The mystery of Hitler's 'spyclists'

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"Summer 1937. What could be more fitting in the cool afternoon of an English country lane than a group of cycling tourists steadily pedalling their way from one historic site to another, stopping to camp overnight in fields along the way.

The only problem was, that summer, some of those groups of teenage boys were Hitler Youth .... "


BBC News - Today - The mystery of Hitler's 'spyclists'

Spyclists: how Hitler Youth's cycling tours caused panic in prewar Britain | World news | The Guardian

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/hitlerjugend-in-england-spyclists-spione-auf-fahrraedern-1.17550

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/440.htm

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This is mentioned in another thread too. The RJF denied that this ever took place but I guess it made sense at the time that people were suspicious. I just ask myself whether sending groups of boys on bicycles to take notes was more expedient than simply having an agent buy a load of maps...
 
This is mentioned in another thread too. The RJF denied that this ever took place but I guess it made sense at the time that people were suspicious. I just ask myself whether sending groups of boys on bicycles to take notes was more expedient than simply having an agent buy a load of maps...

I can't find the other thread.

I have downloaded the files from The National Archives, but haven't read them yet.

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10 years later: still an interesting story. I have discovered in a bundle of photos one of this HJ counter-visit in Staffordshire, with dedication of the organizer, a half-German Nazi sympathizer. In the picture were both HJ and a couple of British Scouts in front of Tamworth Castle. I have not been able to buy it at auction, and this is one of the rare times when I have been really annoyed by it.
 
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