They were transported to the American Zone of Germany, the unexecuted portions of their sentences were suspended upon such conditions with respect to travel, employment, political, and other activities as the Theater commander might require, and they were freed.Īlthough many allegations of sabotage were investigated by the FBI during World War II, not one instance was found of enemy-inspired sabotage. In April 1948, President Truman granted executive clemency to Dasch and Burger on condition of deportation. They, too, were quickly apprehended by the FBI before accomplishing any part of their mission. Postwar debriefing of German personnel and examination of records confirmed that no other attempt was made to land saboteurs by submarine though in late 1944, two persons, William Curtis Colepaugh and Erich Gimpel, were landed as spies from a German submarine on the coast of Maine in a rather desperate attempt to secure information. Quirin and Heinck had returned to Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II in Europe, and the six others subsequent to Septemand before Decemapparently feeling their first loyalty was to the country of their birth. Army in 1927 and received an honorable discharge after a little more than a year of service. Haupt had entered the United States as a child, gaining citizenship when his father was naturalized in 1930.ĭasch had joined the Germany army at the age of 14 and served about 11 months as a clerk during the conclusion of World War I. Burger had become a naturalized American in 1933. The eight men had been born in Germany and each had lived in the United States for substantial periods. The remaining six were executed at the District of Columbia Jail on August 8, 1942. Dasch then received a 30-year sentence, and Burger received a life sentence, both to be served in a federal penitentiary. Edgar Hoover appealed to President Roosevelt to commute the sentences of Dasch and Burger. Most of the potential saboteurs were taken from civilian jobs, but two were in the German army.Īll eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Each consented to the task, apparently willingly, although unaware of the specific assignment. Kappe’s responsibility concerned those who had returned from the United States.Įarly in 1942, he contacted, among others, those who ultimately undertook the mission to the United States. Kappe was also an official of the Ausland Institute, which, prior to the war, organized Germans abroad into the Nationalsozialistiche Deutshe Arbeiterpartei, the NSDAP or Nazi Party, and during the conflict, Ausland kept track of and in touch with persons in Germany who had returned from abroad. In active charge of the project was Lieutenant Walter Kappe, attached to Abwehr-2 (Intelligence 2) who had spent some years in the United States prior to the war and had been active in the German-American Bund and other efforts in the United States to propagandize and win adherents for Nazism among German Americans and German immigrants in America. German intelligence settled on sabotage as the most effective means of diminishing our input. The German naval high command did not again allow a valuable submarine to be risked for a sabotage mission. So shaken was the German intelligence service that no similar sabotage attempt was ever again made. On apprehension, a total of $174,588 was recovered by the FBI-the only positive accomplishment of eight trained saboteurs in those two weeks was the expenditure of $612 for clothing, meals, lodging, and travel, as well as a bribe of $260.

The magnitude of the euphoric expectation of the Nazi war machine may be judged by the fact that, in addition to the large amount of material brought ashore by the saboteurs, they were given $175,200 in United States currency to finance their activities. One was sentenced to life imprisonment, another to 30 years, and six received the death penalty, which was carried out within a few days. Tried before a military commission, they were found guilty. By June 27, 1942, all eight saboteurs had been arrested without having accomplished one act of destruction.