 Reconstruction of the incident in 1948 | |
| Date | 9 November 1939 |
|---|---|
| Location | Five metres (16 ft) from the German border, near Venlo, the Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 51°22′54.74″N 6°13′1.21″E / 51.3818722°N 6.2170028°E |
| Type | Diplomatic incident |
| Participants | British Secret Intelligence Service and German Sicherheitsdienst |
| Outcome | British spy network in central and western Europe rendered practically useless |
| Casualties | |
| 1 killed, 3 captured | |
The Venlo incident was a covert operation carried out by the German Nazi Party's Sicherheitsdienst (SD) on 9 November 1939, which resulted in the capture of two British Secret Intelligence Service agents five metres (16 ft) from the German border, on the outskirts of the Dutch city of Venlo.[1][2]: 14–47
The incident was later used by the German government to link Britain to Georg Elser's failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, on 8 November 1939, and to help justify Germany's invasion of the Netherlands (then a neutral country) on 10 May 1940.[3]
- ^ "The Scotsman", 25 November 1939, p. 13.
- ^ Best, Sigismund Payne (1950). The Venlo Incident (3rd ed.). New York: Hutchinson. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ Hitler first mentioned the possibility of using the Venlo incident as an excuse for invading the Netherlands at a military conference on 23 November 1939. See Documents on German Foreign Policy, Series D, Vol. VIII, 445.