A rare exploding ‘rat bomb’ that was used by Allied spies in a bizarre bid to destroy German factories in the war has been unearthed.
British scientists stuffed dozens of dead rats with explosives, detonators and fuses to act as a disguised bomb.
The idea was to get French Resistance fighters and Special Operations Executive agents to infiltrate German armament factories and leave the dead rodents in the boiler rooms.
The Germans would naturally throw the vermin straight into the furnace, triggering a huge explosion and wreaking havoc in Nazi-occupied France.
A rare exploding ‘rat bomb’ used by Allied spies in a bizarre bid to destroy German factories in WWII has been unearthed. British scientists stuffed dozens of dead rats with explosives, detonators and fuses to act as a disguised bomb
The plan was to get French Resistance fighters and Special Operations Executive agents to infiltrate armament factories and leave the dead rodents in the boiler rooms. The Germans would throw the vermin into the furnace, triggering an explosion
In the event, the first batch of 100 ‘Rat Bombs’ were intercepted by the Germans in 1942 and the plan was never put into practice.
It did, however, cause a great deal of confusion amongst the Germans as they assumed there were thousands of other ‘Rat Bombs’ that had been laid and went on an epic hunt for them,
Now an incredibly rare surviving example has emerged for sale for the first time along with an assortment of other concealed weapons used by secret agents in the Second World War.
The ‘Rat Bomb’ belonged to the British agent Jack Dickens, who went by the name of Maurice Ledain. He was dropped behind enemy lines to carry out acts of sabotage.
The device was found on his possession in 1942 and ended up in storage at a French police station. It is not known who intercepted it.
It carries a pre-sale estimate of £1,500.
A note attached to the auction item which refers to it as a ‘brown rat’. The bomb carries a pre-sale estimate of £1,500
Also being sold is a fountain pen that when unscrewed, reveals itself to be an ‘assassin’s metal spike’ which would have been used by an SOE agent to overcome a German guard. It is valued at £3,000.
There is also a pocket-sized wooden coffin containing garrotte wire used for strangling someone.
The coffins served as a chilling warning to individuals tempted to collaborate with the Germans and were left on their doorsteps by the French Resistance.
There is also an Army-issue razor pack which contained a hidden compass pointer on a cotton thread and a silk escape map with lithographed maps on both sides, covering Western Germany, Holland, France, Belgium and Switzerland. This is worth £1,200.
The ‘Rat Bomb’ belonged to the British agent Jack Dickens, who went by the name of Maurice Ledain. He was dropped behind enemy lines to carry out acts of sabotage
The items are being sold by auctioneers Bonhams.
A spokesman for the auction house said: ‘The Rat Bomb is a very rare surviving example.
‘The idea never really took off and so not many of them were made and those that did were intercepted by the Germans.
‘Many of the unexploded Rat Bombs were later mounted and used as training exhibits in German military schools.
‘This particular example bears a tag suggesting it was used for training at a French police station, having been found in the possession of Jack Dickens.
‘Some of the disguised weapons are quite chilling when you look at them now but they highlight the do-or-die nature of SOE agents who operated in Nazi-occupied Europe.’
The SOE was created in 1940 on the order of Winston Churchill and kept secret from Parliament.
By the end of the war, it had led to the destruction of Hitler’s nuclear programme and the capturing of Nazis. The items are being sold on December 6.
Rat with more than a sting in its tail
The idea for the ‘exploding rat’ was first developed in 1941.
The objective was to blow up the enemy’s boilers by laying the dead rat near German boiler rooms.
Enemy soldiers were expected to shovel the carcass into the flames to avoid disease – and then the hidden bomb’s fuse would be lit.
But they were never used, as the first consignment was seized by the Germans… blowing the secret.
Rat’s the way to do it: The hidden bomb; P.E. in the diagram refers to plastic explosive