GERMAN SPY AT HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19455, 11 October 1926, Page 11

GERMAN SPY AT HOME.

SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS. EAST ANGLICAN ACTIVITIES. s »n. LONDON. Oct. 8. A romantic story is related in connection with the caso in which Hermann Leibbrand was sued for £lslß by the Bankruptcy Trustee. This concerns the defeat at the last minute of Leibbrand's plans to prepare the way for an invasion of England when he was acting as a spy for Germany. The story goes that the plot was defeated by Mr. Woodmancy, a member of the Felixstowe municipality, who with some friends watched Leibbrand for years. Tiio municipality was about to hand over to Leibbrand the control of the electric light and power, and also to authorise him to build a light railway, when Mr. Woodmancy denounced Leibbrand as a spy and produced proofs which he and his friends had gathered. Leibbrand was previously questioned regarding finance. He said: "I am an independent 'money-bags.' " He suggested that a prominent East Angiic_r.t resident should accompany him tc Germany for proof of this statement. Leibbrand was always flush with money, especially after several weeks' absence. He repeatedly entertained naval officers lavishly at Felixstowe The man had two telephones in his house, and always placed a guard over one when ho was using the other. Ho transformed his library into a secret room, to which his wife and the servants were not admitted. Ho conducted his own secret service. The Evening News says: "Leibbrand was possibly Germany's most clever spy. That is the official opinion Ho claimed to bo a son of a Bavarian prince, but he was brought up by a jeweller residing at Spayer. "Ho was presumably sent to Britain before the war to develop East Anglia for a German landing base. Correspondence which was seized from Leibbrand emphasised fiiat East Atiglia offered the best scope for raiders, because tho canals, estuaries and agricultural hinterland invited attack owing to the distance from Aldershot and Salisbury Plains, and because it had only one line of railway. This would necessitate weeks elapsing before serious resistance would be possible. "In the meanwhile the Germans would be able to make Harwich and Felixstowe into a second Hamburg with an advanced base at Colchester. Felixstowe was especially favourable owing to the depth of the water there, which would have made possiblo tho close approach of transports -and l a- covering fleet."