The German Comint Organization in World War II
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UNCLASSIFIED David Kahn The German Comint Organization in World War II A German interpreter hunched over and listened their division to Russian activities. They heard a speaker intently to the Russian voice in his earphones. It came asking "Where am I going to get some schnapps?" and from a loop of wire that members of a wiretapping squad another promising to fire "very, very much" on a bunker. had set out two weeks before to intercept Soviet field On 21 January, the attacks started early in the morning. telephone conversations. The battles flamed in close combat along the main trench All around him, that winter's day early in 1942, line, and at one point the Russians broke through, only to German forces tightened their steel grip around be quickly thrown back. During the early afternoon a Sevastopol, a key port on the Black Sea. But the Russians pause set in. The infantrymen waited uncertainly, not defended their Crimean fortress with toughness and knowing whether they were through fighting for the day tenacity. Like a bear swiping at his tormentors with his or whether the Russians would suddenly rain shells upon paws, they struck out at the Germans in a series of them and follow with a renewed onslaught. counterattacks. The interpreter's unit, the 24th Infantry At 4 p.m. the interpreter heard Russian Post 21 calling Division, had suffered many of these for the past week. all company commanders to the telephone. After some In this positional warfare, it was the chief duty of the indistinct expressions, he heard the commander at Post 21 wiretapping squad to preclude surprise attacks by say clearly: eavesdropping on enemy talk that would give hints of "Forty-five minutes left till then." Russian intentions. To this end, members of the squad Ten minutes later, a Russian telephone speaker asked had, after the suspension of the first systematic German another: offensive against Sevastopol, when Russian counterattacks "Usina! When are we supposed to begin again?" might be expected, crawled to the Russian lines on 7 To which the reply came: January and left there a loop of wire. One of three such "In 35 minutes." loops, it did not actually connect to the enemy wires, but The interpreter reported this to the divisional G2, who detected the return speech currents in the earth, like the correctly interpreted it as another attack. The troops were Arendt apparatus of World War I. It thus picked up, not alerted. As the Russians assembled their companies, the the distinct conversations of a single line, but some 20 artillery of the 24th, of the neighboring 50th Infantry telephone stations with consequent cross-talk and hum. Division, and of the corps brought them under fire. For the first week, it produced general intelligence on When they finally attacked in battalion strength, only enemy equipment and supplies, replacements and their weak leading elements even reached the main German instructions, observations, morale, losses, and battle lines, and the infantry repulsed them with their light measures. Twice it enabled the Germans to save their weapons. The Russians returned to the attack in several scouts, once from enemy gunfire, once from encirclement, uncoordinated pushes but were repeatedly thrown back. by alerting them that the Russians had spotted the At 6:45 they finally gave up, returning to their original patrols. positions and leaving the Germans firmly in control of On 15 January the Russians began a week-long series their main lines. of attacks aimed particularly at winning observation The German Staff declared the next day: "Wiretap posts that would overlook the German rear, as reconnaissance again achieved important results in the well as tying down and weakening German forces. enemy attacks on 21 January, creating the basis for their The Germ_an wiretappers provided clues that helped alert successful warding off. In defense, wiretap reconnaissance This was taken from a chapter of Mr. Kahn's new book, is of controlling importance, which is widely recognized Hitler's Oracles. Used with permission of the author. by the combat troops.·· UNCLASSIFIED 3 UNCLASSIFIED Unlike political circles, the military welcomed Post at Zossen, 10 fixed intercept posts that passed their communications intelligence. In fact, in the field it information to Zossen and to the army groups, 7 mobile became the most important source of enemy intelligence. intercept companies attached to armies, and intercept In only one place does the Treaty of VersaiIIes-mention platoons within the divisions. But communications intelligence agencies. Its table listing German infantry intelligence scored only minor successes during the Polish division strengths allowed the signal detachment to campaign. Fellgiebel traced this in part to the distance of include an intercept section. The German army did not the Main Intercept Post from the action. But bringing use the men for the low-level work that had been control closer to the front implied a dispersal of control, intended, but assigned them instead to the army's 12 and all the lessons of radio reconnaissance taught that major radio stations. In 1925, with Germany increasingly strong centralization was essential for success. Fellgiebel departing from the Versailles restrictions, the army set up compromised. He created commanders of intercept troops six posts specifically for interception. Each had three or to handle communications intelligence for each of the four receivers served around the clock by about 20 three army groups getting readv to attack France. radiomen. The difficulty of following foreign maneuver This organization worked well on the higher levels in traffic from these fixed locations led in 1928 to the the French and Russian campaigns. But the tactical results erection of mobile direction finders near the borders, and continued to be poor. So in 1942 Fellgiebel centralized two years later to the creation of mobile interception units chis work. He pulled men out of the intercept platoons of which evolved into mobile intercept companies. Directing the divisions, which were left with only a sciuad, and this work was first the Cipher Center and then the new assembled them in short-range communications agency organized by about 1939 in the army command: reconnaissance companies. He gave one to each army the Main Intercept Post. headciuarters. The company scattered its platoons The intercept organization was part of the signal corps, throughout the army's area: two platoons for message which was headed by General Erich Fellgiebel. He was interception, two for short-range direction finding, five subordinated in wartime to the chief of the general staff; for wiretapping. To rationalize the terminology, he served simultaneously as head of armed-forces Fellgiebel renamed the armies' intercept companies "long communications, making him also the superior officer of range communications reconnaissance companies," the OKW/Chi. A bespectacled, kindly, well-liked officer in Main Intercept Post the "Main Post for Communications his early fifties, divorced and remarried, a former chief of Reconnaissance, .. and the commanders of intercept troops the Cipher Center, Fellgiebel won high praise from the "commanders of communication reconnaissance." OKW chief, Keitel: "In his field a pronounced leader Each army then had a short-range company and either type with broad vision, a gift for organization, full a long-range company or a fixed intercept post. Again energy ... satisfied even the most unexpected and centralization promised improvement. On 15 December difficult requirements ... But Keitel added that Fellgiebel l 943, Fellgiebel united each army's organs into a inclined to an .. unconsidered mania of criticism" towards communications reconnaissance batallion. The l 7 that Naziism. And indeed Fellgiebel participated in the 1944 existed were in turn grouped into 8 regiments for attempt to kill Hitler. His hesitancy in sealing off communications reconnaissance, each under a commander communications to the Fuhrer headquarters after the of communications reconnaissance at army group or bomb went off contributed to the failure of the plot, for theater command. Finally, early in l 944, the only field which the conspirators, including himself, paid with their level that did not have its own agency, corps, set up small, lives. He was succeeded in both his army and armed l 0-man units to evaluate the material that came in from forces offices by General Alben Praun, 49, a short, the divisions and from any nearby platoons of the shorc pleasant, extremely capable signal officer who had also range companies. led an infantry division and who was, Chief of Staff In the fa]] of 1944, Praun carried all this to a logical Guderian wrote, a "good National Socialist." conclusion. At the very peak, he created a general of These two men, especially Fellgiebel. presided over the communications reconnaissance to assure cooperation remarkable expansion of German army communications among the various units and to improve personnel and intelligence in World War II. It provides a classic case equipment. General Fritz Boetzel, a man of some charm history of how an intelligence organization develops in and broad cultural interests and a one-time head of the response to the requirements of intelligence consumers Cipher Center, was named to the post. This gave and its success in satisfying them. communications intelligence its sixth and final level and At the start of the war, army communications completed its evolution into a highly articulated