Hitler and the Boy Scouts in Lincolnshire
Hitler, the Nazis and the Lincolnshire Boy Scouts
It sounds like an unlikely combination . . . that is until you read released MI5 top secret documents which tell of how Adolf Hitler tried to infiltrate the Lincolnshire Boy Scouts !
Around 1937 some young Germans, later found to be the Hitler Youth, were on a cycling tour in this country when concerns were raised by the British Security Service MI5 about possible spying. Indeed it seems it went deeper than that, they were spies and actually trying to infiltrate the Boy Scout movement.
It seems Lord Baden-Powell was invited to meet Hitler himself in order to discuss closer ties between British boy scouts and the Hitler youth. I may seem unlikely but Lord Baden-Powell did in fact meet Joachim von Ribbentrop - the German ambassador.
Needless to say Nationwide plan was cracked open by the Lincolnshire Police, the Lincs Chief Constable alerted the Intelligence Services and an investigation was launched.
There is even a direct connection to my home town of Grimsby:
Sir Vernon Kell, Director General of MI5, ordered covert surveillance once the plot was uncovered. He sent a letter to Grimsby, now released under the Freedom of Information Act and 30 year Rule but till now classified, and it said . . .
“We have received information that a party of young Germans [are] due to arrive [and] are intending to bicycle to London by easy stages. Should they pass through your area we should be interested in any details you can let us have about the route they follow.”
Subsequently dubbed ’spycyclists’ they were closely monitored as were the efforts to infiltrate the Boy Scouts both on a ground level and via Baden-Powell at leadership level. Whilst cycling around they’d also been advised to memorise routes, remember general layouts and take notes of directions, roads and rivers.
It may sound all like a cheap wartime boys novel but it does show that these things did happen.
It’s all heady stuff and to think it was all going here right on my doorstep !
All the best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
March 9, 2010 @ 11:34 am
around this time there was a boyscouts camp at Newsham Abbey..
regards
chris
Rod said,
March 9, 2010 @ 5:37 pm
Chris,
they say all roads lead to Rome - but most round here seem to lead the Newhus Abbey !
Best
Rod
History Hunter said,
April 5, 2010 @ 9:56 pm
Ich persönlich denke, Hitler hatte einen Einfluss auf die Scouts in Lincolnshire. Ich für meinen Teil glaube, den Weg des Lebens ist uns weit überlegen und nicht ein schlechtes Wort über Herrn Hitler sollte mal gesagt werden!
Ich kann nicht sehen, das Problem über die Hitler-Jugend versuchen, die Scouts zu infiltrieren, wie viele Pfadfinderleitern haben versucht, die jüngeren Pfadfinder zu infiltrieren, bis die örtliche Polizei zu engagieren!