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A Failure of German Intelligence
While many histories tell of the quick acting British intelligence service whose efforts at the start of the Great War pulled the teeth of the capable and dangerous German intelligence aparatus, the facts tell a different story. German intelligence during the Great War was neither well thought out, nor was it particularly sophisticated.
The main intelligence aparatus of the German military was section III of the intelligence staff. This organization was not the master den of spies post war accounts make it, but instead was a fairly straight forward office that collated reports. Most of its actual actions were ham fisted attempts at sabotage that rarely worked, and when they did resulted in more harm to the German cause that good.
German intelligence did exist, but mostly as paid adjuncts to the foriegn office. Most German conspiracies, including Black Thom, Roger Castment, Annie Larsen, and the Zimmerman telegraph message all can be traced to the doorsteps of the German diplomatic corps. Compared to British intelligence with signals intercept, decoding operations, agent operations in hundreds of cities, and a clearing house for intelligence briefs, German foriegn office work was not very sophisticated. Even intelligence "coups" such as Mata Hari were hardly important wins for section III and the foriegn office: Mata Hari was discovered soon after her recruitment and fed mostly disinformation to the Germans.
The primary area where German intelligence was effective was in Naval and Army intelligence. These actual combat intelligence services proved to be well operated. German commanders during the war had good maps, excellent force analysis, and usually had a clear understanding of the battlefields in which they fought.
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