Burn, Bomb, Destroy: The German Sabotage Campaign in North America, 1914–1917

by Michael Digby

Many believe that World War I was only fought "over there," as the popular 1917 song goes, in the trenches and muddy battlefields of Northern France and Belgium—they are wrong.

There was a secret war fought in America; on remote railway bridges and waterways linking the United States and Canada; aboard burning and exploding ships in the Atlantic Ocean; in the smoldering ruins of America's bombed and burned-out factories, munitions plants, and railway centers; and waged in carefully disguised clandestine workshops where improvised explosive devices and deadly toxins were designed and manufactured. It was irregular warfare on a scale that caught the United States woefully unprepared.

This is the true story of German secret agents engaged in a campaign of subversion and terror on the American homeland before and during World War I.

Genres: History, World War I

312 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2021

Reviews

[Brian Seward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply fantastic.

[Maryclaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book I had a hard time putting down. I'm a history buff but this book's information was some I was lacking about WWI. It is about the German spy system of destruction in the USA. It is hard to believe all the damage that was done before the US realized who was behind it. The bombing of the shipyards, railroads, power plants, chemical plants and people thinking that they were just accidents. The amount of sleeper spies in the US and the headquarters in NYC. Digby has researched this information and documented all. It is a very educational read.

[Steve Crooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting commentary on American duplicity with regard to their "Neutrality" in the initial phases of WW 1. Makes me wonder what in hell that was all about. Seems treaties dragged countries into the war but did anyone actually stand to gain anything from the conflict other than the military-industrial complex.?