He had served in the local army reserve unit from 1934–1935 and later attended a five-week training course with the 2/58 Mounted Artillery Regiment at Oldenburg in 1938.
From 1938–1939 Schütz attended the German Commercial College at Eaton Rise, Ealing, in London and also acted for the Abwehr while in Britain.
Schütz travelled the country taking pictures of factories, bringing with him a Portuguese man called Pierce who also shared the building where he lived.
The Abwehr asked Pierce to assess bomb damage from IRA S-Plan attacks, report on internal transport facilities and British air defences.
From December 1939 he carried out a variety of tasks for Abwehr I/Wi in particular visiting Belgium, Italy and Switzerland primarily to collect letters from live-letter drops sent by German agents overseas.
Unfortunately for the Abwehr, he was spotted and reported to the Garda Síochána who on inspection of his case, discovered his transmitter, money, microscope and bottle of German cognac.
During his interrogation by Irish Military Intelligence (G2) he was told about the German agents Wilhelm Preetz and Walter Simon who had also been caught; it was a sign of his unpreparedness that he was entirely unaware of these men.
The second was more successful and involved enlisting the help of the IRA through internee Jim O'Hanlon, who gave Schütz his own address and those of several other volunteers.
Brugha wanted Schütz to re-establish contact with the Abwehr and facilitate a resupply of arms, ammunition and money to the IRA.
Through Mrs Brugha's contacts Schütz met with the representatives of the "Northern Group", the Belfast IRA who had taken over the organisation following the arrest of Stephen Hayes on charges of treason.
The men explained to Schütz that they had a plan; they wanted communications equipment, arms, ammunition and money to rebuild the IRA.
The intended skipper of the vessel that was to take Schütz to France was IRA volunteer and Irish Naval Service Captain Charles McGuinness.
[3] Schütz was returned to the Bridewell and thence to Arbour Hill, where his room, which had once housed Éamon de Valera, had a carpet and radio.