It’s a story straight out of a classic James Bond film — dapper hero derives plot to assassinate dreadful Nazi using a bow and arrow shot from his beautiful girlfriend’s penthouse. But one author claims the action-packed scene was no movie plot, but a snapshot of history.
According to a book published this week by author Mark Ryan, British spy Tommy Sneum derived the plan to kill Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and one of the most notorious Nazis in history. Ryan learned of Sneum’s exploits during extensive interviews with him before the spy died last year at 89 years old, the Times of London reported.
In 1941, a then-23-year-old Sneum had decided to forego his career as a Danish aviator to become a spy after he became dismayed with his country’s capitulation, the Times reported. According to Ryan’s book, when he learned that Himmler was to visit Copenhagen in February of that year, he hatched the plot to kill him from the apartment of his lover, actress Oda Pasborg.
“He was so much in love with [Pasborg] that he did not want to kill Himmler in a way that would hurt her,” Ryan told the Times.
So, instead of a gun, he purchased a steel bow that could be dismantled for easy transportation.
But, to the disappointment of Sneum, Himmler fell ill when he reached the Copenhagen airport and continued on to Berlin, never showing up for what could have been his ultimate demise, the Times reported.
“He was a real-life 007, getting through a tremendous number of women and doing all kinds of spectacular stunts to evade the Nazis,” Ryan told the Times.
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