At 8:45 a.m. on June 5, 1967, Egyptian Air Force pilots who had just finished patrolling were eating breakfast in the cafeteria. Suddenly, a black-pressed group of aircraft appeared over the base, followed by a deafening explosion. On that day, almost all Egyptian air bases were attacked by air strikes. This was the beginning of the Third Middle East War.
The choice of an air strike around 8:45 is the result of Israel's precise calculations:
The Egyptian Air Force is on the strictest alert every day, but as soon as Buddha Xiao passes, the radar is turned off and handed over at 8:45. And the senior generals of the Egyptian army usually go to work around 9 o'clock, when they are on their way to the office, and the command system does not have time to react. The Israeli army also found that Egyptian MiG fighters had difficulty taking off in 10 minutes, and some even took 26 minutes to take off.
On that day, the Israeli Air Force dispatched almost all aircraft that could fly, and stipulated that radio silence should be maintained during flight, and communication equipment could not be turned on even if it encountered a fault. Using mountain cover, the Israeli Air Force flew into the Mediterranean Sea at ultra-low altitudes, evading Egyptian and Jordanian radars. While flying over the west side of the Nile, it suddenly turned left and went straight from the Egyptian rear to the intended target.
In this air raid, 14 air bases in Egypt were destroyed, more than 300 aircraft were lost, and more than 100 of the more than 300 pilots were killed, basically paralyzed. Most of the 100 Soviet-style Sam-2 missiles at Egypt's 20 anti-aircraft missile bases were destroyed before they could be launched.
To complete this air strike, it is necessary to have a detailed grasp of the Egyptian army's work and rest time, air base, and the location of anti-aircraft missiles. This has a lot to do with Wolfgang Lotz, the legendary agent of the Mossad.
The route of the Israeli advance in the Third Middle East War
Jew born in Germany
Notz was born in Germany in 1921 to a German Christian father and a Jewish mother. Because both parents worked in theater, Notts had a high talent for acting at a young age, which laid the foundation for him to become an ace agent.
According to Jewish tradition, boys are circumcised after the eighth day of life, the modern circumcision. This is prescribed by Jewish doctrine and held up by Jews.
During Nazi Germany, the most important way to determine whether a person was Jewish or not, in addition to black hair and black eyes, was to take off his pants to see if he had been circumcised. This reflects the prevalence of circumcision among Jews in that era.
Since Notts' father was a Christian and did not care about this, Notts did not perform circumcision, and it is estimated that even he did not expect that he would save his life in the future because he did not do circumcision.
After Hitler came to power, the persecution of Jews in Germany began. Notts' parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Palestine. Notts attended an agricultural school and became very interested in horses, where he learned a lot about horses.
As more and more Jews moved in, it was inevitable to conflict with the local Arabs. In order to defend themselves, the Jews became the secret military organization "Haganah", in which Notts also participated.
The organization received significant assistance from the British, who had established a Jewish brigade in Italy after the outbreak of World War II, with the main members from the "Hagana" organization, and Notts had also joined the regular British army at this time.
Because Notts was fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, German, and English, he was considered a rare talent and transferred to Egypt to try Nazi war criminals.
After World War II, Notts returned to Israel to fight in the Middle East wars of 1948 and 1956, where he grew to become a brigade commander. At this time, he also entered the field of view of Israeli military intelligence.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, irreconcilable contradictions arose with neighboring Arab countries, and although it won two successive battles, it still faced great threats.
Israel is a small country with no room for manoeuvre, and many important cities are within range of enemy fire. Enemy planes flew over, and the Israeli troops would land before they even had time to react. To defend effectively, it is necessary to have the enemy's military intelligence.
Therefore, intelligence agencies began to look for military spies in large numbers, and in their opinion Notts was very suitable to go to Egypt to work as espionage:
First, Notz is proficient in 4 languages, has combat experience in guerrilla and regular army, and worked in Egypt during World War II, and has a certain understanding of the local area.
Second, Notz was born in Germany, both in appearance and dress, he was very suitable for dressing up Germans, and Egypt at that time was very welcoming to Germans.
Although the Germans had a special identity in World War II, they did not have enough money to buy weapons from the Soviet Union due to the tense relationship between Egypt and Israel, so they recruited many experts from the Nazi era to develop aircraft and missiles for them. Wilhelm Messerschmidt, a fighter fighter designer in Nazi Germany, was one of them.
If Egypt develops advanced missiles and fighter jets, it will undoubtedly bring Israel to extermination. Therefore, Israel must understand Egypt's every move, and the intention of sending Note's mission is not only to infiltrate Egypt to learn about its political and military intelligence, but also to approach the circle of experts who study weapons for Egypt as a German.
Notts
Lurk enemy countries to break into the upper social circles
In 1961, Lotz came to Egypt as a German tourist. Israeli intelligence agencies have crafted a set of false identities for Notz:
German soldiers who served in Rommel's Afrika Korps until the end of World War II lived in Australia for 11 years after the war, made a fortune by running a racecourse, and returned to Germany because they missed their homeland. Nowadays I came to Egypt to set up a horse farm to breed Arabian thoroughbreds.
Notts chose horses as a starting point, firstly, because he acquired a lot of knowledge about horses when he was in school, and he was familiar with the road when he started working. Second, the horse farm is an entertainment place for the upper class, which is convenient to contact more big people.
Notz was the first to visit the Knights' Club in Gychch, which was hosted by Egyptian cavalry officers and whose honorary chairman, General Yusuf, was also the police chief of Alexandria.
Notts was very talkative and usually generous, and soon attracted the attention of General Yusuf. Due to Notz's excellent communication skills, the two soon became good friends, and Yusuf began to introduce Notts to other officers, calling him "Germany's first-class horse trainer".
After six months of operation, Notts mastered the basics of the local situation and then returned to Europe to contact Israeli intelligence. He was tasked with locating Egyptian fortifications and monitoring German aircraft missile designers. He then returned to Egypt with a large amount of money and a microtransceiver.
Lotts' Horse Farm
Notts paid a fortune to buy several thoroughbred Arabian horses for the club's officers to enjoy, and hired a Heliopolis equestrian center instructor to help him train the horses. He focused on the location of the equestrian center, which he saw because most of the Egyptian army was concentrated in a base near the equestrian center, through which mechanized troops passed every sortie.
Every time he came to the equestrian center, Notts always picked up a telescope and climbed to a high place to observe, outsiders thought he was watching equestrian training, but in fact he was reconnoitring the situation in the military base. Because of his extensive military experience, he was often able to determine motives based on the movements of vehicles on the base and then sent this information back to Israel.
Once a cavalry colonel in the club chatted with Notts and asked him why he didn't buy more horses.
Notts answered truthfully, "There are no more free stables." ”
Unexpectedly, the colonel said very cheerfully: "Why not put them in the stables in our barracks?" ”
Notts looked a little surprised, and then said tactfully: "That's good, but it's not convenient when I want to see my beloved horse." ”
The colonel laughed: "It's not easy, I'll just get you a pass." ”
I'm afraid that even Notts did not expect that he would easily enter the enemy like this. Every time Notts visited the barracks to see the horses, the officers warmly welcomed him and even showed him around the barracks. The secrets of the Egyptian army were also transmitted to Israel one by one.
Lotz's dealings with the Egyptian upper class
Gain trust by counting
An important source of information for Notts was the family drinking party, where he often entertained officers in his club and gradually expanded his social circle through them.
Notz met von Reis, a veteran Nazi, through a cocktail party. At that time, von Reiss was in a poor situation and did not have any position. He was old, not a technician, and spent the rest of his life in Egypt. But Notz doesn't see it that way, believing that von Reiss has a wealth of contacts that he can use as a springboard to other German experts.
Sure enough, at von Reiss's family reception, Notz met the Nazi doctor Ezeler, aircraft experts Brainer and Schumann, among others. After all, these people are street rats, secretive about the past, very wary of strangers, and Notz's job is difficult at first.
At a drinking party, von Reiss said to Notts with the strength of the drink: "I met you at a meeting at the end of the war. The meeting was then described in detail.
In his later years, Lotz and his wife
Notts could not tell whether he was testing himself or the wrong person, and vehemently denied it. However, von Reis's tone was more certain, and he said a little proudly: "Don't worry, I won't tell others." ”
For Notz, if he became a Nazi officer, it would be easier to access the circle of Nazi experts. He strongly denied it on the surface, but in his heart he very much hoped that von Reis would reveal his identity as soon as possible, for which he also played a special "bitter meat meter".
With the help of Israeli intelligence, Notz obtained what von Reis said was a Nazi officer's information and put it in an envelope, deliberately placed in a prominent place. When he returned from riding, he deliberately reprimanded the servant, blamed her for placing such important things at random, and warned her not to touch the envelope again.
Notts quietly made some marks and put the envelope in the drawer. Sure enough, a few days later, Notts found signs of passivity in the envelope, apparently stolen by Egyptian intelligence.
In this way, Notz's identity became a hidden Nazi officer. Not only did the Egyptian authorities welcome him more, but Nazi experts in Egypt lowered their guard against him. Notz gradually figured out the personnel arrangements of almost all German specialists. For these experts, Israel has resorted to three approaches:
First, through international public opinion, Egypt was condemned for taking in Nazis and demanded their removal.
Second, they wrote threatening letters threatening the safety of the experts' families to leave Egypt.
Third, Mossad agents assassinated those who did not heed dissuasion.
Heinz Krogo, a Nazi expert on missiles for Egypt, suddenly disappeared, leaving no one alive or dead, and the research project he presided over had to be suspended. Another expert in missile design, Wolfgang Piltz, received a letter that his secretary was seriously injured when he opened it.
The successive accidents of experts are obviously deliberate. Although there was no direct evidence that Notts was involved in the assassination, speculation later spread that the information he provided helped the assassination a lot.
Nazi officer
"Mistakenly" into enemy bases
To get more information, Notz bought a ranch in the Nile Delta because it was close to the Egyptian rocket test site, where he could easily learn when and how many Egyptian rockets were launched.
Notts spent a lot of money to build the racecourse to a first-class standard, attracting many officers and technicians from the surrounding area. In the same way, he interacted with these people.
Notz usually appeared to be ignorant of anything other than the horse, and the technicians of the staff were unguarded against him, inadvertently leaking a lot of information during the conversation. Notts was even taken on tours of missile silos and aircraft factories, and Notts learned about the Red Navy ships and the transportation of all troops and materiel on the Sinai.
In the summer of 1964, Notz received orders to ascertain the situation at the Chushalufa missile base. Although Iser photographed the base from the air, it was difficult to determine whether the equipment in the base was a model used for camouflage, so Notts was asked to go to reconnoitre himself.
The base is far from the ranch, and Notts drove there with his wife disguised as a fisherman. Following the map directions, they will pass by a sentry box. They deliberately slowed down, but the soldiers standing guard ignored them. After driving over a hillside, they turned back and pretended to be lost.
It was only then that the soldiers in the sentry booth began to pay attention to them, and then Notts asked his wife to drive all the way forward and enter the military restricted area. Soon a jeep full of soldiers approached, and Notts told his wife to ignore them and continue to drive forward.
The two cars passed each other, and after a while the jeep turned around and chased after them. After driving some more distance, Notts had his wife deliberately drive into the sand and sink the wheel in. Then the two got out of the car and pretended to argue, and Notts yelled at his wife.
Egyptian soldiers chased after them, pointed guns at the Notts couple and checked their documents. Notts explained that he had come to fish, and because he took a nap in the car, he did not expect his wife to get lost in the car. However, the soldiers did not listen to him and escorted them back to the base.
This was exactly what Notts wanted, and he saw the neatly arranged missile launchers and ammunition warehouses on the way, and got the information he wanted.
During later interrogations, Notz repeatedly stressed that he was a German tourist, gave the names of senior Egyptian officials he knew, and called a senior security official. The interrogation was fruitless, and the military had to release the Notts.
Missile base in Egypt
After being arrested, he was revived for not being circumcised
One day in the spring of 1965, the Lotses were suddenly arrested by Egyptian security agencies. Like another legendary Israeli agent, Cohen, the constant signal interference has caught the attention of Egyptian security services as Lotz sends more frequent reports to Israel. Eventually, they identified Notts through signal detection and retrieved a radio station from his home.
Under the circumstances, an Israeli spy arrested in Egypt was certain to die. Just like Cohen, an Israeli agent lurking in Syria shortly before, he was soon hanged after his identity was revealed.
Therefore, Notz never admitted to being an Israeli, only saying that he was lured by money to help Israel gather intelligence. Naturally, interrogators did not easily believe a spy at first, and only after examining Notz's body as they had done during World War II did they believed that he was not Jewish.
In court
The Egyptians then asked Notts to cooperate with a television interview to deter other lurking spies. Notts quickly thought of a way to convey information to the outside world. He made a confession on the program and emphasized in particular: "I just want to say to my fellow Germans now, stop being a spy for another country." ”
Notts knew that Israeli intelligence agencies must have been watching his news at all times, and the intention of saying this was to express that his identity as an Israeli had not been revealed, so that reasonable rescue measures could be taken.
Eventually, Israeli intelligence hired a German lawyer specifically for Notts and invited West German diplomats to the trial, all in an effort to strengthen the evidence that Notz was German. In the end, Egypt sentenced Notts only to life in prison.
In the Third Middle East War, Israel captured more than 5,000 Egyptian soldiers, including nine generals, while Egypt had only nine Israeli prisoners. In the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners, Egypt offered to exchange all the prisoners of war in their hands, and Israel naturally refused to agree.
The two sides were deadlocked, and Israel proposed a bizarre plan: soldiers 9 for 9, and the rest of the people were exchanged for the Lottes. It was probably at this time that the Egyptians knew the true identity of Lotz. Anger began, and the conditions of more than 5,000 prisoners of war made it impossible for them to refuse, and Notts eventually returned safely to Israel.
Notts was called the "Eye of Cairo" by the Mossad, and it was he who obtained a large amount of military intelligence that provided an important reference for the future development of air raid plans by the Israeli Air Force, and the Egyptian Air Force was almost destroyed by the hands of Notz.
Lotz in his later years
End:
In five Middle East wars, Israel has won victories and is jokingly called the "Little Overlord of the Middle East" by netizens. Why is Israel so strong? In addition to advanced military technology and weapons, intelligence agencies are their killer tools.
The Israeli intelligence organization Mossad is known as one of the four strongest intelligence organizations in the world, and has created many classic combat examples. They sneaked back Nazi officers from Argentina, uranium from the United States, advanced weapons from France and Switzerland ... Military intelligence obtained from hostile countries is even more numerous.
The secret of the Mossad's success is its ability to reach out to Jewish elites scattered around the world who are willing to fight for Israel precisely because of Israel's strong cohesion. They preferred to exchange 9 generals and 5,000 soldiers for an agent, telling the Jews that Israel would not give up any meritorious service.