Annexure II

"Preparations for and description of a Dropping Operation".

During moon periods in the morning and afternoon London broadcast warning signals as to whether an operation was to take place. The times were given by a certain figures. Three different message, of fifteen figures each, indicated the dropping of agents, the dropping of stores, or scrubbing.

If in the morning a signal was given announcing the dropping of stores or agents, the actual confirmation came through late in the afternoon. If, however, the morning signal was negative, no further signal was sent and the operation was scrubbed.

As soon as a positive warning order came through in the morning it was the duty of Hauptmann WURR to warn the relevant branches of the impending operation, namely the Ast itself (III-F was always located at some distance from the other sections of the Ast), SD The Hague, the ORPO and at a later period and army units in the neighbourhood of the dropping ground.

At the beginning when it was only a question of one operation during a single night, the necessary action was taken by III-F and SD alone and the following procedure was adopted. The four lights were held by members of the III-F (the senior officer present holding the white light at the apex of the triangle) whilst the SD waited at a certain distance from the dropping ground and only intervened if complications arose. As soon as agents left the plane, members of III-F who were holding the lamps withdrew, and SD, using Dutchmen in its service, occupied the dropping ground and arrested the agents. It was an unwritten law that whoever was in charge of the lighting arrangements, was also in charge of the operation and for this reason it never happened that the SD ever got hold of a lamp even to help out temporarily.

When dropping operations increased and when often 4-6 took place during a single night, the problem of occupying all the dropping grounds became a difficult one, since there were only 5 officers on the strength of III-F, who were often not all available. Resource was then made then made to other officers employed in the Ast who were then used for this purpose. As also there were not enough of these, at a later date, members of the B-Stelle Orpo were used, who often came to the scene in all available strength. It was so arranged that on only one occasion was the SD in charge of the operation.