| In Holland... Two British Secret Intelligence Service
(MI6) officers,
Major Richard Stevens and Captain S. Payne Best, are kidnapped by the Gestapo
while attempting to contact members of the German resistance to the
Nazis. The two British agents have been meeting with a "Major
Schaemmle" who claims to represent German Army officers plotting to
overthrow Hitler. (He is actually Walther Schellenberg, a Gestapo
officer.) Their meetings have been at Venlo, 5 miles (8 km) from the
German border. Today, they are to meet at a cafe a few yards from the
border. Upon arriving, their car is hit by machinegun fire, they are
overpowered by German security forces and forcibly taken across the border. Himmler ordered the kidnapping immediately after
the Munich bombing incident. One of the officers is carrying a list of British agents with him and from this and other indiscretions as well as from their interrogation, the German authorities are able to arrest many British agents in former Czechoslovakia and other occupied territory. The Venlo Incident is a serious setback for British Intelligence.
Both officers remain imprisoned until April
1945.
In Germany... The press and radio accuse Britain of organizing
the attempted assassination of Hitler in Munich on November 8th.
In Helsinki... The government restates its position that
Finland "cannot grant to a foreign military power military bases on
her territory and within the confines of her frontiers."
In South Africa... An alleged Nazi plot by armed black shirts
to sabotage vital industries in Johannesburg and Pretoria is revealed.
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