The German counterespionage (Abwehr II) under Admiral Canaris ordered to implement Operation Weissdorn, a plan to overthrow the Smuts regime and to bring about a coup d'etat in South Africa with Ossewa Brandwag support. The political elimination of General Smuts was to act as a catalyst to unite the country against the pro-war party.Robey Leibbrandt under the code name of Walter Kempf, was instructed to return to S.A. on the yacht Kyloe.
June 1941 Robey was put ashore at Mitchells Bay/South Africa. After various adventures, he met Dr van Rensburg, the O.B. leader. Van Rensburg was unsympathetic to Leibbrandt's overtures. Leibbrandt continued in his attempts to drum up support, winning converts to his cause with fiery speeches at meetings in the Oranje Free State. and the Transvaal. These converts took the Blood Oath, and trained in time bomb making sabotage.
After a confrontation with the police who had been given a tip by the leadership of the O.B. - off Robey evaded capture. A reward of R1000 was offered for his capture, dead or alive. Then a member of his own group betrayed Robeyīs trust and the net was beginning to close. On the 21 December, a report in the Rand Daily Mail read, "Leibbraindt Group Smashed." So the 'Operation Weissdorn` was cancelled.
Robey Leibbrandt's political high treason trial began on 16th November 1942 and he was condemned to death. On 11th March1943 his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by General Smuts who had admired Leibbrandt's father as a "courageous Boer warrior" in the Anglo Boer War. After the Nationalist Party won the General Election in May l948, Robey and all other political prisoners were pardoned and released.
He later married and had five children. Robey Leibbrandt died on 1 August 1966 in Ladybrand.
(according to C. Whiteing)
25 Photo's Sidney Robey Leibbrandt
The South African Heavy Weight Champion at the 1934 Empire Games 7 sec. movie fragment, (1.7 MByte )