BACK WHEN ENGLAND WAS A SERIOUS COUNTRY:

Hanged, the Nazi spies who came to Britain in a pair of rowing boats (Daily Mail, 1st May 2007)

With the threat of a Nazi invasion looming, there was no room for compassion in dealing with foreign spies.

Four young men from the Netherlands were captured as they landed on the Kent coast in 1940 — and only one of them was to escape the hangman's noose. [...]

[U]nder questioning by an MI5 captain the men admitted being under orders to gather intelligence on British coastal defences and the morale of the British people. They had been instructed to sleep rough and mingle with the public on buses, trains and in pubs.

An immigration inspector described them as being of 'refined appearance' and that one of them, Charles Van Kiebaum, spoke perfect English with 'an Oxford accent'. According to his passport, Kiebaum was a 26-year-old reception clerk from Amsterdam.

The inspector said another member of the group, Jose Waldberg, was 'perfectly frank, even saying his occupation was a student of espionage'.

A third spy, Carl Meier, 23, was a medical student who was German by birth but had taken Dutch nationality.

Had they been soldiers captured in battle, they would most likely have been held as prisoners of war until hostilities were over. But as spies — even though they came from a country occupied by Germany — Kiebaum, Waldberg and Meier were convicted under the Treachery Act 1940 and executed at Pentonville Prison in December 1940 — three months after their capture.

Now they mewl about Gitmo.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 1, 2007 6:58 AM