Operation Bernhard

The Reich's counterfeiting of the pound, so good the Bank of England retired the notes.

Operation Bernhard (1942-45): the SS counterfeited £132 million in Bank of England notes using Sachsenhausen prisoners — documented by survivor testimony (Adolf Burger), recovered plates and notes from Lake Toplitz (1959 dives), and the Bank's own response (withdrawing denominations above £5 for decades). The plan to destabilize sterling by airdrop became laundering for intelligence financing (Cicero affair payments were Bernhard notes). The node is the economic-warfare file's confirmed centerpiece: state counterfeiting at industrial scale, with museum-grade evidence.