Hitler's 'forged fivers' mayhem: How the Fuhrer 'destroyed' confidence in British currency
Nazi forgers ‘destroyed’ confidence in British currency by flooding Europe with forged Bank of England notes, the MI5 files reveal.
There were so many counterfeits in circulation that officials even considered recalling all British bank notes and starting afresh.
The papers describe how the Germans first began forging the notes in 1940 in preparation for Hitler’s planned invasion of Britain.
According to a captured German agent, the plan was to scatter the notes, £5 denominations and above, over the country from the air ‘in order to create loss of confidence and general confusion’....