Plan Kathleen - Details of Plan Kathleen

Details of Plan Kathleen

According to Görtz, Kathleen consisted of a map, on which was the suggestion of a German landing similar to that at Narvik, in the vicinity of Derry — an amphibious assault. The aim of the plan was the conquest of Northern Ireland via a simultaneous IRA insurgency and use of German forces. The IRA were to be concentrated in the county of Leitrim on the border facing Lough Erne and Upper Lough Erne awaiting the arrival of German forces in Northern Ireland. However, the IRA plan gave no thought to how German troops were to be brought to Derry, how control of the sea approaches was to be obtained or where and how the coast of Northern Ireland was fortified. Görtz described the plan at the time and its limitations thus: "The plan was therefore completely useless. It nearly broke my heart, since it came from the IRA Chief of Staff."

Hull in Irish Secrets describes the plan so:

The plan envisaged a landing in the neighborhood of Derry (in the manner of Narvik Operation Weserübung) and a successful conquest of Ulster with assistance from the IRA. The IRA planned a ground offensive beginning in County Leitrim with a front on the Lower and Upper Lough Erne which would, somehow, lead to the destruction of all British forces in Northern Ireland. The bait for the Germans was supposed to be the change of neutralizing the RAF's use of Lough Erne as a tactical base against the U-boat fleet. The plan called for the deployment of 50,000 German troops."

It is accepted that the plan was poorly constructed, and not treated with any seriousness by the Abwehr, or German Foreign Ministry although at this stage they did not recognise the IRA as "hopelessly immature". In so much as the plan was considered, it was considered a measure of IRA intent — willingness to assist. It is not known whether any serious planning was done around Kathleen, although the plan appears to have been widened in scope, maybe by Görtz, or perhaps Kurt Student, who presented a similar plan to Hitler in January 1941, to include parachute drops of German troops around Divis Mountain and Lisburn in combination with the amphibious assault on Lough Swilly and Magilligan Point.