With explosive rats... Britain sought to defeat Hitler

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Following France's defeat in July 1940 and its submission to his conditions, Adolf Hitler moved to impose a peace agreement on Britain with the aim of getting it out of the war and devoting itself to the Soviet Union.

With Britain and its Prime Minister Winston Churchill rejecting this and supporting the continuation of the fighting, the Germans intensified their air strikes against Britain. Initially, during the second half of 1940, the Germans targeted airports, radars, and military sites before expanding their air strikes, which later extended towards British cities and civilian targets.

In the midst of these events, Britain looked for a way to undermine and disrupt German military production. Based on this, the idea of ​​explosive rats emerged, which was expected to cause the halt of work in German factories.

During the year 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill approved the idea of ​​establishing the Special Operations Implementation Organization, which was entrusted with the task of conducting espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance operations in European areas under German occupation.

Also, this organization was mandated to extend a helping hand to the resistance fighters and assist them through information and advice. At its peak, this organization included about 13,000 employees, including about 3,200 women. This organization, which many called Churchill's secret army, continued to operate in Europe until 1946, when it was officially dissolved following the end of World War II and the defeat of Germany.

As part of its operations, the Special Operations Execution Organization sent agents behind enemy lines. These agents carried out operations that included sabotaging railway lines and infrastructure and disrupting production in factories. Also, this organization owned a unit specialized in the field of camouflage, as this unit succeeded in hiding quantities of explosives inside a number of objects such as wood and bottles.

During 1941, the Special Operations Execution Organization developed a plan to blow up German factories using explosive rats. At that time, the organization obtained about 100 rats prepared for medical experiments. As part of this plan, these rats were killed, parts of their entrails were extracted, and plastic explosives were placed inside them.

Later, these explosive rats were scheduled to be transported to Germany to be placed inside factory boiler rooms and locomotive vehicles. According to what the organization’s experts said at the time, the German workers would throw these dead and mined rats into the ovens to burn them and get rid of them. Then, these rats will explode, causing devastating explosions inside the boilers, which will result in serious damage, coinciding with the disruption of production.

With its preparation completed, the first shipment of explosive rats was sent to Germany. Meanwhile, the Germans were on the lookout and were able to uncover this shipment and its contents. Because of this, the Special Operations Implementation Organization preferred to terminate this plan and put an end to the production of explosive rats.

Later, the Germans displayed explosive rats in many of their military schools and began conducting research to determine the effectiveness of such operations and to establish foundations and procedures for thwarting them.