Naval War College Review Volume 63 Article 21 Number 4 Autumn

2010 Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler’s Spymaster Anthony D. McIvor

Michael Mueller

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Recommended Citation McIvor, Anthony D. and Mueller, Michael (2010) "Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler’s Spymaster," Naval War College Review: Vol. 63 : No. 4 , Article 21. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol63/iss4/21

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158 NAVALMcIvor WAR and COLLEGE Mueller: REVIEW Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler’s Spymaster

The other interesting aspect of this German military intelligence, for nine work deals with the difference between years remains one of the most intrigu- prewar training of our submariners and ing figures in twentieth-century mili- what they actually did in combat. In a tary history. German journalist and section called “The Accidental Com- documentarian Michael Mueller unrav- merce Raiders,” Holwitt points out that els several of the mysteries that sur- commanders had been conditioned by round Canaris’s life, though many article 22 of the London Naval Treaty— remain. which many thought meant that if they Mueller acknowledges the shortfall. De- torpedoed merchants without warning, spite solid research and fresh archival they would actually be held liable, material, his account “neither answers “hunted down and captured or sunk as all the questions, nor resolves all the pirates.” So, according to this account, contradictions.” The paucity of primary commanders were taught to be cautious sources and the tendency of intelligence and were essentially trained for naval operators habitually to brush their combat against high-speed, heavily ar- tracks owe much to the circumstances mored combatants and not against of Canaris’s arrest and execution. Only commercial shipping. The result was remnants survive of Canaris’s service that very few of the tactics eventually diaries, discovered by investigators in used were developed before the war. the aftermath of the 20 July 1944 plot to Execute Against Japan should be re- assassinate Hitler. quired reading for naval officers (espe- Mueller’s narrative informs, illumi- cially in submarine wardrooms), as well nates, and entertains. Canaris’s early ca- as for anyone interested in history, pol- reer at sea was marked by escapades of icy, or international law. Lieutenant derring-do in South America and Holwitt has already briefed some of our Spain. An officer of his time, Canaris Naval War College students. His re- absorbed the credo of the sea service, search shows how and why our experi- anditservedhimwell.Hehadaclear ence in the First World War did not talent for languages and social rapport, prepareusforthenextone,andthisis and his superiors noted the vitality of its essential lesson. It is a lesson worth his wide-ranging networks. Before long, some reflection. he became “too valuable to send to REAR ADMIRAL JAMES P. WISECUP, U.S. NAVY sea.” Naval War College An astute and calculating observer, Canaris navigated multiple career- threatening crises that began as the de- feated German fleet returned to Kiel in 1918. In the closing years of the Mueller, Michael. Canaris: The Life and Death of Weimar Republic, Canaris again lever- Hitler’s Spymaster. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Insti- aged his luck, evading a series of poten- tute Press, 2007. 320pp. $34.95 tially devastating political scandals. He Who was Wilhelm Canaris? The naval did not emerge unscathed, however; his cadet from the Ruhr who rose to vice growing reputation made both naval of- admiral and directed the Abwehr, ficials and politicians nervous.

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Naval War College Review, Vol. 63 [2010], No. 4, Art. 21 BOOK REVIEWS 159

If rivals watched with gimlet eyes, accounts for Himmler’s indulgent, even Canaris’s political patrons had reason protective, attitude toward Canaris and to look the other way. He was soon en- his circle? The wily yet principled admi- meshed in the government’s efforts to ral is an incomplete puzzle. However, circumvent the naval-armament provi- Mueller puts new pieces on the table, sions of the Versailles treaty that had while nudging others into place. ended World War I. With his interna- Readers will appreciate Muller’s abun- tional networks delivered, Canaris won dant reference notes, exhaustive bibli- only muted applause in Berlin. ography, and index. Sadly, the work is Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was leery marred by the absence of rigorous of Canaris, who he feared was compro- copyediting and fact-checking; names mised politically. Mueller acknowledges in particular suffer. But these are minor the awkwardness between the two offi- quibbles.Mueller’sworkisanimpor- cers but emphasizes Raeder’s profes- tant contribution to the literature, and sionalism. Raeder’s own memoir the Naval Institute deserves a laurel for supports that judgment. Setting his bringing it to these shores. personal feelings aside, Raeder inter- ANTHONY D. MCIVOR vened to elevate Canaris to the head Partner, Black Swan Advisors, LLC of the Abwehr. At first Canaris walked the razor’s edge between collaboration with the Nazi regime and open resistance. The spring of 1938 was the turning point. The cu- Harari, Yuval Noah. Special Operations in the Age mulative effect of the Blomberg and of Chivalry: 1100–1550. Suffolk, U.K.: Boydell, Fritsch scandals, destroying the careers 2007. 224pp. $90 of the war minister and the command- Yuval Noah Harari published this book ing general of the Wehrmacht, respec- in the midst of the ongoing struggles tively, was too much for an old-school among the Hezbollah militia from Leb- naval officer. Still in uniform, Canaris anon, the Palestinian Hamas militias, became the heart of the opposition cir- and the Israeli army. These contempo- cle in Abwehr headquarters. rary events, especially the special opera- Canaris’s career-long wrangling with tions undertaken by all sides, provide his political and diplomatic counter- the backdrop to this work. With regard parts will resonate with military intelli- to medieval special operations, not gence officers today. His death in the much has been written, and Harari en- bloodletting unleashed by Claus von deavors to fill this void by focusing his Stauffenberg’s failed attempt on Hitler’s work on a general readership rather life is startling only for its accidental than a strictly scholarly audience. nature. The real surprise is that he was The title of this book is eye-catching untouched until the Abwehr was dis- but immediately raises questions: What solved in mid-1944. does the author mean by “special oper- Who was Wilhelm Canaris? A loyal ser- ations,” and what is meant by “the Age vant of “the other Germany” or a of Chivalry”? The author’s use of the right-wing Nazi sympathizer? What phrase, which dates back to the high and late Middle Ages, is really nothing

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