The Dark Invader: Wartime Reminiscences of a German Naval Intelligence Officer

by Captain Franz von Rintelen

This is a first-hand report by a top German intelligence agent sent to the still-neutral United States in World War I. Official German records, captured by British and American forces at the end of World War II, show the memoirs of the German naval officer to be accurate.

Genres: Nonfiction

326 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1933, this is the memoir of a German Naval Intelligence officer recounting his actions in attempting to interrupt the flow of US munitions to the allies in the early years of WWI.

I did not realize that US artillery ammunition in 1915 was of such a significant qualitative edge over that produced in Europe at the time that the Germans viewed it as a strategic threat. Echos of the support we provide to Ukraine today.

This memoir relates classic HUMINT ops in a major conventional conflict. The establishment of front companies to purchase and divert ammunition supplies, the attempt to establish a dock-workers union to foment strikes intended to interrupt shipping, recruiting and managing human sources to commit targeted sabotage against shipping carrying munitions, and strategic HUMINT intended to bring Mexico on side with Germany and to support the Irish against the UK, as well as the administrative and bureaucratic challenges von Rintelen faced from his own people - ostensibly supporting him - at the German Embassy. The author makes very clear that he blames Franz von Papen, the German Military Attache at the time, for the sloppy operational security that led to his arrest and that of many others.

An interesting post-script, not mentioned in the book, is that von Rintelen despised Hitler and was strongly anti-Nazi; he moved from German to the UK when Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. I'm sure his continued anger at von Papen, who became vice-Chancellor under Hitler, also influenced that decision.

[Peer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting from historic point of view. I don't know how much is truth and how much is fiction. Since he narrates his skills in deceiving Germany's enemies and using the Irish for his ends, I should not wonder that this book is also a mean to shape the public opinion in favour of himself.

[Tbfrank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of a German officer's time spent in the U.S. at the beginning of WWI and his attempts to disrupt munition shipments from a supposedly neutral America to the Allies. Quite possibly a sanitized version of his activities as Captain Rintelen presents himself as providing the ideas, finances, and connections without seeming to perform much if any of the actual dirty work. Rintelen offers the German perspective on newspaper correspondents, war reporting, propaganda, the Zimmermann Telegram, and support in the U.S. by German and Irish immigrants. He also tiptoes around the issue of unrestricted submarine warfare while repeating the accusations of arms shippments on passenger liners. He also hints that the failure of the High Seas Fleet to leave the safety of its ports while Britain's fleet took up war stations was due to diplomatic maneuvering by Asquith before war was declared. He is critical of the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, J. W. Gerard (see "My Four Years in Germany") and places a lot of blame on Germany's military attache posted in Washington, Franz von Papen, who's failure to maintain proper security measures ultimately led to Rintelen's exposure and the collapse of Germany's plans to induce a revolution in Mexico and war with the U.S.