.. an article written by.. I believe.. Karthick Nambi .. dated March the 5th, 2021.. copy-and-pasted from .. https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/nele-kapp-the-german-woman-who-saved-d-day-nele-kapp/6a1e74a34e2b

Karthick Nambi Mar 5, 2021 · 4 min read · Member-only · Listen The German Woman Who Saved D-Day: Nele Kapp Nele Kapp worked in the German Embassy but spied for the Allies. Her contribution to uncovering a mole in the British Embassy helped the Allies win the war. Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash It was almost the end stage of World War II. A train left from Ankara, and an American couple boarded it at the last minute. They shifted one compartment in the next station, bribed the train conductor for his silence, and said it was a honeymoon adventure. They were not a couple. The man was an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and the woman was a German lady. The OSS was America’s World War II spy agency. Why did the OSS help a German escape in World War II? World War II Espionage: Photo by Stefan Kostoski on Unsplash Turkey in World War II remained mostly neutral. Germany heavily relied on Turkey for raw materials that powered its war efforts. Britain wanted Turkey by its side to safeguard its crude oil resources in Iraq. Turkey being neutral, amassed colossal gold reserves in World War II. As a neutral venue, Britain and Germany had their embassies in Turkey’s capital Ankara. Anakara soon became a hotbed of espionage activities. The German embassy had a mole in the British ambassador’s office. His name was Elyesa Bazna, and the Germans called him Cicero. Bazna was the driver of Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, the British Ambassador to Turkey. Knatchbull-Hugessen had the habit of taking confidential documents from the embassy to home and worked in the night. Bazna had access to the ambassador’s reading room. He photographed the secret documents and passed them to Germans for which he was paid handsomely with fake British pounds by the Germans. Bazna thought he could continue his work and make a fortune out of it, but his luck was about to be tested. Nele Kapp: Photo by killian cartignies on Unsplash Nele Kapp was born as a German citizen. She worked as a nurse in Stuttgart, and as her father was on a diplomatic mission, she got a job in the German embassy in Ankara. Nele hated the Nazi government and wanted to do something about it. She contacted the US Embassy in Ankara and extended her support to spy for them. US Embassy accepted the offer, and she started to leak confidential information from the German embassy. Nele saw the excitement on the German ambassador’s face when he eyeballed photographs passed on by a Turkish man. Nele found them to be British government documents. She informed the US Embassy that there is a mole in the British Embassy. The OSS passed on this information to British intelligence, which tried to trap Bazna, but he escaped. Escape to the USA: Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash Nele knew that her days are numbered and requested the US Embassy to transport her to the USA. The OSS drew up a plan for her escape. Nele went to a party with a few US Embassy secretaries and retired in their apartment. Nele’s hair was dyed black, and the OSS gave her a new identity. The next day a group of gentlemen visited the apartment escorted the ladies to a party. Nele was among them, and a OSS agent picked her up, and they drove to theAnkara railway station. The Tauraus train was on the platform. The train had two-portions where one half went to Istanbul, and another half went to Syria. Nela and the OSS agent boarded the first half, then in the next station shifted to the second half of the train. The OSS agent bribed the train conductor and said they were on an adventurous honeymoon trip. They alighted the train in the next station and went to a nearby British Royal Air Force (RAF). From there Nele was flown to Cairo and then to the USA. Bazna was termed as the most notorious Axis spy by British intelligence in World War II. Bazna almost disclosed the D-Day landing site to Germans. Nele’s contribution to uncovering Bazna’s espionage saved lots of lives and impacted the war’s outcome.