PART II
SABOTAGE
The Manhattan "Front"
Table of Contents I started from the Stettiner Bahnhof, on which the German flag was flying in honour of the birthday of the Emperor William I, on March 22nd, 1915. As soon as I was settled in the train I began a task which looked very funny but which had a serious purpose. I wrote post-cards to all my acquaintances, dozens of picture post-cards to my friends, particularly the Military and Naval Attaché of neutral States. These cards I sent to other friends, in envelopes, with the request that they should post them, so that the Attachés and all the people from whom I wanted to hide my tracks, received cards from "Somewhere in Flanders," from Upper Bavaria, and from Silesia.
Upon my arrival at Christiania I succeeded in obtaining at the British and American Consulates magnificent genuine visas for my Swiss passport, and I felt safe. When the steamer was on the high seas a British cruiser sent a lieutenant and a couple of sailors on board to see if the ship was harbouring any Germans. The lieutenant ascertained that there were no Germans on board. As we approached the American coast I grew a little uneasy, for the British cruiser Essex was stationed off New York-three miles and two inches off. She was commanded by Captain Watson, who had been Naval Attaché in Berlin until shortly before the outbreak of war. We had been friends, and he had been kind enough to give me occasionally a few hints on English naval expressions. This would have been a fine rencontre! I was lucky, however, for the Essex was not inspecting the passenger-boats on that day, but, as I could see through field-glasses, was engaged in target practice.
Once around these "dangerous corners," I at last landed, safe and sound, on the pier in New York. I looked around, but in vain.
Where I should have been met by Malvin Rice, who was to take me by the arm and show me where I should find the powder ready for "spot" delivery...there was no Malvin Rice at all. The whole edifice which he had constructed before my eyes disappeared fata Morgana-wise.
So I stood there on that pier of New York, entirely alone, left to my own wits, but bent upon going through with what seemed ill-starred at the beginning. Single-handed I now ventured an attack against the forty-eight United States!
So more or less all the forebodings which I had prior to my departure from Berlin had been correct, and some of the difficulties, which I had then outlined, by no means on moral grounds or anything of that sort, but merely as an expert in "affairs American," had proved to be not without foundation.
First, I might have been captured in the North Sea, or out in the Atlantic, by some mischievous British cruiser, and my Swiss nationality might have been doubted. In this case I had but one task-to swallow the two tiny capsules which contained in duplicate the brand new "secret code in miniature," which I was to bring over to America for the Embassy and the Attachés. In fact, the question was afterwards raised in the House of Commons as to how it had been possible in war-time for a German Naval Commander to get through undiscovered; and, as usual, "no answer was given."
Secondly, it was highly doubtful whether, weeks after this negotiation, Mr. Malvin Rice had the powder and explosives still available. It was an under-estimation of the Allies to expect them one and all to go to sleep in the interim. Indeed, the Allies had not gone to sleep!
Thirdly, could other measures be adopted in case the powder had been sold? Yes, they had to be--all the more so because at that time the Russians were gaining victory after victory in Galicia, and their actual invasion of Hungary was to be feared, with the result that Italy's entry into the war became a darker thought than ever before.
Fourthly, it was quite possible that my proposed mission to America, and the objectives I had in view, might quickly cause an international affray between America and Germany. For that eventuality I distinctly told Herr Zimmermann, then Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that he should serve out to the Yankees a flat denial of any complicity, and state that I was merely a "free-lance."
Fifthly, would not the Naval and Military Attachés consider themselves superseded in some way, and make my position a very delicate one henceforth? Indeed they did, and that was the worst of it all. But still, in spite of more cons than pros, I drove to the German Club in order to have a word with the Naval and Military Attachés, for I had to hand over that important document the new "Most Secret Code." I knew that they both lived at the German Club, where I had been a member for some years. I cannot say that they were very glad to see me. The Naval Attaché, Captain Boy-Ed, had a couple of gold stripes more on his sleeve than I was permitted to wear, which settled once and for all that his opinion was superior to mine. I tried my level best, as I had known him socially for several years and we had worked in co-operation, in Intelligence matters, for a long time too.
He had already received a wire from Berlin that I was on my way. He felt aggrieved, for he thought that he did not need my help and that I might just as safely remain in Germany. The Military Attaché, Captain Papen, was likewise not pleased to see me, which made him side with Boy-Ed.
As I had anyhow not expected either of them to burst out into whoops of joy when I made my appearance, I was not much worried at their ill-humour, which, as a matter of fact, I succeeded in dispelling somewhat by informing the Naval Attaché that I had been instructed to let him know that the Order of the House of Hohenzollern was waiting for him at home, and I rejoiced the heart of Captain Papen by telling him that he had been awarded the Iron Cross. Papen seemed elated; at any rate, a day or two after he took great pains in writing a letter to General von Falkenhayn thanking him that "at last someone had come to America to take steps to hamper the shipment of munitions by all means..."
I personally felt that everything is fair, in war. Following my instructions I handed over the precious document that I had brought with me. It was the new "Most Secret Code." Berlin feared that the old secret code which the Ambassador and the Attaches used in their telegrams home, was no longer secret, and it was suspected that the British were able to read our cipher messages. The only code to be used in future was the one I had brought over. We then parted, the Attaches to pursue, as hitherto, the path prescribed by their official duties, while I disappeared into "obscurity."
Hardly a week after my arrival in the United States I received a letter from Captain Boy-Ed, the Naval Attaché, conveying the wish of Count Bernstorff, the Ambassador, to have a conference with me. After some hesitation, in view of the nature of my mission, I decided to go, and duly appeared at the Ritz-Carlton in Madison Avenue. Bernstorff at once asked me the object of my presence in America.
In reply, I politely suggested he should not ask that question, since my answer might complicate his diplomatic duties. At that he drew his chair up to the sofa on which I was sitting and almost whispered: "Now, Captain, please understand that, although I am here As an Ambassador, I am an old soldier as well. You may tell me anything in confidence."
These words appealed to the officer in me; and I not only gave a full account of how my mission had originated in Berlin, but also made it clear that it had a purely military character which lay in the general direction of sabotage. I told him that, as an officer, I cared nothing for America's so-called neutrality, that the whole of Germany thought as I did, and considered America as "the unseen enemy." I had come, I told him, to do what I could to save the German Landwehrleute-our Territorials- from American shells. Though I proposed to act with energy, I promised I would do so cautiously.
The Kaiserpass, though couched in the grand old German of Frederick the Great's time, made no bones about the assistance to be afforded its holder.
"Alle meine Behörden und Beamten
"sind nunmehro gehalten..."
Even an Ambassador!
I moved into a modest but good hotel, the Great Northern, in Fifty-seventh Street, and began to make inquiries with a view to discovering whether it was really possible to buy sufficient explosives seriously to damage the manufacture of munitions for the Allies. I went to several firms and told them that I was a German agent anxious to purchase powder, but within a few days I was satisfied that it would be quite impossible to buy up the vast quantities of explosives that were by now available in the American market. The daily production was so great that if I had bought up the market on Tuesday there would still have been an enormous fresh supply on Wednesday. So during the first few days of my stay in New York I went about and acquired wisdom.
On one of my visits to the firms which dealt in explosives I made an odd discovery. One of the partners, a German-American, drew me into a long conversation about the prospects of the War. I was optimistic and believed that the War might end well for Germany, but the merchant was of a different opinion.
"Yes," he said, "things are getting worse and worse, and if Italy comes in against Germany..."
"What's that?" I exclaimed. "What did you say?"
I remembered my last conversation with Erzberger, who showed me, shortly before I left for New York, a telegram from Bülow in Rome, in which the Ambassador said that he was convinced Italy would remain neutral.
When the merchant saw that I was...
