Great Britain - Operation Bernhard Note £50 - P-331 - June 15, 1933 dated Foreign Paper Money - Famous Counterfeit Note

50 Pounds, P-331, Operation Bernhard.

Operation Bernhard, a Nazi Germany exercise, aimed to forge British banknotes during World War II. Initially, the plan was to drop the notes over Britain, causing a collapse of the British economy. The Sicherheitsdienst (SD) executed the first phase, codenamed Unternehmen Andreas (Operation Andreas), from early 1940. The unit successfully replicated the rag paper used by the British, produced near-identical engraving blocks, and deciphered the algorithm used to create the alpha-numeric serial code on each note. However, the operation was halted in early 1942 due to Alfred Naujocks’s downfall with his superior officer, Reinhard Heydrich.

Later that year, the operation was revived, with the objective shifted to forging money for German intelligence operations. Instead of a specialized SD unit, prisoners from Nazi concentration camps were selected and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp to work under SS Major Bernhard Krüger. The unit produced British notes until mid-1945, with estimates varying on the number and value of notes printed, ranging from £132.6 million to £300 million. By the time production ceased, the unit had perfected the artwork for US dollars, though the paper and serial numbers were still being analyzed. The counterfeit money was laundered in exchange for money and other assets. Notably, counterfeit notes from Operation Bernhard were used to pay the Turkish agent Elyesa Bazna, codenamed Cicero, for his role in obtaining British secrets from the British ambassador in Ankara. Additionally, £100,000 from Operation Bernhard was utilized to secure information that aided in the liberation of Italian leader Benito Mussolini during the Gran Sasso raid in September 1943.