At the beginning of WW2, Germany were drawing up
plans for the possible invasion of Ireland. Crucial to this were a number of
spying missions, feasibility studies for attack, as well as the building of
alliances and networks of contacts within the restructured but dissident Irish
Republican movement. Sensing an opportunity to claim or reclaim Northern
Ireland, an IRA cohort led by Sean Russell, had already drawn up invasion plans
of their own and delivered it personally to the Abwer in Berlin – namely ‘Plan
Kathleen’. The IRA were attempting to court German Intelligence, instigate and
orchestrate a German attack on Ulster. A number of Nazi Spies entered Ireland
by air and by sea for general intelligence gathering. Many German spies were
apprehended and interned, but many were active through the early years of the
war. Some main players participated in sending and receiving coded transmissions
to Berlin throughout the war - many of which Irish State Intelligence managed
to decode and decipher from its headquarters in Dublin.
Fall Grün - ‘Case Green’ or “Operation Green” - is
an ongoing project about espionage, subterfuge, intelligence &
counter-intelligence activities in early 20th Century Ireland. Specifically, this
work relates to clandestine IRA & German collusion and possible plans to
invade Ireland and Northern Ireland during the early stages of World War Two. The
restructuring of the IRA post-1930s, the adaptation of State Intelligence (G2)
to new forms of threat, as well as the State’s close relationship with British
Intelligence bodies made Ireland a microcosm
of the major players in the Second War. Nazi Germany had many tentacles
permeating in the various layers of Irish Society, and the German Legation became
the epicentre of activities and direct link with the Nazi High Command. In the context of
Irish neutrality, these realities led to the Irish state finding itself in a compromising
position – caught between the real threat of both British and German Invasion.
Over the last few months, I have drawn up lists of German landing sites, safe-houses, artefacts & compiled archive images, intelligence documents courtesy of the British National Archives in Kew, Irish Military Archives and private archives to build a narrative of WW2 espionage in the context of a neutral Ireland.
