German Saboteurs Land on Florida Coast

Related Cities & Topics:

A group of four men landed in Ponte Vedra as part of a plan to sabotage targets on U.S. soil.

In June 1942, as part of an ambitious German plan called Operation Pastorius, U-boats landed agents in Florida and on New York’s Long Island to sabotage several aluminum plants and other targets. Eight men who had lived in America and spoke fluent English were recruited for the mission.

After training near Berlin, the saboteurs crossed the Atlantic in U-boats. On June 13, 1942, four of them landed on Long Island, soon after encountering a Coast Guardsman, whom they tried to bribe. The American reported the incident, and an armed patrol soon uncovered a large cache of explosives and other equipment the saboteurs had buried. The Germans themselves had already boarded trains for New York City.

Eight men who had lived in America and spoke fluent English were recruited for the mission.

Meanwhile, the Florida group landed on Ponte Vedra Beach before dawn on June 17. This party consisted of team leader Edward Kerling, as well as Herbert Haupt, Werner Thiel and Herman Neubauer. They buried their explosives and equipment, then boarded a bus for Jacksonville, where they spent the night before leaving for New York and Chicago. However, George Dasch of the New York band defected and contacted the FBI. Using his information the FBI soon rounded up the remaining men. A military court sentenced all to death, but Dasch’s sentence was commuted to 30 years as was another informant’s to life imprisonment. The others were executed on August 8, 1942.