Reviews for Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II

The average rating for Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-05-21 00:00:00 John Doe A well written overview of the organization, inner workings and people behind the German intelligence during World War II In this book, David Kahn offers a detailed overview of the inner workings and apparatus of the Third Reich's intelligence during World War II. The book starts with a much needed overview of all the intelligence departments within the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, but also the NSDAP own departments and that of the SD. The book is roughly divided in two parts. The first part deals with a description of the various branches, its history and the people behind it. It also explains how with the daily dealings with the enemy the Germans were able to extract much needed intelligence from the Allies. For example, the Eastern armies collected chassis numbers of Russian T34's, and were able to deduce due to the Russian habit of issuing sequential serial numbers the total amount of production and the most important production plants. The second parts pieces together the reason why the German intelligence wasn't able to predict the Allied landings in North-Africa ("The Biggest Surprise"), completely miss and underestimate the Russian firepower and production at the start of operation Barbarossa ("The Greatest Mistake") and why it was fooled into believing the Allied landings in Normandy were just a diversion and the main landings would take place in the Pas de Calais ("The Ultimate Failure"). In the end the author sums up the main reasons for the failure of the German intelligence: the unjustified German arrogance, which caused Germany to lose touch with reality; the aggression, which led to a neglect of intelligence; the internal power struggle between the different intelligence departments, which led to inefficiency and the autoritarian character of the Nazi state which impaired the intelligence. All in all, David Kahn delivers a great overview, with a large amount of anecdotes and succeeds in delivering in a solid 4 star read.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-08 00:00:00 George Allen 'Hitler's Spies' details the complex organizational history of what amounted to the German intelligence apparati of 1914-45, their tactical achievements, their strategic failures (USA/USSR underestimation, African/Normandy invasions) and how and why their performance differed so from that of the Allied Powers. The detailing of organizational structures appears thorough--too thorough for the general reader but likely appealing to serious students. The history breaks off after Normandy for no apparent reason. I, for one, would have been interested in role of intelligence in the Battle of the Bulge. Still, this is an intelligent account of what is covered, sufficient to the points perspicatiously elaborated in the author's concluding Epilogue.