1. Josef Jakobs was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London.
14 Facts About Josef Jakobs
1. 2.
Josef Jakobs was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War.
3.
Josef Jakobs was not hanged since he was captured as an enemy combatant.
4.
Josef Jakobs, who was a German citizen, was born in Luxembourg in 1898.
5.
In June 1940, ten months after the outbreak of the Second World War, Josef Jakobs was drafted into the Wehrmacht as an Oberleutnant.
6.
Josef Jakobs was demoted to a Feldwebel and placed in the of the German Army.
7.
On 31 January 1941, Josef Jakobs was flown from Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands to Ramsey in Huntingdonshire.
8.
Josef Jakobs parachuted from the aircraft and landed in a field near Dove House Farm, but broke his ankle during the process.
9.
Josef Jakobs said Bauerle was meant to join him after he had made "radio contact", but then doubted she would now be sent since he was arrested before he could communicate with his team.
10.
The British were aware that Josef Jakobs was coming because his arrival information had been passed on to MI5 by the Welsh nationalist and Abwehr double agent Arthur Owens.
11.
Josef Jakobs's execution took place at the miniature rifle range in the grounds of the Tower of London on 15 August 1941.
12.
Josef Jakobs was tied and blindfolded in a brown Windsor chair.
13.
Josef Jakobs was the last person to be executed at the Tower of London.
14.
The location used for Josef Jakobs's grave has since been re-used, so the original grave site is difficult to find.