The Welpen was one of a number of short-range, single-shot, ‘last resort’ weapons which were developed. Officially known as the ‘.22 Experimental Firing Device, Hand Held, Welpen’ it was first worked on in 1941 and, as its name implied, was disguised to look like a fountain pen of the day. The clip was probably the trigger and the user had to take into account the recoil when it delivered its lethal message. In reality, its small calibre meant that it was unlikely that it could have inflicted more than temporarily disabling injuries to the target, but agents were trained to go all out for maximum damage and were well aware of the vulnerability of, for example, the eyes to even a .22 in calibre bullet. However, incorporating the round and its firing mechanism within the confines of a fountain pen was a delicate job and the appearance of the resulting Welpen, not to say its weight if handled, was not too convincing. Only about 100 were made at Station IX before the project was abandoned in favour of the Enpen, which had been developed in parallel by the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield. The ‘Auxiliary Firing Device, Hand Held, Enpen Mk I’ was produced in quantity in 1944. A similar concept was adopted by the American OSS in the production of their ‘Stinger’ which was a truly tiny device only 3½ in long and weighing less than half an ounce. It was manufactured with the .22 in round in it and, unlike the Welpen or the Enpen, could not be reloaded.
Another disguised single-shot weapon produced in very small quantities was the Welpipe (‘Wel-’ from the nearby village of Welwyn), a .22 in calibre pistol featuring a bayonet-catch locking mechanism in the stem of what was ostensibly a smoker’s pipe. A few were reputedly issued to OSS agents.
A pistol device designed to look like a cigarette was the Welwoodbine. The Woodbine was a brand of cheap cigarette popular throughout both World Wars. The gun was essentially a 3-in-long by ¼-in-diameter tube containing an inch-long .177-in calibre barrel. The breech chamber was detachable by carefully driving out two tiny cross-pins holding it in place. The device could therefore be reloaded with its hardened steel projectile and the pellet of propellant. To add to the Welwoodbine’s authenticity it was rolled within a cigarette paper of a type to reflect the theatre of operations of the agent to whom it was issued.
The Welcheroot was similar to but larger than the Welwoodbine. It was about 4½ in long and made to look like a cigar. It carried a single .22 in short rimfire cartridge activated by a lanyard which became accessible when the end of the ‘cigar’ was bitten off. Pulling the lanyard released the firing pin. A few of these devices are believed to have been issued to the OSS in 1945.8 These ‘last resort’ devices were featured in the exhibition of SOE’s equipment at the Natural History Museum and although some were manufactured in small quantities, none was put into mass production.9
The Welbike
The tiny folding parachutists’ motorbike known as the Welbike was the brainchild of Dolphin. A pre-war racing motor cyclist, Mr Lester, and Ken Taylor (the son of H.L. Taylor, a mechanic to Malcolm Campbell, the one-time land speed record holder) were instrumental in bringing the Welbike to fruition. A towing container and a smoke-laying device were also developed for use with the motorcycle. There has been some debate as to whether SOE or the Airborne Division was first to see a need for such a vehicle. The Airborne Division needed a means of personal transport which they could take with them into battle and this certainly kept the Welbike concept alive. Any ideas that it could have been used seriously by SOE agents in the field were quickly scotched when it was realised that such a vehicle would have immediately attracted the attention of anyone who saw or heard it, assuming petrol to run it had been available. It could, however, be reduced to a remarkably small size and was therefore easily concealed. It weighed only 70 lb (32 kg) and was designed to fit into a standard C-Type parachute container which was 5 ft long and 14 in in diameter. After the war it was redesigned as the Corgi which appeared on British roads in the late 1940s, only to be superseded by the Vespa and Lambretta scooters. The Welbike’s 98 cc Villiers engine gave it a range of 90 miles at 30 mph on tarmac roads (it was useless on rough ground) and almost four thousand were produced by the Excelsior Motorcycle Company in Birmingham.10 The Welbike was not a success on several counts: it was totally unsuitable for clandestine operations and its performance could be realised only on hard, smooth surfaces instead of the tracks and fields favoured by the Resistance and, indeed, the Airborne infantry.
It was said to have been most useful as a bribe to certain influential characters in the Far East. In January 1944 during Operation Remorse to acquire Chinese Nationalist Dollars ‘through discreet banking and exchange transactions’ – a euphemism for a huge black market racket – two Welbikes were presented to the Governor of Yunnan. He was so impressed that he ordered a further forty.
The Weasel
Station IX also took an interest in winter warfare and, in an effort to assist the Norwegian Section of SOE, a collapsible ski sledge for dropping by parachute was produced and issued for some operations. This interest is said to have led to the development of a tracked vehicle which could manoeuvre on snow and ice and whose engine could start reliably at very low temperatures. It was known as the Weasel and would have been the forerunner of what is now called the snowmobile.11 Unfortunately, confirmatory British reports, photographs or drawings of this interesting vehicle have not been traced although a similar very successful vehicle also known as the Weasel was produced in great secrecy at about this time by the Studebaker Corporation in the USA. It is, of course, possible that the concept was passed to the Americans for development and manufacture. This American Weasel continued in service with NATO into the 1960s.
WATERBORNE TARGETS
Limpet mines of various types, that is, explosive charges which are stuck on to the target by means of nails or magnets (the use of special adhesives was also explored), were available (see Chapter 5) but the operation of attaching them, particularly to shipping, was considered to be a somewhat hazardous business. It was therefore decided to try to develop an explosive device which found its way to the floating target under its own power and then attached itself before detonating after a set time delay. Whether the ‘limpet’ aspect of the devices was a later development or was worked on in parallel with the mobile mines project is not clear. A miniature version of the Navy’s torpedo seemed a good weapon with which an agent could attack stationary shipping in harbour. To make them stick to the target with a delayed action fuse would give the launcher time to make a getaway. So a series of devices was developed at Station IX and were referred to by the generic name of Mobile Mines.
They were worked on by Dolphin and Sq Ldr T.R. Bird and were rather like a small torpedo which had to run on a straight course for at least 200 yards. It should run at a depth of about three feet without breaking the surface to give away its position to an alert lookout. Speed underway was not particularly important, for saboteurs would not normally attack moving waterborne targets. The original mobile mine was 5 ft long and 7 in in diameter, capable of being delivered in a standard parachute container. It weighed 28 lb in air but the buoyancy of fresh water gave it a weight of just 1 lb (450 gm). It was driven by a small single propeller of 2.6 in diameter driven by an electric motor powered by a battery of accumulators. Control of its depth was achieved by a hydrostatic valve operating a drum-shaped hydroplane at the rear.
The first model was tested at the Admiralty Experimental Works at Haslar near Portsmouth on 12 January 1942 and proved satisfactory in respect of range and depth-keeping but exhibited a tendency to turn to the left. It was thought this was probably due to the torque reaction of the propeller and possibly to a small lack of symmetry in the test unit. It was proposed to correct this by fitting an out-of-balance weight and a small rudder which would be adjusted by trial and error until the model ran straight. Some other small design changes were also suggested.
Eight days later a contingent from Station IX arrived at Haslar with three new models of the mobile mine. After a couple of runs for adjustments, the o
ne incorporating the modifications recommended from the first tests performed well, maintaining a straight course for 250 yards at a depth varying between 1 and 7 feet and at an average speed of almost 3 knots. The other two models, one propelled by twin screws and one incorporating a cylindrical rudder around the propeller, had a pronounced inclination to turn to the left and a much lower speed, so it was decided to concentrate work on the earlier version. Unfortunately, trials with propellers of varying pitch could not be completed on this occasion because the batteries were running down and replacements or recharging could not be achieved in the time available.12
Development work continued apace and resulted in a number of tests being conducted at the Vickers Test Tank at St Albans in February. The mobile mines were now smaller than the one tested at Haslar, ranging from 4 ft 6 in to just 18 in long. The longest one ran for 270 yards at about 5 knots, keeping a satisfactory course. A 3-ft-long slim model was hinged at the centre so that it formed a unit just 18 in long for storage. Two 18-in-long cylindrical models were powered by coiled springs and clockwork mechanisms rather than by electric motors with their heavy accumulators. But these had a lower performance, their range being only about 50 yards at 2 knots. Another was 18 in long and 9 ins wide with a body whose shape gave rise to its nickname of ‘the Whale’. This one was powered by a small battery and, after modification, achieved a range of about 600 yards at almost 2 knots. Finally, there was the Baby Mobile Mine or Welmine which was also only 18 in long and was driven by an electric motor having a power of just 1/100 bhp. It featured a 2.4 in diameter, two-bladed propeller driven through a 4:1 reduction gearbox which ran at 2,000 rpm. A smaller, direct-driven propeller was recommended for improved efficiency but ISRB were reluctant to adopt this.
Station XII, with its wider production facilities, was already working closely with Station IX on this project and after trials in August 1942 despatched eighteen small mobile mines and had another twelve ready by the following month. Three hulls and all the components of a large mobile mine had also been completed and, with the first in the course of assembly, plans were afoot for delivery at a rate of four per week from early October, rising to six or eight per week. Then the large mines ran into difficulties when four performed unsatisfactorily that same month and Newitt was brought in to investigate. A month later, with modifications completed, ten complete mines were handed over for further trials. As a result of the success achieved with a model carrying a 2 lb (0.9 kg) explosive charge, it was decided to increase the power of the charge to 3 lb (1.36 kg). This was known as the Mark III and in tests in December it met all operational requirements. The next stage in development was to include an anti-disturbance switch. All this development resulted in three reasonably distinct devices.
The Percussion Welmine exploded on impact and, while successful from the point of view of attacking the target, did not give the operator time to escape because it did not incorporate a delayed-action device. It was in many respects similar to a very small torpedo which had to be launched accurately over a relatively short distance. This was clearly a most hazardous activity for a saboteur.
The Magnetic Welmine was a cumbersome device, which did not easily lend itself to clandestine operations and proved to be too difficult to produce in mass quantities. In February 1943 the redesigned Magnetic Welmine Mark III was tested in the water tank at St Albans and fulfilled all the requirements except the crucial adhesion trials. It appeared that in order to meet these criteria the tail would have to be jettisoned in some way.
The Jettison Head Welmine overcame the problem of maintaining attachment against the flow of water past a ship’s hull. The device allowed the propelling portion to detach itself and sink after the charge had been firmly attached to the ship thus presenting less area to the water flow. It was April before the adhesion properties had been adequately improved and the prototype model had been given satisfactory trials. Although developed to an acceptable standard it was never put into mass production.
In mid-1942, ISRB was engaged in the development of what is briefly recorded as the ‘Sounding Mine’. Without any additional information it is not possible to determine if this was an early attempt at an acoustically initiated mine.
At the same time the Navy had an oscillating mine, one which moved up and down vertically on its own mechanism. They offered this to SOE but no records have been traced to establish if the clandestine organisation ever seriously considered it.
According to a document dated July 1943 an anti-mine-sweeping device had been invented by ISRB. But the Navy already used a similar device and, in any case, developments in mine-laying techniques had tended to nullify their effectiveness.
Among the many devices which could not strictly be called weapons was one which was developed as a result of requests from the field for something with which to damage telephone or telegraph lines. This was the Overhead Wire Cutter. Two types of cutter for use on extra thick wire were designed in November 1942 and the following month a hydraulic version was produced at Station XII. The disruption of German telephone communications was a high priority for the Allies. Without land-lines the enemy was forced to use wireless transmissions, which, as we now know, were being intercepted and decoded at the Government Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park and provided crucial intelligence. This ingenious device was attached to a weighted string which was thrown over the cables to haul the cocked cutter into a position where the action of the wires entering the jaws caused them to snap closed. It was capable of cutting two hard-drawn copper wires of 2.5 mm diameter or one of slightly heavier gauge.13
Rubber, traditionally grown in the Far East, was, of course, in short supply to both sides in the war and so tyres were very valuable and hard to obtain. SOE agents and Resistance fighters were keen to damage enemy tyres and sent back a call for any device which could quickly ruin them. Engineering Section invented the small circular knife which became known as the Tyre Cutter and was put into mass production. Unfortunately, no pictures of this have been found although SOE’s double-bladed jackknife incorporated a semi-circular tyre slashing blade. The main device for use against tyres was the Tyre Burster described in Chapter 5.
The Engineers at Station IX certainly lived up to the basic root of their name in working with ‘ingenuity’. They were prepared to tackle any task to exercise their skill in inventing and constructing a wide range of items. In addition to the weapons, gadgets, surface and submersible seaborne craft, they also embarked on the design and development of some land-based vehicles.
NINE
ENGINEERING SECTION – SEABORNE CRAFT
In the early months of its existence, SOE was regarded with suspicion by the other Services, including SIS, who were unwilling to give it full support and jealously guarded their facilities for seaborne landings and other means of infiltration for its own agents. From Spring 1943 all clandestine cross-channel operations came under the control of a newly appointed Co-ordinator. As a result, SOE sea operations were not attempted on the North French coast east of the Channel Islands, and for some time there was a complete ban on SOE activities between the Channel Islands and St Nazaire. Nevertheless, with the collaboration of SIS a route was established for the infiltration and escape of individual agents and aircrew but it could not be used for supplies. The only area in Northern Europe to which major supplies were transported by sea was Norway, where fishing boats of the ‘Shetland Bus’, later supplemented by Submarine Chasers of the US Navy, maintained a link both for agents and stores with the UK. In the Mediterranean also, sea links using local boats such as feluccas and caiques played an important role.
However, there were many marine targets such as docks, blockade runners and enemy warships which could only be reached by sea. Many sabotage operations against stationary marine targets required the agent, or sabotage team, to be transported by surface craft to within range of the target, disembarked to pursue their mission, and then withdrawn. A major effort in the Engineering Section was therefor
e devoted to exploring various means of completing these operations.
This problem exercised the minds of several organisations. Besides SOE there were several units within the Commando’s Special Boat Squadron (SBS) that were working towards the same goal. These included the 1st Special Service Brigade with its Mobile Flotation Unit, and Haslar’s Royal Marines Harbour Patrol Detachment. The latter proposed to develop a version of the Italian ‘explosive boat’ in which a high-speed motor boat, carrying an explosive charge in the bows, was aimed at the target, the pilot being ejected just before impact together with a life-raft with which he might escape or be taken prisoner. Haslar’s problem was to develop a small craft which would be able to attack the target and withdraw to a safe distance. This concept, codenamed ‘Boom Patrol Boat’ (BPB), was developed but the original idea was not finalised. Instead, his plan was to rely on canoes for both the attack and withdrawal. Consequently he was particularly interested in the design of canoes capable of being transported by submarine and in developing tactics for their deployment.
CANOES
The simplest and least sophisticated method of making a silent approach to a target was to use canoes or Folboats (folding canvas canoes) with conventional paddles, either single or double. This was the technique used in December 1942 by the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) of the Commandos in their ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ attack with limpet mines on German blockade runners in the River Gironde at Bordeaux.1 Canoes were also used in the limpet attacks on German shipping in Norwegian waters which formed part of the series of ‘Vestige’ operations mounted jointly by SOE and the Royal Navy under the general direction of the Admiral Commanding the Orkneys and Shetlands (ACOS). For these operations SOE developed the ‘Vestige Kayaks’ but no description of them has been found. However, paddling could be tiring, especially over long distances, and improved methods of making the final approach were sought.
SOE Page 15