Hitler's Spy Chief

by Richard Bassett

Book Overview

How Hitler's spy chief sabotaged the German war effort.

Wilhelm Canaris was appointed by Hitler to head the Abwehr (the German secret service) 18 months after the Nazis came to power. But Canaris turned against the Fuhrer and the Nazi regime, believing that Hitler would start a war Germany could not win. In 1938 he was involved in an attempted coup, undermined by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. In 1940 he sabotaged the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0304367184
• ISBN13: 9780304367184
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Phoenix
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Balanced treatment of a difficult subject

Abwehr was the German secret service until it was merged into the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence branch of the SS during World War II. At the center of Abwehr was Wilhelm Canaris, whose career in the military and intelligence spanned both world wars (Hh rose to the rank of admiral). His story is ably told by Richard Bassett in a concise and informative biography. This is a man whose clandestine life altered the course of World War II. Picked in January 1935 to be chief of Military Intelligence, Canaris (at first attracted to National Socialism) grew to detest Hitler and spent much of his energy undermining the war effort. He hoped somehow to bring about a negotiated end to the war. Roosevelt's understandable demand of unconditional surrender ended all chances of negotiations. Bassett is masterful in weighing his judgments of events and refusing to speculate beyond reasonable interpretation of the evidence. He conveys Canaris' history in evenhanded terms, admiring his work when warranted and criticizing his character when needed: "The temptation to beatify must be resisted . . . he was for far too long a `believer.'" Bassett uses previously unexamined material from British and German archives to construct a fascinating history of this hidden man. --David Lang at Advance Book Reviews

Patriot or spy?

Hitler's Spy Chief is subtitled "The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery," but it is not entirely clear what should be so mysterious about this perhaps somewhat enigmatic but ultimately more frustrating than indecipherable man. Bassett begins with a glimpse of Canaris' youth, and quickly moves into very strong and informative chapters on his start with the German Imperial Navy prior to and during World War I. His adventures in South America and then Spain are fascinating, and make clear Canaris' patriotism, intelligence, and resourcefulness. Germany's collapse in 1918 affected him deeply, and he became fervently anti-communist and somewhat reactionary. Bassett's writing on the interwar period is excelent, highlighting the fascinating world of arms trading and multinational business against the backdrop of illegal German rearmament in the wake of Versailles. Canaris' networking skills were invariably at work on behalf of the German military, whether cooperating with the British, the Russians, or the Spanish; his personal preferences seemed to play no part, he had no private agenda to speak of. The biography so far is of a promising soldier and intelligence man. By the time Hitler was appointed Chancellor, and Canaris was eventually made chief of military intelligence, he was a loyal and obedient Nazi. Only two years later he was working behind the scenes to bring the government of Nazi Germany down. What changed? Bassett's position seems to be that Canaris was appalled was the immoral/illegal conduct of Hitler and his henchmen, although he himself did not appear to waver when pursuing illegal activities during the interwar period, not excluding political assassination. Bassett repeatedly returns to Canaris' Catholic upbringing, contrasting this with the "pagan" Nazi regime, but there seems little evidence of Canaris' devout and pious Christianity in his career beyond this assertion. In any event, Canaris soon turned on the regime, and began working in secret to bring it down. Unfortunately for both Germany and the balance of the world, he failed completely. Once the war began, he worked essentially as an Allied agent (complete with assigned number), while working sincerely but utterly ineffectually to bring about some type of negotiated peace. Once victory for the Allies was in sight, and the unconditional surrender doctrine announced, Canaris' efforts became truly futile. Inevitably the Nazis uncovered this, and initially (and unusually leniently) simply retired him. After the July 1944 plot against Hitler, Canaris was arrested and eventually executed for treason. Bassett chronicles Canaris' dealings with the Allies in frustratingly general terms, and there is a lot of writing about what must have been discussed at meetings that we cannot confirm were ever even held, where the principals were not necessarily even in the same country at the same time. Connections with Churchill and others are suggested, but not proven (and given the na

A Very Important Man Not Well Known

There has been relatively little written about German spying during World War II. And most of what is written comes from the viewpoint of the American or British side. The British, for instance in their capturing and turning all of the German agents sent to England. In this book the viewpoint is of that of the head of the German Abwehr, the German Secret Service. Canaris had been a success at nearly everything he did. And the organization that he built up was quite effective. This book takes the point of view that Canaris did an awful lot to help the allied cause. Most of this took the form of putting a bias into the reports sent to Hitler. For instance the reports about what the invasion of Britain was facing showed England having more than twice as many divisions to oppose the landing as were actually present. It is difficult to say if this was deliberate or a part of British disinformation. Canaris was a member of the Hitler inner circle. This was a furiously competitive atmosphere, and in the end he lost as they fought over who would lead the falling nation.

What might have been?

Not since Anthony Cave Brown wrote "Bodyguard of Lies" has there been a really thorough discussion about the role of Wilhelm Canaris in the shadow war against Hitler. Bassett brings a lot of recently-available detail to this book and draws some interesting conclusions. To his credit, he also admits that some aspects of the life of this fascinating character will never be unraveled. The writing style is sometimes a bit choppy but it moves quickly. Had Canaris succeeded in his plans, had Neville Chamberlain been more visionary, had Kim Philby not interfered, the history of World War II would have been very different.