February 8th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Holderness launched.
EIRE: U-37 landed an agent in Donegal Bay.
FRANCE:On the Western Front, two French soldiers capture a German patrol in Forbach Woods. One of the soldiers, Joseph Darnand, later heads the Vichy French secret police.
GIBRALTAR: U.S.
freighter SS Scottsburg is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities.
U.S.A.: William Sebold, aka Harry Sawyer, arrives in
New York City from Genoa, Italy, to lead a German spy network in the USA. His
special equipment includes "microdots.” Sebold, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had
returned to Germany in February 1939 to visit his mother and was approached by
German intelligence. He was recruited in September 1939 but because his U.S.
passport had been stolen, he was allowed to go to the U.S. Consulate in Cologne
to get a new one. While there, he told consulate officials about his recruitment
and offered to work with the FBI on his return to the U.S. His testimony helped
to convict 33 German agents in 1941. His story was the basis for the 1945 movie
“The House on 92nd Street.”