Englandspiel Nordpol, or Operation North Pole, was a successful Second World War counterintelligence operation conducted by Germany's military intelligence (the Abwehr) between 1942 and 1944.

On the night of 6-7 November 1941 two SOE agents, Huub Lauwers and Thys Taconis were parachuted into the Netherlands and dropped over Stegerveld, near Ommen. Lauwers was captured on 6 March 1942, while Taconis was captured 3 days later on 9 March. Lauwers was persuaded to send messages back to London by the Germans, in which he intentionally left out two security checks. This should have automatically sounded 'alarm bells' with those who received the messages, but for some inexplicable reason, it did not. Whether this was just a genuine mistake or something more sinister has never been fully ascertained. After all, security checks were in place to ensure that messages received from agents in the field were genuine and were part of the SOE's own transmission protocol.   

As no one in London realised messages being received from SOE agents in the Netherlands were being sent under the control and direction of German military intelligence, more and more agents and equipment followed unabated for more than 18 months. Of the 54 SOE agents sent to the Netherlands from England during Operation North Pole, 50 died or were executed while being held prisoner by the Germans.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One Why Did Operation North Pole Take Place?
• Chapter Two The Special Operations Executive
• Chapter Three Leo Marks – SOE Bletchley Park
• Chapter Four Lodo van Hamel and the Start of Operation North Pole
• Chapter Five Agents Captured During Operation North Pole - 1941
• Chapter Six Agents Captured During Operation North Pole - 1942
• Chapter Seven Agents Captured During Operation North Pole - 1943
• Chapter Eight Anton van der Waals – Collaborator
• Chapter Nine RAF Tempsford
• Chapter Ten Hermann Josef Giskes
• Chapter Eleven Discussions in Parliament about Operation North Pole
• Chapter Twelve Post-War Press Articles About Operation North Pole
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: List of Murdered Operation North Pole Agents at Mauthausen
• Plates