In 1940 the Germans decided to send agents and saboteurs to infiltrate Britain from Norway and northern France.
It remained in place despite the collapse of plans for the invasion of Britain in Operation Sea Lion (German: Unternehmen Seelöwe).
After victory in France, the Abwehr had been tasked with retrieving current, reliable data on British defences and war-making capability.
Three days before the end of the German campaign in France on 25 June 1940, Abwehr II's war diary noted: On the direction of the Head of Division (Lahousen [Generalmajor Erwin von Lahousen]) Abwehr II's work has in the main been switched over to the war with England.
Before events in the military sphere overtook plans for the launching of Sea Lion, the Abwehr successfully inserted almost twenty agents into Britain and Ireland between the summer and early autumn of 1940.