German Anti-Nazi Espionage in the Second World War by Jonathan S. Gould

Author:Jonathan S. Gould [Gould, Jonathan S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe, Germany, Great Britain, Military, World War II, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
ISBN: 9780429879180
Google: oXtqDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-09-03T03:39:54+00:00

Based on transcripts of debriefings given by Strüwe and Konhäuser to Allied military officers in late June 1945 and transcripts of numerous conversations between the agents and radio operators in planes hovering over southern Germany, there is no doubt that the PICKAXE mission achieved its main objective: transmitting military intelligence to the OSS later presented to the senior military officers commanding troops in that area of Germany.

On May 5, 1945, Walter Strüwe and Emil Konhäuser were recovered by the American military and flown to Paris for mission debriefings. Shortly thereafter, the men returned to London and rejoined their families. Before their discharge from the US Army, the OSS submitted a recommendation to the US military in Washington, DC, that Strüwe and Konhäuser be awarded the Silver Star. Written by Colonel James R. Forgan, the recommendation cited “exceptionally meritorious and courageous action in volunteering for and successfully carrying out a secret and dangerous mission behind enemy lines which benefitted the Armies of the Allied Nations in the prosecution of the war.”20 On July 13, 1945, both men were discharged from the US Army and rejoined their families.21

As to the fate of Lt. John Winant, Jr., the son of the US ambassador to Great Britain, he eluded further efforts by the SS to hold him as a special hostage and was eventually found unharmed after making his way to a US Army outpost in Austria just one day before the Nazis surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945.22

Both Strüwe and Konhäuser remained in England until 1947 when their application for repatriation into Germany was finally granted by the Soviet Union. Walter Strüwe and his wife Leonie returned to Frankfurt, Germany, and later moved to Dresden. They lived out their lives in East Germany. Walter Strüwe died on April 24, 1976. Emil Konhäuser eventually returned to his hometown of Hof, Germany. He died of a heart attack in West Germany on July 14, 1971.23

Figure 2.1 PICKAXE mission agent Emil Konhäuser

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