The true story of eight nazi spies who landed on American shores via U-Boat at the height of WWII George Dasch, FBI mugshot George John Dasch was born on February 7, 1903 in Speyer, Germany, the fifth of thirteen children.  His mother, a social worker and quite influential at critical moments of his life, implored him at the age of thirteen to enter a seminary in preparation for the Catholic priesthood.  Dasch was expelled a year later and then served briefly in the German Army at the conclusion of World War I, lying about his age to facilitate enlistment.  Post war occupation by American troops resulted in Dasch’s fascination with emigrating to the United States and his employment on the docks of Hamburg allowed him to eventually stow away on a merchant ship bound for Philadelphia.  There, he avoided detection and blended into the neighborhood, getting a menial job within days of his arrival in October of 1922.  Determining that he might have more success within the large German ex-pat community in New York, Dasch quickly headed north.  The eight saboteurs: top, left to right, Dasch, Burger, Heinck, Quirin. Bottom, left to right, Kerling, Thiel, Neubauer, Haupt All eight men were outfitted with American style civilian clothes, fake identity papers and presented with eight wooden crates containing waterproof stainless steel receptacles packed tightly with plastic explosives, detonators, and timers.  Dasch and Kerlin as team leaders were given additional training in invisible ink composition and composed handkerchiefs covertly containing contact names for reliable friends and relatives in the US.  Dasch and Kerlin were also each given approximately 85,000 dollars.  Walter Kappe, 1936 American mug shot Upon arrival, Dasch was confined to a hotel with other newly arrived German nationals where he was rigorously interviewed by officials intent on determining the exact motivation for his return.  Among these interviewers was a man named Walter Kappe, who grilled Dasch in English to assess how well the he spoke the language.  After Dasch lied to him about employment in an import-export company and demonstrated language proficiency, Kappe gave him his card, indicating that he was an editor of a magazine and encouraged him to interview for a position.  Dasch was polite, but was anxious to visit his family and explore other less nebulous options via family connections.  Wilhelm Canaris Hitler no longer had to worry about that consequence, and he began to berate Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris, to implement the Fuehrer’s concept of a massive covert attack on America, both destroying American industrial capability and fomenting a home grown fifth column of resistance within the German-American community. Erwin Lahousen
Canaris and the head of the Abwehr II section, Erwin Von Lahousen, began to cast about for an appropriate individual to supervise this covert scheme.  Walter Kappe, having spent many years in the US and possessing an understanding of the German ex-pat community was a logical choice.  Kappe, eager to settle scores against a country that ultimately rejected him, enthusiastically accepted the assignment.  Perhaps, Canaris and von Lahousen, secretly anti-Nazi and two of several eventual leaders of the ill-fated German military resistance to Hitler, were subtly trying to derail the operation from the top down.  Amagansett Coast Guard Station
Jennett was convinced and prepared a response, notifying the off-duty commander of the outpost, chief boatswain’s mate Warren Barnes, who showed up within minutes.  Jennett issued rifles to the seven other men in the Coast Guard station, all so inexperienced that he had to give them a quick tutorial on their safe usage.  Calls were also placed to the off duty senior officer at the Amagansett station who contacted Coast Guard intelligence in New York City. Coast Guardsman John Cullen
John Cullen, ran back to his outpost as quickly as possible, returning in...