View source for Operation Neptune (espionage)

{{Short description|1964 Eastern Bloc disinformation operation involving fake Nazi-era documents}}
{{For|other operations called Neptune|Operation Neptune (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Russian term
| image = Černé jezero - eastern bank.jpg
| caption= [[Czech Republic]] lake Černé jezero - eastern bank
| russian              = Операция «Нептун»
| rusr                 = Operatsiya "Nyeptun"
| native pronunciation = <!--{{IPA-ru|ɐpʲɪˈrat͡sɨjə ɪnˈfʲekt͡sɨjə|}}-->
| literal meaning      = 
}}

'''Operation Neptune''' was a 1964 [[disinformation]] operation by the [[secret services]] of [[Czechoslovakia]] ([[StB|State Security]]) and the [[Soviet Union]] ([[KGB]]) and involved fake [[Nazi Germany|Nazi-era]] documents that were found in submerged chests.

Operation Neptune's objectives were to discredit Western politicians by revealing the names of former Nazi informants whom they were still using as spies in [[Eastern Europe]] and to place pressure on [[West Germany]] to extend the [[statute of limitations]] on the prosecution of war criminals, including extending the [[statute of limitations]].<ref name=Wicked/><ref>[[Richard H. Shultz]] and [[Roy S. Godson]], ''[[Dezinformatsia (book)|Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy]]'', New York: Pergamon, 1984, {{ISBN|9780080315744}}, p. 171.</ref><ref name=Prague/>

==Story==
In 1964, the [[Czechoslovak State Security]] publicly claimed to have discovered Nazi-era intelligence files hidden beneath the surface of [[Černé jezero]], a [[Czech Republic]] lake in the Šumava, on the border with [[West Germany]].

The four chests containing the papers were supposedly discovered during the making of a documentary in the presence of members of the Western press. In fact, State Security itself had placed them there in collaboration with the KGB.<ref>[[Michael F. Scholz]], "Active measures and disinformation as part of East Germany's propaganda war, 1953&ndash;1972", in: Kristie Macrakis, Thomas Wegener Friis and Helmut Müller-Enbergs, ed., ''East German Foreign Intelligence: Myth, Reality and Controversy'', Studies in intelligence series, London/New York: Routledge, 2010, {{ISBN|9780415484428}}, pp. 113&ndash;, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WZOyf8bAStIC&dq=Neptune+disinformation&pg=PA116 p. 116].</ref><ref name=Prague>Dita Asiedu, [http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/details-of-czechoslovakias-biggest-disinformation-operation-published-on-web "Details of Czechoslovakia's biggest disinformation operation published on web"], [[Radio Prague]], 8 June 2007.</ref>

The apparent discovery was a [[disinformation]] operation, the largest conducted by the State Security. The fake papers were found in sunken chests, which had been carefully doctored to appear as if they had been submerged since [[World War II]]. The chests had been brought from the [[Soviet Union]]. The agent who led the divers to make the discovery and who had originally placed them in the lake, [[Ladislav Bittman]], later known as Lawrence Martin-Bittman, defected to the West in 1968 and published a book on the plot.<ref name=Prague/><ref>''The International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence'' 1 (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=hnlNAQAAIAAJ&q=Bittman 114].</ref><ref name=NYT>[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/27/us/the-spy-who-came-into-the-classroom-teaches-at-boston-u.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "The Spy Who Came Into the Classroom Teaches at Boston U."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 27 April 1994.</ref><ref name=Wicked>Dinah Cardin, "Nobody Did it Better", ''Wicked Local: North of Boston'', 2 February 2007, [http://www.wickedlocal.com/northofboston/8998960018774556671?zc_p=4#axzz2SXdT7Mok p. 5].</ref><ref>[[Ladislav Bittman]], ''[[The KGB and Soviet Disinformation|The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View]]'', Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1985, {{ISBN|9780080315720}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XH3fAAAAMAAJ&q=Neptune p. 8].</ref>

One scholar argues that the papers were possibly genuine although the former Czechoslovak spy [[Josef Frolík]] described them in his 1975 memoirs as forgeries.<ref>Scholz, citing [[Ladislav Bittman]], ''Geheimwaffe D'', Berne: SOI, 1973, {{ISBN|9783859130715}}, pp. 59&ndash;. (German translation of ''The Deception Game'')</ref><ref>Walter Galton, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BPpjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WuYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6998,6335281&dq=operation+neptune+czechoslovakia&hl=en "Czech spy learnt the Reds' dirty tricks, then exposed them"], Review, ''The Frolik Defection'', ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]'', 10 August 1975, p. 46.</ref>

==Result==
The operation also succeeded in worsening relations between Germany and Italy, as the names published included people who had lived in Germany and worked against Italy during the war. The operation had some temporary success.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130630043411/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/175746952.html?dids=175746952:175746952&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Mar+01,+1985&author=--E.P.&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=CASE+STUDY:+WEST+GERMANY&pqatl=google "Case Study: West Germany: A Czech ploy that worked&mdash;but only briefly"], ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', 1 March 1985 (pay per view).</ref><ref name=Prague/><ref name=NYT/>

==Later history==
The Czech civilian intelligence agency posted the files on Operation Neptune on its website.<ref name=Prague/>

== See also==
* [[Active measures]]

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
* [[Ladislav Bittmann]]. ''The Deception Game: Czechoslovak Intelligence in Soviet Political Warfare''. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Research Corporation, 1972. {{ISBN|9780815680789}}.
* United States. Congress. House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Subcommittee on Oversight. ''Soviet Covert Action (the Forgery Offensive): Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, Second Session, February 6, 19, 1980''. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980. {{oclc|7281428}}.

{{Disinformation}}

[[Category:Cold War espionage]]
[[Category:Germany–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Soviet Union intelligence operations]]
[[Category:1964 in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Germany relations]]
[[Category:Disinformation operations]]
[[Category:StB operations]]