Germans drop decoy pigeons to combat threat of intelligence delivered by British pigeons

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

Catalog numbers WO208/3564 #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10

This post includes 2 reports created by the British War Office: “The Continental Pigeon Service 1940-1944” and “Columba-History of the Intelligence Service Operated During 1939-1945 War in Conjunction with the Royal Corps of Signals.”

Some of the facts in these reports:

Monetary rewards were offered by the Germans for messenger pigeons found by people in occupied Europe,

40% of the messages secretly written by patriots and delivered by the pigeons were classified as “extremely valuable” as intelligence,

The intelligence provided by the patriots and delivered by the pigeons could not be extracted by any other means,

The pigeons were such a threat that the Germans inserted decoy pigeons into the local pigeon populations.  If people sent messages with the decoy pigeons, these pigeons would return to German pigeon lofts with the messages written by the people trying to help the Allies,

Messages identified the location of German control stations which were used by the Germans to control their nightfighters.  Page 3 of the first document describes the significance of this intelligence.  

In his book, Most Secret War, R.V. Jones writes about the people and the pigeons:  “In areas where we had no direct contact with the Resistance movement, we used to get our bombers to drop homing pigeons in containers which would open in a few hours and release the birds if they had not been found by someone on the ground.  Attached to the containers were questionnaires, asking a few simple questions which, for example, a farm labourer might be able to answer, and which might be helpful to us.  My own question was ‘Are there any German radio stations in your neighborhood with aerials which rotate?’  This feature was an almost certain criterion of a radar station, and we dropped the pigeons wherever we saw a gap in our knowledge.  Before the end of 1942 the pigeons had given us the location of three stations hitherto unknown to us, and more followed in 1943.”  His comments appear in the Kammhuber Line chapter.

Operation Columba 1939-1945

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

Catalog numbers WO208/3564 #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10

This post includes 2 reports created by the British War Office: “The Continental Pigeon Service 1940-1944” and “Columba-History of the Intelligence Service Operated During 1939-1945 War in Conjunction with the Royal Corps of Signals.”

Some of the facts in these reports:

Monetary rewards were offered by the Germans for messenger pigeons found by people in occupied Europe,

40% of the messages secretly written by patriots and delivered by the pigeons were classified as “extremely valuable” as intelligence,

The intelligence provided by the patriots and delivered by the pigeons could not be extracted by any other means,

The pigeons were such a threat that the Germans inserted decoy pigeons into the local pigeon populations.  If people sent messages with the decoy pigeons, these pigeons would return to German pigeon lofts with the messages written by the people trying to help the Allies,

Messages identified the location of German control stations which were used by the Germans to control their nightfighters.  Page 3 of the first document describes the significance of this intelligence.  

In his book, Most Secret War, R.V. Jones writes about the people and the pigeons:  “In areas where we had no direct contact with the Resistance movement, we used to get our bombers to drop homing pigeons in containers which would open in a few hours and release the birds if they had not been found by someone on the ground.  Attached to the containers were questionnaires, asking a few simple questions which, for example, a farm labourer might be able to answer, and which might be helpful to us.  My own question was ‘Are there any German radio stations in your neighborhood with aerials which rotate?’  This feature was an almost certain criterion of a radar station, and we dropped the pigeons wherever we saw a gap in our knowledge.  Before the end of 1942 the pigeons had given us the location of three stations hitherto unknown to us, and more followed in 1943.”  His comments appear in the Kammhuber Line chapter.

Documents from WW2 reveal German Secret Service use of pigeons

The images of documents are stored at The National Archives, London, UK.

Catalog numbers WO208/3556 #17, #18, #19
  
(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

Images exceed the frame so they will be easy to read.

This document is from the British War Office Columba 1 2 Information Statistics file. 

Some of the points:

German saboteurs carried 6 pigeons,

The Germans organized pigeon lofts in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria,

Vienna had a pigeon HQ to which pigeons returned with their messages.

German reaction to intelligence being sent by pigeons in WW2

        
All of these documents are stored at the UK National Archives

© Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK  

WO208/3556 files 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 

1945 letter-pigeons prove themselves in operations for Indian Pigeon Service

 

This letter appears in Major Osman's book published in 1950.

 

1943 letter explains use of war pigeons for espionage

In the second paragraph you will see the beginning of plans to deceive the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings.  Questions were eventually added to questionnaires to make the civilian population and the Germans believe that the D-Day landings would take place in the Pas De Calais area instead of Normandy.  

This image is stored at The National Archives, London, UK
(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

CAB154 file 35007
 

 

The Brave Message Writers of Occupied Europe-WW2

The Royal Air Force in Britain, October 1942

Canadian PO (A) S Jess, wireless operator of an Avro Lancaster bomber operating from Waddington, Lincolnshire carrying two pigeon boxes. Homing pigeons served as a means of communications in the event of a crash, ditching or radio failure.  © IWM (TR 193)

The Royal Air Force in Britain, October 1942

The seven man crew of an Avro Lancaster bomber wait near the crew room at Waddington, Lincolnshire for transport out to their aircraft. The pigeons seen in boxes in the foreground are homing pigeons carried for communication purposes in case of ditching or radio failure.  © IWM (TR 186)

August 19, 2015 - After receiving some comments that the images of the documents were difficult to read, I changed  the layout to make them larger, even though they now exceed the boundaries of the frame.  You may need to use the left right scroll bar at the bottom of the page for some of them.
All images are held by The National Archives, Kew.

World War 2 Military Intelligence-The Brave Message Writers of Occupied Europe

 

 

Pictured above is a message written by Lulu and Riri and delivered by pigeon number 43-1549 on August 12, 1944 during Operation Columba.  It was transmitted to SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, to M.I.14, the branch of British Military Intelligence responsible for all pigeon-related espionage, and to A.I.1 ( c ), the Air Intelligence component of  M.I.6, the Secret Intelligence Service.  The British created Operation Columba to gather intelligence on the Germans in occupied France, Holland, and Belgium.  17,000 pigeons were dropped from British planes in baskets or boxes attached to small parachutes between 1941-45.  Below is a picture of the envelope which contained a questionnaire, rice paper, and a pencil.

The instructions tell the finder to hide or destroy the parachute and take the pigeon home or to a safe place.

 

The Imperial War Museum has interviews  with 2 men who flew on the pigeon drops. To hear Frank Griffiths on reel 2, click on this link: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012005

To hear John Charrot on reel 2, click on this link:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80027123

 

 

People risked their lives to send these messages.  Sending messages with pigeons was forbidden buy the Germans.

Because it was dangerous to have a pigeon, these messages had to be written quickly and sent as soon as weather was favorable.  Unlike letter, memoirs, or diaries there wasn’t much time for reflection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did these messages have real value as intelligence?

 

 

 

Perhaps the best measure of the intelligence value of the messages is this report on the German reaction to the writers and to the pigeons:

 

 

 

Imagine living under the German occupation.  Everything produced in the factories goes to the German army.  The Germans can force you to do anything.. You are starving because your country’s food goes to the German army.  You have seen the Jews taken away.  You know people who have been killed or wounded by inaccurate Allied bombings.  Imagine the sadness, the anger, the fear, the frustration, the feeling of helplessness.

Then, you find a pigeon!  You have a chance to write words which could help the Allies do damage to the Germans.  You have a chance to describe the horrors you see and endure.  You have the hope of hearing on the BBC that the pigeon made it back with your message.

You write.  You are no longer helpless.  You have thoughts and useful information.  But you don’t have much time. You must send the pigeon as soon as possible. If a friend or family member sees the pigeon they might report you to the Germans.

When it is time, you toss the pigeon into the air.  The pigeon circles to get his bearings, and then flies toward Britain with your words.

by Jennifer Spangler

© 2015 Jennifer Spangler
Registration number:  TXu 1-966-431

jspangler8@comcast.net

Sources

Osman, Major W. H.  Pigeons in World War II.  The Racing Pigeon Publishing Co. Ltd.  London, 1950.

All documents in this article are stored at the UK National Archives.

© Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK 

WO 208/3555 file 65 and 66, p. 1 and 2

WO 208/3556 file 2, p. 3

WO 208/3560 file 70 and 71, p. 4 and 5

WO 208/3560 file 22, p. 6

WO 208/3560 file 44, p. 7

WO 208/3555 file 42, p. 8

WO 208/3562 file 6, p. 9

WO 208/3560 file 78, p. 10

WO 208/3560 file 13, p. 11

WO 208/3555 file 39, p. 12

WO 208/3555 file 70, p. 13

WO 208/3560 file 16, p. 14

WO 208/3555 file 45, p. 15

WO 208/3555 file 78, 79, 80, 81, p. 16, 17, 18, 19

WO 208/3555 file 86, p. 20

WO 208/3562 file 11, p. 21

WO 208/3556 file 26 and 27, p. 22 and 23

WO 208/3556 file 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, p. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28