Adolf Hitler devised a plan to bomb New York City infrastructure during World War II, including bridges, tunnels, and water supply. Four Nazi saboteurs landed on a Long Island beach but their plans were thwarted by Coast Guard seaman John Cullen, who became a hero. Here we list some crazy and historical facts about the Nazis who came to Long Island with explosives but were rounded up and convicted before they could do any harm thanks to one alert U.S. serviceman.
- Four Nazi U-boats were dispatched to the East Coast of the United States two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
- The U-boats aimed to sink merchant and cargo ships along the East Coast to impede the transportation of war supplies to British allies
- Nazi submarines were spotted off Nantucket on January 13, 1942, sinking a tanker near Montauk Point the next morning
- The U-boats patrolled the South Shore beaches of Long Island, targeting ships silhouetted against the bright lights of coastal cities
- By the end of January 1942, 13 cargo ships had been sunk by Nazi U-boats, resulting in civilian casualties
- At one point, U-boat captain Hans-Heinz Lindner got his U-202 stuck off the coast of Long Island
- The U-boat was stuck on a sandbank in shallow water about 650 feet) from the shore
- Running the engines at full power, Lindner got the submarine into open sea on a rising tide back out into the Atlantic
- Nazi saboteurs were delivered to Long Island by U-boats in June 1942, with plans to carry out attacks on American soil
- A historian called it "the most daring sabotage plans in history.”
- Four saboteurs, led by George Dasch, came ashore near Amagansett under the cover of darkness
- The effort was called "Operation Pastorius" in Germany
- Dasch almost drowned during the trip to get on land by an inflatable raft
- They were equipped with explosives and tasked with carrying out acts of sabotage on American soil as part of Hitler's plan to disrupt the U.S. war effort
- The saboteurs buried explosive devices on the beach and intended to target strategic locations such as aluminum plants and Jewish-owned department stores in New York City
- Their mission was to undermine American morale and industrial capacity, thus aiding the German war effort
- However, their plans were foiled when Coast Guard seaman John Cullen stumbled upon them during a routine patrol of the beach
- Cullen was a “sand pounder,” Coast Guardsmen who patrolled beaches
- He said that on Saturday, June 13, 1942 around midnight, it was “so foggy that I couldn’t see my shoes.”
- He saw someone in the fog and called out “Who are you?”
- A man said that he and his companions were fishermen who had run aground
- The man spoke English but one of the others shouted something in German
- The men were actually saboteurs and part of a plot to blow up rail facilities and war-industry plants
- During an exchange one of the Nazis said "We're fishermen from Southampton and iur boat's run aground."
- They claimed a bag they were dragging was filled with clams but Cullen was suspicious
- The leader of the Nazi group threatened Cullen's life then changed his tune
- He offered Cullen $300 to forget the encounter, which he accepted and fled the scene (Cullen later discovered he had been shortchanged and given only $260)
- Cullen left the men and ran back to his station to sound an alarm
- He led fellow Coast Guardsmen to the spot but the individuals were gone
- The Coast Guard dug up explosives they had buried
- A hunt for saboteurs began
- The German agents took the LIRR to the city
- George Dasch, the group's leader, surrendered to the FBI in Washington, D.C. after being shaken by his encounter with Seaman Cullen and almost drowning
- Dasch traveled to Washington, D.C. where he turned himself in on June 19th
- Dasch showed FBI agents tissues where he had written down his targets in invisible ink
- Dasch led agents to the hotel in New York City where the other Nazis were hiding out
- According to a story in the New York Times, “Eight men — the four who landed on Long Island and another four who arrived in Florida — were arrested before any sabotage could be carried out, and Seaman Cullen became a hero.”
- Cullen identified Dasch during a secret military trial in Washington DC
- Six of the eight saboteurs were executed on August 8, 1942, while Dasch and another conspirator received prison terms
- "Operation Pastorius” involved amateur agents and was doomed to fail regardless of Dasch’s defection
- One agent withdrew from the mission due to contracting gonorrhea in Paris
- Edward Kerling, the leader of the Florida team, reportedly boasted about the secret mission to an old friend in the United States
- Herbert Haupt, a member of Kerling's team, visited his father in Chicago
- He asked his father to buy a black Pontiac sports car, saying it was needed for his travels on behalf of the German government
- Seaman Cullen received recognition and awards from the Coast Guard, including the Legion of Merit
- He remained stateside throughout the war, serving as a driver for high-ranking Coast Guard officers, before leaving military service
- Cullen died in 2011 at 90-years-old
- He had worked as a dairy company sales representative on Long Island and lived here in Westbury before retiring to Virginia
- In 2018 the William G. Pomeroy Foundation erected a marker to commemorate the historic event at the Amagansett Coast Guard Station (see image)
- The successful apprehension and prosecution of the Nazi saboteurs on Long Island served as a significant victory for American counterintelligence efforts during World War II
- The remaining U-boats moved to the Gulf of Mexico, sinking additional ships in late 1942 and 1943