Operation Osprey

Operation Osprey ("Unternehmen Fischadler" in German) was a plan conceived by the German Foreign Ministry and Abwehr II. mid-1942. The plan was an enlargement of Operation Whale ("Unternehmen Wal" in German). Planning took place in the context of American troops landing in Northern Ireland 26 January 1942, and Hitler's immediate fears surrounding this.

Planning for Osprey began after conversations between German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Führer Adolf Hitler in the weeks following the arrival of a contingent of 4,508 US troops and engineers in Belfast commanded by Major-General Russell P. Hartle, the Commanding General of the 34th Division. The German command feared that these forces could set up bases in neutral Ireland. US forces had already compromised the neutrality of both Iceland and Greenland the previous year and it was known by the Germans that pressure had been placed on Éamon de Valera to cede the port in Cobh, and/or side with the British in World War II. German forces had already considered the occupation of Ireland in "Plan Green" but with the German failure during the Battle of Britain, the launching of Green alongside Operation Sea Lion was still a distant prospect.

Osprey envisioned the use of volunteer commando troops trained in sabotage and British weaponry to go to Ireland in the event of an American invasion and train "Irish partisans", volunteers of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and any Irish Army units resisting the invasion. Abwehr II. was to have only technical input into the planning and training of this new unit; the Foreign Ministry was to dominate via the Reich's Security Headquarters (RSHA) and have overall control.

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