Operation Whale

Operation Whale ("Unternehmen Wal" or "Unternehmen Walfisch" in German) was the name of two separate German Intelligence (Abwehr) plans conceived in 1940.

  • " Unternehmen Walfisch" was an aborted plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland. Walfisch did not take place and planning was abandoned by July 1940.
  • "Unternehmen Wal" was an aborted plan devised in November 1940 to establish contacts with Welsh and Scottish nationalist groups in Britain in preparation for Operation Sea Lion ("Unternehmen Seelöwe" in German).
The agent that was to undertake the mission was one of the Abwehr's Irish "experts", Helmut Clissmann. He was to be transported to Britain by Christian Nissen aka. "Hein Mueck" or "Agent Hein". Planning for Whale took place when all Irish operations were prohibited by Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris. In order to work around the direct order not to interfere in Irish affairs, Abwehr Section leader Kurt Haller sought permission for an operation which had the stated aim of seeking assistance from Welsh and Scots groups although the outright aim was to seek further contacts with Ireland. Wal did not take place and planning was abandoned by April 1941.

Famous quotes containing the words operation and/or whale:

    “Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
    —Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)

    “In clear weather the laziest may look across the Bay as far as Plymouth at a glance, or over the Atlantic as far as human vision reaches, merely raising his eyelids; or if he is too lazy to look after all, he can hardly help hearing the ceaseless dash and roar of the breakers. The restless ocean may at any moment cast up a whale or a wrecked vessel at your feet. All the reporters in the world, the most rapid stenographers, could not report the news it brings.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)