Blitzkrieg in the Backyard:
Blitzkrieg in the Backyard: Goa’s tryst with WW II
Seventy-five years ago, on 9 March 1943 to be precise, Goa
had a tryst with World War II. Around midnight on the last day of Carnaval,
mysterious explosions occurred off Mormugao Port aboard three German merchant
ships “Ehrenfels”, “Braunfels” and “Drachenfels” and an Italian “SS Anfora”, in
a tale marked with high espionage, sabotage, intrigue and daredevil military
operation conducted by the British Secret Service through an amateur “ageing”
group of British army volunteers, all in a typical Goan setting. The incident
is said to have changed the course of the War in the sub-continent; maybe even
delayed the Japanese armies’ march into India. A lot still remains shrouded in
mystery though.
Outbreak of WW II
hostilities in August 1939 saw three German freighters sailing in the vicinity
seek refuge at Mormugao Port. The Italian “Anfora” arrived in June 1940
following Italy’s entry in the war. Portugal was officially neutral during WW
II, and Goa being part of Portuguese India was neutral territory. The ships
were promptly interned by the local Government and ordered to turn over all
arms, dismantle their radio and remain apart of the war in exchange for the
protection of the port.
As the war continued, the plight of the crew turned
extremely pitiable and some resorted to desertion. Though not seen as threats,
the ships remained under the watch of Allied intelligence.
The threat perception changed in early 1942 when the British
Government handed over a nota verbal to Lisbon about possibility of the German
ships escaping to take active part in the war possibly as refuelling vessels.
According to author
James Leasor, the British intelligence unit “Special Operations Executive”
(SOE) based at Meerut intercepted coded radio messages suspected to be
transmitted from the Ehrenfels to German U-boats in the Indian Ocean with detailed
information on Allied ships leaving Bombay Harbour, the source suspected to be
an Indian National Army volunteer.
Events came to a head
when forty-six Allied ships were sunk by German U-boats in the Indian Ocean
over a six-week period in the fall of 1942. The toll continued to climb
steadily with twelve attacks in the first week of March 1943.
SOE received orders
to eliminate the Ehrenfels, and with it the transmitting station. Regular
military units were not deployed as the attack would be carried out on a
neutral territory. Instead, 18 members of the Calcutta Light Horse (CLH), a
cavalry reserve in the British Indian Army, were recruited. The mission was
assigned to Lt Colonel Lewis Pugh.
Historian Dr. P.P. Shirodkar suggests that Pugh along with Col
Stewart came on a recce to Goa in November 1942 posing as British businessmen;
one of their actions was the violent kidnapping of German national Robert Koch
alias “Trompeta” and his wife Grete Koch on 19th December at Altinho Panjim and
their suspected elimination at Castle Rock. Eye-witnesses confirmed use of
force by the assailants. Robert Koch was alleged to be a key operative in the
Nazi Gestapo’s global spy network and the brain behind the clandestine
operations aboard the Ehrenfels. However, the local police inquiry concluded
that the couple had crossed the border voluntarily with two European gentlemen.
Codenamed “Operation
Longshanks”, the raid was organized with utmost secrecy to avoid any diplomatic
confrontation between Britain and Portugal. A section of the CLH team embarked
on a hopper barge “Little Phoebe” at Calcutta and sailed around the Indian
peninsula to Mormugao, while others travelled by train to board at Cochin.
The surprise attack
happened around midnight on March 9, 1943. Some accounts suggest that
undercover agents weaned 31 members of the crew for an onshore Carnaval party
to diminish resistance. By some coincidence, the lighthouse of the breakwater
and the luminous buoy were not functioning that night. The unidentified vessel entered
the port under cover of darkness and attacked the Ehrenfels. There was exchange
of fire and outcry on the Ehrenfels followed by brief cessation and its
resumption after fifteen minutes. A huge explosion followed. Survivors later
deposed that they had seen a group of 8 to 10 men uttering obscene expressions
in English. The attacking vessel then exited the port, its blitzkrieg operation
lasting all of about 35 minutes. In a panic reaction, the other captains
ordered their crew to scuttle their ships so that they do not fall into enemy
hands.
Five members of the
Ehrenfels’ crew were found dead and three declared missing. Two cadavers could
not be identified, though investigators presumed one to be of its Captain
Johann Rofer. In all, 111 seamen were detained by the authorities after the
incident.
The action created a
great panic in Goa and jubilation in British India. The media and intelligence
agencies reported the scuttling of the four interned ships by their own crew. O
Heraldo reported that crew members of the Ehrenfels had rebelled against their
captain. The Times of India (Bombay) reported that the crew had set fire to
their ships and were taken into custody.
Ironically, the
Judicial Court of Mormugao conducting the criminal case delivered a verdict on
1st October 1945 that no alien vessel had entered Mormugao Port on 8/9 March
1943 and there had been no attack! The seamen remained interned at Aguada Jail
on charge of setting the ships on fire till end of the war.
It was only when
documents of the CLH operation were declassified by the British Government
thirty years later in 1974 that the true picture emerged. James Leasors’ book
“Boarding Party” based on the episode was later turned into a film “The Sea
Wolves”.
A deeper analysis of
the events raises questions on Portugal’s neutrality, and whether it was aware
of the impending British mission but looked the other way. Were the lighthouse
and luminous buoy deliberately shut down that night? Were captains of the
interned ships expecting the attack? Was Robert and Grete Koch kidnapping
pushed under the carpet to avoid a diplomatic row? Was the second unidentified
cadaver a member of the raiding party?
On the other hand,
during the rest of March 1943, German Uboats sank only one ship, the Panamanian
“Nortun”, and only three throughout the following month of April. Was it a
coincidence or attributable to the covert operation? Interestingly, British
National Archive records released in 2002 suggest that the SOE mission was
actually to capture the German ships, a mission that failed as the ships were
scuttled before capture. They also disclose that three anti-Nazi seamen
surrendered to the Britishers, served on SOE's strength in India and were
repatriated on conclusion of the war. That accounts for three of the four
“missing persons”.
The last physical
remnants of Mormugao’s tryst with history could be lost for posterity with MPT
proposing to scrap the shipwrecks that have lain undisturbed in its waters for
decades.
Six Germans opted to
stay on rather than return to their warravaged country; Erich Sautter
(Drachenfels), Erwin Tiegel (Braunfels), Fritz Dimsak (Braunfels), Karl
Breitkopf (Drachenfels), Kurt Thamm (Braunfels) and Walter Sedlaczeck
(Drachenfels) married local girls and merged into the Goan countryside.
References:-
.Dr P P Shirodkar, CLH blitzkerieg in Mormugao Harbour
during World War II, Purabhilekh Puratatva, 15 (July 1986).
.Dr P P Shirodkar, BLAZING MIDNIGHT (2012).
.Dr P P Shirodkar, World War II: German Master Spy and ships
in Goa, Colloquim Vol IINo. 2 July-December 1979.
.Jose Antonio Barreiros, O ESPIÃO ALEMÃO EM GOA (2001).
.National Archives of India, De-classified files of Ministry
of External Affairs, File no: Progs., Nos. 11(389)-W,(Secret).
.Dwight Jon Zimmerman, Operation Creek: SOE enlists an “over
the hill” gang for a mission, DefenseMediaNetwork, available at:
http://www.defensemedianet work.com/stories/soe-enlistsan-
over-the-hill-gang-for-a-mis sion (last visited on March 5, 2018).
.War Cabinet, Weekly Resume (no. 184), 4, The National
Archives London. 11 Mar 2018 07:56am IST
Report by
By Savio Correia
By Savio Correia
