Help: WWI Espionage References

[Vondy]

I need some help digging up information (preferably online) on Central Powers intelligence during WWI. There is a famine of information on intelligence during the Great War as a whole, but its even worse when looking for information pertaining to non-Allies countries. I'm specifically interested in German intelligence (the Abwher was post WWI), but Turkish and Austrian-Hungarian intelligence would be good as well. Also, I'm more interested in fronts and operations other than the western front. I know about Mata Hari and the German Spies caught in England. I'm really more interested in intelligence on the Eastern Front, Gallipoli, Palestine, Persia, and even the Americas.

[Cancer]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

I think there are some references to WW1 or near-WW1 Central Pact intelligence stories in Allen Dulles's Great True Spy Stories. IIRC The closing story, "The Archtraitor", in particular, is about a catastrophic breakdown in the Austro-Hungarian service. You can also look at the reference section in books like Barbara Tuchman's The Zimmermann Telegram.

 

Another name to hunt for in that era is Admiral Reginald Hall, who was British Naval Intelligence head at the time. He did not limit his office's activities to naval activities or to any theatre.

[Barton]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

High in the Empty Blue - great book about 56 Squadron RFC/RAF. Appendex has a chapter about the spy who came to dinner. GREAT Story!!!.

[LordGhee]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

Tuesday I am going to a mil libary I will look it up,

 

there is a book on the German ring that was headed by a vetanarian who became the head army vet and personally inspected every horse sent to overseas. thease where givien anthrax and all horses where mix in the herd in france (he claimed this casued a million horse deaths)

 

he also headed the dock ring that put bombs on ships in the coal (claim of 25% of all sinkings). this group later got blamed for the largest dock acciendent which one hundred ammo train cars on the dock went BOOM .

 

went back to germany after the war and wrote a book

 

Lord Ghee

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

Hew Strachan, The First World War, vol 1: Call to Arms.

'Nuff said.

[st barbara]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

Probably hard to get hold of now (written in 1932) but "Their Secret Purposes : Dramas and Mysteries of the Naval War" by Hector C Bywater includes some espionage stuff (boith Allied and German), as well as the story of the "Haunted U-Boat" (UB65)

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

I recall reading about a British agent named Alexander Scotland who, having some German ancestry, Germanized his name, developed a cover identity and became a major German supply officer. His orders were not to sabotage the German war effort, but to supply information, which they considered a fair exchange.

 

When the war ended, he wanted to "come in from the cold" but was instead told to maintain his alternate identity. (Later, he would claim that one of the people whp wnated him still in the game was a then-near-disgraced Winston Churchill, whose reputation had seemingly been irreparably damaged by the Galipoli disaster.) He went to Buenos Aires, became a successful businessman and prominent German nationalist, and returned to Germany when Hitler came to power at the request of the Wehrmact to assume a roughly similar role -- logistical wizard for the Germans, spy for the British.

 

The Germans didn't discover the truth about "Brigadier-General Alexander Schottlandt" until he testified against Marshal Kesselring at his war crimes trial.

[Edsel]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

Not Intelligence per se but definitely covert ops run by the Central Powers. Germany carried out numerous sabotage operations within the United States during World War I. The Black Tom explosion was probably the most notorious. Here are a couple of links about sabotage carried out by Imperial German agents during the Great War.

 

http://www.fas.org/irp/ops/ci/docs/ci1/ch3c.htm

 

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpwwi4.htm

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

I need some help digging up information (preferably online) on Central Powers intelligence during WWI. There is a famine of information on intelligence during the Great War as a whole' date=' but its even worse when looking for information pertaining to non-Allies countries. I'm specifically interested in German intelligence (the Abwher was post WWI), but Turkish and Austrian-Hungarian intelligence would be good as well. Also, I'm more interested in fronts and operations other than the western front. I know about Mata Hari and the German Spies caught in England. I'm really more interested in intelligence on the Eastern Front, Gallipoli, Palestine, Persia, and even the Americas.[/quote']

 

Wilhelm Wassmuss aka "The German Lawrence" would be a great start for Persia.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Wassmuss

[clsage]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

I need some help digging up information (preferably online) on Central Powers intelligence during WWI. There is a famine of information on intelligence during the Great War as a whole' date=' but its even worse when looking for information pertaining to non-Allies countries. I'm specifically interested in German intelligence (the Abwher was post WWI), but Turkish and Austrian-Hungarian intelligence would be good as well. Also, I'm more interested in fronts and operations other than the western front. I know about Mata Hari and the German Spies caught in England. I'm really more interested in intelligence on the Eastern Front, Gallipoli, Palestine, Persia, and even the Americas.[/quote']

 

You might want to take a gander at:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly

 

Reilly was reputed to have spied for up to four seperate governments during

his career (from what I can follow, sometimes at the same time).

 

-Carl-

[Vondy]

Re: Help: WWI Espionage References

 

Thanks for the links. I'll peruse them and see what I can pull out. I'm going through the MacMillan Dictionary of The First World War right now, and while its short on espionage information, it does make some references to operations in Persia and Romania. Keep whatever you find coming.