[Milsurplus] What is it? Clandestine?

[Richard]

OT, but I can't resist:  A German POW was from the German military and 
was no spy.  His case is not unusual, after our war with England many of 
the Hessians chose to stay.  The few spies put ashore were poorly 
prepared, were quickly picked up and killed.  What can a spy usefully do 
anyway?  Timely information like ship sailing schedules is not public 
knowledge, and difficult to report. If he uses radio he better move 
frequently.  I think the only useful spies are already here and deeply 
embedded in government or industry, and we will never hear about them.  
For example, a guy in the factory gave them the Norden Bombsight - they 
had a copy before it went into production, and didn't think much of it.  
The other successful spies were Communists, and were indeed embedded in 
government and industry.  Moscow had more up to date knowledge on atomic 
matters than the President.  Presumably it went out in diplomatic pouches.

Europe was a bit different.  Distances were reasonable for radio, and 
Switzerland, being neutral, was more tolerant of spy transmissions.  
Once again the most active spies were Communists, who were given 
information by traitors in the German government. The English inserted 
many spies who were promptly picked up - to what end...

Richard, AA1P


On 07/19/201t8 02:59 PM, Hubert Miller wrote:
> I saw a YouTube story on a German POW who escaped from a plains states camp and made his way to California,
> worked his way up through jobs to a successful career, was eventually busted but allowed to become a citizen.
> There were parts of the story that were kind of sketchy, like how he explained his accent and how he got around
> his draft status when seeking work. But I thought that, with a mix of elements from the Erich Gimpel story, about
> a spy who was caught in New York, there's the basis of a pretty interesting movie. Except if he decided to just
> drop out of the spy role, one of the first things he would do is dump the radio. I haven't worked out that part yet.
> This is maybe also a reminder that we should have some kind of documentation of the provenance of things we have,
> maybe tag them even. Otherwise they end up like this item, history unknown.
> -Hue
> On 19/07/2018 17:42, Robert Meadows wrote:
> > Simple,
> > A SD fellow came with it, was immediately enthralled by the fine folk, weather and good hunting, used his stash of cash to purchase a small place and became a pillar of the community, married and had a few fine children who grew up to serve in the US Navy as seals.
> > R
>
>
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