Page "Secret Intelligence Service" Paragraph 25

The most significant failure of the service during the war was known as the Venlo incident, named for the Dutch town where much of the operation took place.

Agents of the German army secret service, the Abwehr, and the Counter-Espionage section of the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ), posed as high-ranking officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler.

In a series of meetings between SIS agents and the ' conspirators ', SS plans to abduct the SIS team were shelved due to the presence of Dutch police.

On the night of 8 – 9 November 1939, a meeting took place without police presence.

There, the two SIS agents were duly abducted by the SS.