Peter Tazelaar, a Dutch resistance fighter in World War II, worked as an agent of SOE (Special Operations Executive), a British WWII organization opposite of MI6.
SOE agents performed many risky missions with little or no training during the war. Peter Tazelaar was involved in a plan to get key resistance fighters into and out of The Netherlands. Once in country, he was to receive a radio by parachute but upon its landing, the radio broke. The mission went on as he tried to get some of the resistance members out by boat, but the seas were too dangerous. At this point, the Germans heard of the plan and started looking for Tazelaar. He had no choice but to flee out of the country.
These were typical operations by SOE but what was not typical was how Peter Tazelarr arrived in The Netherlands.
The mission involved a dinghy, a wetsuit, a bottle of booze, and a high-end tuxedo. The Palace Hotel had been taken over by the Germans in the seaside town of Scheveningen. Officers of the Reich held parties there every Friday night.
Tazelaar paddled his dinghy close to shore and then swam the rest of the way. He then stripped off his wetsuit which kept the tux underneath dry. He then drank some brandy and dappled some on himself. Staggering and reeking of alcohol he slipped past the guards, as just another drunk guest of the Hotel.
It is said the opening to the James Bond movie Goldfinger was inspired by these events. But Ian Fleming’s book and the script didn’t have the scene. Paul Dehn who was once a British intelligence officer in WWII was hired to polish up the script and he supposedly added the scene.
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