Spies of the Kaiser German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era Thomas Boghardt St Antony’s Series General Editor: David Faure (2003–), Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford Recent titles include: Thomas Boghardt SPIES OF THE KAISER German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era Ulf Schmidt JUSTICE AT NUREMBERG Leo Alexander and the Nazi Doctors’ Trial Steve Tsang (editor) PEACE AND SECURITY ACROSS THE TAIWAN STRAIT C.W. Braddick JAPAN AND THE SINO-SOVIET ALLIANCE, 1950–1964 In the Shadow of the Monolith Isao Miyaoka LEGITIMACY IN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Japan’s Reaction to Global Wildlife Preservation Neil J. Melvin SOVIET POWER AND THE COUNTRYSIDE Policy Innovation and Institutional Decay Juhana Aunesluoma BRITAIN, SWEDEN AND THE COLD WAR, 1945–54 Understanding Neutrality George Pagoulatos GREECE’S NEW POLITICAL ECONOMY State, Finance and Growth from Postwar to EMU Tiffany A. 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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Spies of the Kaiser German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era Thomas Boghardt Historian International Spy Museum Washington, DC, USA in association with St Antony’s College, Oxford © Thomas Boghardt 2004 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 1–4039–3248–4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boghardt, Thomas. Spies of the Kaiser:German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era/Thomas Boghardt. p. cm. — (St. Antony’s series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–3248–4 (cloth) 1. Great Britain—Foreign relations—Germany. 2. Espionage, German—Great Britain—History—20th century. 3. Germans—Great Britain—History—20th century. 4. Great Britain—Foreign relations— 1901–1936. 5. Germany—Foreign relations—Great Britain. 6. Germany—Foreign relations—1888–1918. I. Title. II. St. Antony’s series (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm)) DA47.2.B65 2004 327.1243′041—dc22 2004043855 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne To my mother In memory of my father This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements x List of Abbreviations and Espionage Terms xii Introduction 1 Domestic change and the global balance of power 1 Fears of invasion 4 Studies on intelligence 6 1 The Origins of German Naval Intelligence 13 The navy’s organizational framework for intelligence 13 Agents and recruitment 17 2 The Origins of British Counter-Espionage 21 Invasion scares 21 The campaign for a Secret Service Bureau 27 The early years of British counter-espionage 35 3 German Pre-War Espionage in Great Britain 42 Early attempts at intelligence gathering 44 The case of Siegfried Helm 48 The Agadir crisis 51 Max Schultz 54 Heinrich Grosse 56 Armgaard Karl Graves 60 Karl Hentschel and George Parrott 63 Adolf Frederick Schroeder 67 Implications of Germany’s pre-war espionage in Great Britain 69 4 The Outbreak of the First World War 74 The ‘Ernst ring’ 77 German espionage centres in Belgium and the Netherlands 80 vii viii Contents 5 German Espionage in Great Britain, 1914–1917 89 Intelligence gathering 89 Social aspects of German espionage 94 The life and death of Carl Hans Lody 97 German spies and British counter-espionage 105 German spies and British propaganda 109 6 Covert Action 117 Subversion? 117 Sabotage 121 Biological warfare 131 7 The Decline of German Naval Intelligence, 1917–1919 135 The last major German intelligence operation in Great Britain 136 The last German spies 139 Conclusion 143 Appendix 1 Command Structure of German Naval Intelligence, 1911–1914 148 Appendix 2 Statistical Evidence on German Espionage and British Counter-Espionage during the First World War 149 Appendix 3 Synopsis of German Naval Agents in the First World War 150 Notes and References 166 Bibliography 203 Index 220 List of Illustrations 1 Vernon Kell, director of MI5, c.1919 37 2 Gustav Steinhauer in police uniform before the First World War 47 3 Karl Gustav Ernst, shortly after his arrest in August 1914 81 4 Naval Lieutenant Carl Hans Lody 105 5 The alleged agent provocateur, Baron Louis von Horst, c.1920 122 6 ‘The World Liberator’, Simplicissimus, 1917 124 7 Louise Emily Wertheim, c. 1918 141 8 Flow chart showing command structure of German Naval Intelligence 148 9 Number of spies and capture/release statistics, August 1914–October 1918 149 The plate section in the middle of the book shows the cast of spies reproduced on the jacket illustration of the book, with the exception of Paul Hensel replacing the lone woman on the jacket, Louise Emily Wertheim. ix