The Secret War on the United States in 1915: A Tale of Sabotage, Labor Unrest and Border Troubles

By Heribert von Feilitzsch

German war strategy shifted significantly in the spring of 1915. Britain had destroyed the naval battle group of Admiral Spee in the Falklands in November 1914. Except for small excursions the German High Seas Fleet remained moored in German ports. Germany's naval raiders had either been destroyed or saved themselves by agreeing to internment in neutral harbors. The German navy, for all intents and purposes, had been neutralized in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The army also reeled from its failure to swiftly take France. The German forces dug in on the western front and consolidated the gains made in Belgium and eastern France. The momentum now shifted to the Russian front. The German army made important headway there, collapsing the Russian lines and steam rolling into the strategically important south. The static war on the western front, where material and supply would determine the eventual outcome of the war, moved the United States into strategic focus. Despite a formal declaration of neutrality in the European War, the United States had become the largest source for war materials of Germany's enemies in the spring of 1915. Frustrated and severely underestimating the repercussions of their decision, the German General Staff and the German Admiralty decided in January 1915 to authorize sabotage against industrial and logistical targets in the United States. This book details the activities of the agents charged with executing the sabotage campaign, Franz von Papen, Karl Boy-Ed, the "Dark Invader" Franz Rintelen, the "Wolf of Wall Street" David Lamar, brilliant scientist and bomb builder Walter Scheele, and other infamous characters of the German secret service. The result of their work was devastating: dozens of ocean freighters set on fire or sunk, millions of dollars of damages to American factories, debilitating strikes in the munitions industry, trouble at the border with Mexico, a panicked American public, and an overwhelmed American government.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 098503176X
• ISBN13: 9780985031763
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: Henselstone Verlag Llc
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.3"