Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Simon Emil Koedel" in English language version.
On January 3 [1939], German naval Intelligence had received a report from one of its agents in the United States, Marie Koedel, reporting on those American military supplies purchased by Britain which were being loaded at Hamilton dock in Brooklyn, on the ships being loaded, and on their sailing schedules. Marie Koedel was even able to enlist the services of a British sailor who had jumped ship, Duncan Scott-Ford; later he was uncovered, captured, brought back to Britain, tried and hanged. But the information he sent back, as that of Mary Koedel, added to the German understanding of British shipping operations. A considerable amount of German information also came, not from any individual spy, but from a careful reading of the uninhibited American press.
On March 1, 1945, he was convicted of conspiracy to commist espionage [...] He was released a year later, and deported back to Germany. He died a vagrant three years later
He was given a commission as a captain and was soon promoted to major because of his innovative and highly productive spying activities. Koedel sought and was granted membership in the American Ordnance Association, [...]. Often he strolled brazenly up to the gates of plants, flashed his Ordnance Association card, and was admitted. Sometimes officials took him on a guided tour of what should have been a top secret facility. Once he tried this ploy at the Chemical Warfare Center at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, [...] Guards would not permit Koedel to enter. [...] Koedel promptly telephoned an official at the Ordnance Association office in Washington [...] The association official contacted a high officer in the War Department and demanded to know why this [...] loyal booster of a strong national defense was being barred from Edgewood Arsenal. [...] Within hours an officer in the War Department read the riot act to the Edgewood Arsenal commander, and Koedel entered the facility and was given a guided tour. Two weeks later, Abwehr officers in Berlin were reading Agent A-2011's report on what he had seen and been told at the secret arsenal.
In another espionage case, Colombian authorities worked closely with the FBI and as a result the spy, Waldemar Othmer, was apprehended and convicted in the United States of North America. Following out all possible avenues of investigation, information was developed on similar activities of Simon and Marie Koedel. Othmer had reported shipping information from Norfolk, Virginia, and the Koedels had worked in the New York area for the Germans. These three spies received terms totaling 42½ years.
In the fall of 1939 he began riding the ferries in earnest. He took six and seven trips a week. On the Staten Island boats he scanned busy harbor traffic through field glasses and sneaked into the cabin to make notes on what he saw. [...] Often he rode the Weehawken ferry from 42nd St. and closely watched British freighters lying in the Hudson. He slipped into subways and rode to the bustling Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. There he watched the loading of lend-lease shipments and tried to figure out what was in crates lying on the docks by names of the manufacturers stenciled on the outside.
Sources agree however, that it was sometime in the middle thirties that Koedel volunteered his services to "Abwehrnebenstelle" Bremen to act as a spy against the United States. Though Koedel had retained his American citizenship, he stated: "I love Germany with all my heart and I am even willing ••• to give my very life for her."
The Abwehr enrolled Simon Koedel as Agent A2011, the "A" indicating Koedel was a foreign agent. The "2" identified him with the Bremen sub branch soon to be headed by Johannes Bischoff, and the number "11" meant he was one of the first agents recruited for that network.