Gimpel, effectively ending the operation in late December 1944. The agents were William Colepaugh, an American-born defector to Germany, and Erich Gimpel, an experienced German intelligence operative. The mission commenced in September 1944 with two Nazi agents sailing from Kiel, Germany on the U-1230 and coming ashore in Maine on November 29, 1944. ![]() military and technology facilities during World War II. Operation Elster ("Magpie" in English) was a German espionage mission intended to gather intelligence on U.S. William Colepaugh (L) and Erich Gimpel (R), following their arrest in December 1944.
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