TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1536-PS

TOP SECRET
Reich Minister for Air and C-in-C Air Force ink]
Draft
[initials written in 12 August 1938
General Officers only 2 copies 2nd Copy Access only through officer
General Staff 5.Division No. 21/38. Top Secret General Officers only (Ic)
Re: Freudenthal Affair
Ref: Abwehr II No. 42/38. Top Secret General Officers only.
A. As Appendix 1 please find enclosed a translation by Major d.G. Moericke on which the following comment is made:
1. The report from the Abwehrstelle Breslau still does not prove that the real circumstances are known to the two Sudeten Germans or even widely in Sudeten German circles. Nevertheless, there is still no need for Czech authorities to have any knowledge of them.
If the worst comes to the worst it is a question, in eventual remarks made by Macholdt to Pilz, of suppositions which are nevertheless very near to the truth of the matter.
2. For the time being there is no reason for stopping preparations for the Fr. operation.
3. Punishable behaviour on the part of Major Moericke cannot be deduced purely from the Abwehrstelle report. Rather, as far
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as can be seen from here, has Major Moericke carried out the task allotted to him skilfully and provided good evidence.
B. In the course of further preparations, the following measures are recommended:
1. Not a single word on the matter will be mentioned to informers [V-Leute].
2. The fields will not be purchased through middlemen. Neither will any influence be brought to bear on the owners in order to effect any change in the cultivation of the land according to local custom and the time of the year.
3. In the event of the suspected endangering of our plans, as a result of treachery, then it will be a question of sham reconnoitring of landing grounds in other areas and spreading of rumors as a camouflage.
4. It is worth considering whether Macholdt and Pilz cannot be called back to Germany on some pretext and retained here temporarily.
C. Further to the preparations which have already been carried out, the following proposals have been made by the Luftwaffe:
1. Continual supervision of the state of the agricultural cultivation of the landing grounds in question, in accordance with Appendices 2, 3, 4.
2. Continual supervision of the area around Freudenthal with regard to whether Czech defence measures against their intended employment are being undertaken.
Reconnoitring of further landing grounds, if possible by 10 September, in the following areas:
a. Freudenthal — Spachendorf — Hof — Braunseifen — Freudenthal.
b. Around Sternberg (up to a radius of 5 km).
c. Around Olmuetz (up to a radius of 10 km).
As landing grounds are considered flat open stretches, above all dry meadows and clay strips with a surface area of approximately 500 x 500 m. and larger.
If possible it is requested that photographs similar to Appendices 3 and 4 are brought along.
By order of
Schmidt
Distribution:
Abwehr II, 1st Copy received with 4 appendices General Staff 5th Division (Ic), 2nd Copy 13/8
[signature illegible]
1536—PS
Appendix 1 to Reich Minister for Air and C-in-C Air Force. General Staff 5th Division. No. 21/38. Top Secret General Officers
only dated 12.8.38.
TOP SECRET
Berlin 4.8.1938 General Officers only Access through Officer only
Transaction
Major of the General Staff Moericke, Air Attache at the German
Legation, Prague, states:
I was ordered by the General Staff of the Air Force to reconnoitre the land in the region Freudenthal/Freihermersdorf for landing possibilities.
For this purpose I obtained private lodgings in Freudenthal with the manufacturer Macholdt, through one of my trusted men in Prague.
I had specifically ordered this man to give no details about me to M, particularly about my official position.
I used my official car [Dienst Pkw] for the journey to Fr. taking precautions against being observed.
The manufacturer M. is head of the Sudeten German Glider Pilots in Fr. and said to be absolutely reliable by my trusted man. My personal impression fully confirmed this judgment. No hint of my identity was made to him, although I had the imp: ession that M. knew who I was.
At my request, with which he complied without any question, M. travelled with me over the country in question. We used M's private car for the trip.
As M. did not know the country around Beneschau sufficiently well, he took with him the local leader of the F.S., a Czech reservist of the Sudeten German Racial Group, at the time on leave. He was in uniform. For reasons of camouflage I was entirely in agreement with this—without actually saying so.
As M., during the course of the drive, observed that I photographed large open spaces out of the car, he said "Aha, so you're looking for airfields!" I answered that we supposed that, in the case of any serious trouble, the Czechs would put their airfields immediately behind the line of fortifications. I had the intention of looking over the country from that point of view.
To my question as to when the farmers in this part were generally in the habit of ploughing up the fields he answered: "Always immediately after the harvest."
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I thought that in this way he wanted to express the fact that the Czechs would no longer be able to use the fields as airfields even shortly after harvest.
Before leaving Fr. I bound M. to absolute secrecy as regards what he had seen.
From the conversation between M. and the Leader of the F.S. in Beneschau, whose name I do not know, I noticed that they knew several of the Abwehr informers [V-Leute] in Freudenthal and Beneschau. Both M. and the 2nd companion are minor informers [V-Leute].
As I have at the moment no incentive to believe that M. has not kept his promise, I can only presume that Pilz is the same person as the leader of the F. S. in Beneschau, who, accompanied us at the time, and a subordinate informer [V-Mann] to the informer [V-Mann] in the Security Office [Abwehrstelle] at Breslau.
I believe it to be out of the question that the real purpose of my reconnaissance be known.
Should measures be invoked against Macholdt or Pilz on the grounds of the report from the Security Office at Breslau, I urgently request a hearing beforehand.
Moericke, Major d. G.H. g. w. o.
Schmidt, Maj. d. G.
Appendix 2 to Reich Minister for Air and C-in-C of the Air Force, General Staff 5th Division.
No. 21/38. Top Secret General Officers only dated 12.8.38.
[Section of map]
General Officers only Access through Officer only
Appendix 3 to Reich Minister for Air, etc.
[photograph]
Landing-ground south of Freudenthal; taken from southern edge of Freudenthal looking west.
Appendix 4, Sectional picture of airfields a and b [4 photographs].
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