Irish Republican Army–Abwehr collaboration
The Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary group seeking to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and unify Ireland, shared intelligence with the Abwehr, the military intelligence service of Nazi Germany, during the Second World War. Context Conquest of Ireland was not a strategic goal for Nazi Germany before or during World War II. A plan existed for a potential invasion of Ireland, Operation Green, but it was more a diversionary tactic than an actual plot to take over the territory. What Nazi Germany hoped was to see Ireland remain neutral. When German attempts to gain air superiority over Great Britain as part of the Battle of Britain, seen as a potential precursor to Operation Sea Lion, were repulsed Ireland largely ceased to be of much interest. IRA-Abwehr involvement throughout the period can be broken up into three phases: Coordination missions with the IRA preceding the French campaign, Military missions directed against Britain for the purposes of gathering technical and weather data Sending German soldiers into the Irish ranks Political missions against Britain undertaken later in the war, when the threat of direct German action against Britain had receded. Each phase had similar characteristics: a lack of planning, and