Title: Saboteurs
First published: 2004
Description: Publisher's description: Shortly after America's entry into World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered an extensive sabotage campaign against the United States to disrupt the production of tanks and airplanes and blow up bridges and railroads. Eight German saboteurs were dispatched across the Atlantic by U-boat, one team landing in Amagansett, Long Island, the other near Jacksonville, Florida. They brought with them enough money and explosives for a two-year operation and traveled inland to explore potential targets. The full story of this audacious endeavor is a remarkable account of a terrorist threat against America. Michael Dobbs describes the saboteurs' training in Nazi Germany, their claustrophobic three-week voyage in submarines, and their infiltration into American life. He explores the reasons each volunteered, and their links to a network of Nazi sympathizers in the United States. He paints a portrait of the group's leaders: George Dasch, a onetime waiter who dreamed of leaving his personal mark on history, and Edward Kerling, a fanatic Nazi caught between his love for his mistress and his love for his wife. And he shows how the FBI might never have captured the saboteurs had one of them not helped J. Edgar Hoover transform a hapless manhunt into one of his proudest accomplishments. A military tribunal, a historic Supreme Court session, and one of the largest mass executions in American history provide a stunning climax to a dangerous but failed mission.
Subjects: Sabotage, Secret service, Spies, United States, United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation, World War, 1939-1945, United States - 20th Century, Military Operations, U.S. History - World War II (Domestic Aspects), History, History - General History, Military, Europe - Germany, Military - World War II, History / Germany, Military - General, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States., United states, federal bureau of investigation, Secret service, germany, World war, 1939-1945, germany, World war, 1939-1945, united states, Geheimdienst, Intelligence service
Places: Germany, United States
LC classification: D753.3 .D63 2004