Stealing The Crown Jewels
Amsterdam has long been one of the world’s leading centers for the cutting of diamonds and when the Germans attacked Holland without warning on Friday, 10 May 1940, one of their key objectives was the seizure of the city’s large stock of diamonds – providing they were quick enough! John Grehan tells the story of an astonishing smash and grab raid.
Almost immediately following the news of the German attack upon Holland, key people in the UK became anxious about the Amsterdam diamonds, especially the large stocks of industrial diamonds. Few items were as important in the manufacture of tools for the armaments industry as these small, grey or colourless stones. The value of the stocks in Amsterdam at pre-war prices was in the region of four or five million pounds. Now, at the beginning of a world war, there was no figure high enough to describe their value. They were beyond price.
That same afternoon, two men were ushered into the offices of the Board of Trade in Admiralty Arch. One of these men was a London-based diamond merchant, Walter Keyser. The other was Jan Kors Smit whose family diamond business had branches in Amsterdam, New York and London. They wanted to know what Britain intended to do to prevent the diamonds falling into German hands. All they were told was that no plan had yet been hatched, “but something is incubating”.
What was incubating was an operation to seize the diamonds in Amsterdam without the permission of the Dutch Government. Any attempt to go through the usual channels would simply take too long, and might even be rejected by the Dutch authorities. There was no time for niceties. Equally, Britain could not send in an armed force to take the diamonds as it was likely to face opposition and the result of such an operation could not be predicted. So a small-scale, clandestine mission was the only one that was likely to succeed.
The man that was going to lead the diamond robbery was a British Intelligence officer, Major Charles Dillon. The assistance of the two diamond experts would be very welcome and so a meeting was arranged for the three men to discuss the operation on the following day. . What would become known as Operation Amsterdam - one of the most important missions of the early months of the war - was going to be carried out by just three men!
Major Dillon (which was his operational, not his actual, name) explained the difficulties they would encounter if they went to Holland: “This hasn’t been a straightforward attack by one country on another: the Germans had built up a strong force inside the country and you can’t even trust anyone in a Dutch uniform, because he’s just as likely to be a German. Also there has been an unprecedented use of parachutists wearing every garment under the sun.” In other words no-one could be trusted.
The following morning, the trio was on their way to Harwich with a pass written by the Dutch Legation in London authorizing their trip to Holland. What was waiting for them at the east coast port was beyond their expectations. To transport just three men across the North Sea the Admiralty had provided a destroyer!
HMS Walpole left Harwich after dark. During the crossing, another warship was encountered travelling in the opposite direction, towards the UK. It too was carrying another precious Dutch cargo that had escaped the clutches of the Germans – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and her little princess.
The destroyer arrived at the fishing port of Ymuiden, at the head of the North Sea Canal which runs to Amsterdam, just before dawn. Lieutenant-Commander H.G. Bowerman had been ordered to drop the three civilians off and return to the open waters of the North Sea. His instructions were to avoid anything that might endanger the safety of his ship as he had to return to pick up the three men at 20.00 hours that night. If Dillon and his party had not made it back to the port then Bowerman was to repeat the operation and return the following night.
As the trio rowed towards the land, the first German bombs of the day could be seen exploding in the distance. The enemy was getting closer with the passing of every hour. At the quayside they were met by a local boatman who offered to help them when they returned but, a moment later, they were arrested at gunpoint by a Dutch policeman. Such was the difficulty of their mission – just who could they trust?
They were marched to the Port Police office where they produced their Legation passes, which sufficed to get them out of the harbour and onto the streets of the town. Somehow they now had to find a means of travelling to Amsterdam.
They spotted a Chevrolet about to move off and Jan Smit ran quickly forward and pulled open the driver’s door. A young woman was at the wheel. Without revealing too much, not only did the Dutchman persuade the woman to give them the use of the car, she even volunteered to drive them.
They drove to the premises of J.K. Smit & Zonen in Sarphatistraat where Jan knew his father would have arrived to start his working day. With little ceremony, Jan explained the reason for the sudden presence of himself and his two colleagues in Amsterdam to his father. “You are a little late, Jan”, his father explained. “I sent the best ones to England last night … I had stocks of a hundred and forty-five thousand carats of industrial diamonds here in the town. Imagine that, gentlemen, and how much the German war machine would have coveted it!”
Smit’s was not the only diamond company in Amsterdam and the four men set about considering how they could get their hands on the other gems. They decided to split up and rendezvous later. When they stepped outside into the Sarphatistraat the girl and the car had gone.
The driver, Anna, had presumed the meeting at Smit’s would be a long one. She worked in the War Ministry in Amsterdam and she had decided to drive round to her office to see what was happening. There she told one of her colleagues, a Dutch Army Colonel, of her adventure. Though she knew nothing about the mission her three newly-found friends were engaged upon, she did know that they had to get back to Ymuiden through the vast hordes of refugees escaping to the coast. The colonel offered to help, even if this meant using his authority to halt all the traffic to allow Anna’s car through.
Meanwhile Jan and his father made their way to the Diamond Bourse. In the distance they could see and hear the explosions of the bombs at Schipol Airport and the shooting of presumed Fifth Columnists and German spies. The atmosphere of fear and confusion could be felt all around.
At the Bourse there were, as usual, other diamond merchants and a meeting of the Bourse Board was called. Old man Smit explained the situation to gathering of distinguished diamond dealers. They were faced with a difficult decision. Once their diamonds were handed over to the British they were unlikely to see them again. Many people, if not most, doubted Britain’s ability to defeat the Germans so there was guarantee that they would ever receive any compensation from the British Government. Also, when the Germans occupied Amsterdam, as they inevitably would, they might face harsh reprisals for allowing their precious stones to be taken to Britain.
The decision hung in the balance until the question was raised as to how the three men were going to get the diamonds back to the UK. Would an aircraft be sent? When the directors heard that Winston Churchill had sent a destroyer for the purpose, they realized just how much importance Britain placed upon the mission. But there was still one major obstacle to overcome. It was a Whitsun Bank Holiday and many of the vaults were on time-locks and could not be opened. The diamond merchants would be faced with having to dynamite their way into their own safes!
Arriving back at the Sarphatistraat, the Smit’s saw Anna’s car back outside their office. There were now large numbers of armed police and soldiers patrolling this important district of the city and Anna was advised to drive off and return again later. The Sarphatistraat was no placed to sit idly in a car.
Eventually, with the minutes clicking all-too rapidly by, a deputation of diamond merchants, along with the Mayor of Amsterdam arrived at the Smit’s office. The merchants, almost all of them Jews, had decided to relinquish their precious gems. It was a very brave decision.
With a bulging bag, Jan, Dillon and Keyser climbed into Anna’s car at the pre-arranged time of 17.00 hours. As they drove away with their invaluable treasure, two military lorries appeared and with a screech of brakes pulled to a halt. The troops leapt out and opened fire upon the Chevrolet. Two bullets hit the back of the car as Anna drove for her life. More bullets struck the Chevrolet. Amongst the soldiers Anna had glimpsed a Colonel that she knew only too well. As she drove through the outskirts of Amsterdam there were tears in her eyes.
They reached Ymuiden and the boatman, true to his word, was where he said he would be. But he was lying dead. Anna suggested that they tried a tug boat, a number of which were berthed in the port.
One was found and with Dillon’s revolver in the back of a reluctant skipper, the tug made its way through the harbour entrance. It was 19.55 – just five minutes before the rendezvous. Dillon knew that the Dutch Army was on the point of collapse. Tonight was their only hope, tomorrow would be too late.
But they had no need to worry, for HMS Walpole was waiting. Soon they were on board and heading back to Harwich.
Later that same night the Dutch Army laid down its weapons. Despite the speed of the German victory, Holland’s most valuable assets, its diamonds and its Royal family, had been rescued. Its crown jewels, both figuratively and materialistically, had been stolen from under the very noses of the enemy.
The above story is taken from David E Walker’s book Operation Amsterdam: The Most Brilliant Raid of the War published by Mayflower Books of St Albans in 1974.
