DANGEROUS JOB

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 573, 3 July 1933, Page 2

DANGEROUS JOB

SABQTApE pAMR^My GERMAN NAyAU OpFIc|R'S BEMtNISCENCES OF WARTlME INTRIGUE. ■SINGLE-HANDED ACTIONS. "The Dark Invader" — wartijne .rqminiscences of Captain von Rint'elenj famous German navaLintelligerice officer, who, on his own initiative, carried I on a gigahtic single-handed campaign ; of sabotage-and intrigue in America, | in the early days of the war, makes i . er.grossing reading. ! In dramatic chapters Rintelen tolls ' oi how England from the very outset , of the war, with the aid of paid agents 1 in the Supanish and Dutch p.ost offices, J with tapped cables, and knowledge i of the secret German. codes, was aware ! of every move of German. p'olicy,, i j He also relites how the crass stu- ! pidity of . twp German attaches at | Washington — Papen and Boy-Ed — virtually betrayed him to the English, and later sent him to hard labour in ; five American gaols as a common pri_ 1 soner! [ Papen, through carelessness, had allowed an American agent to steal . a second secret code, smuggled to America by Rintelen. Nauen Tells.

• Rintelen, when war broke out was ■ a member of the Naval Staff at the Admiralty. He was sent to the Foreign Office, in Berlin, on August 4, 1914, to receive the formal notifica- i tion of England's declaration of war. f ,Sir Edward Goschen and James W. Gerrard, the American Ambassador, ' are present, the former gloomy, while the latter lounges on a couch with legs crossed, idly turning a straw hat on the top of a cane. Rintelen is astounded when Gerrard says: . "Yes, perhaps. the only peaeeful country in the world will soon be Mexico!" He describes the. scene when the news reaches the German Admiralty: "Captain von Bulow, head of the Central Department, tears open the envelope. "He concentrates on the letter for a imoment, then calls to the commandant of the Nauen Wireless Station. j I " 'Commandant, get Nauen going!' i "Two seconds later the High Seas ! ' Fleet knows, and in another second all the torpedo-boat flotillas! "War with England." Twelve hours later, continues Rin- ' telen, when no one expected further news from England, a telegram from Prince Lichnowsky (German Ambas- , sador to the Court' of St. James) arrived: | "The old gentleman (Asquith) h'as j just declared to me with tears in his eyes, that a war between two peoples who are related by blood is impos- ! sible." j The Kaiser, says Rintelen, anpotated it in his characteristic large handwriting: "What an awakening the man will have from 'his diplomatic dreams." Sabotage! 'When America commenced to. flood the Allies with munitions the Higher Command decided to send Rintelen to America to see how the supply could be halted. Rintelen, with a bogus Swiss passport, eludes the British and enters i With sublime insolence he immedi-

! America. j ately sets up as a trading company, ; backed with German money, to supply I the Russian Government with millions j of pounds' worth of war material. j The material never reached Archan- : gel! As fast as the ships were loaded, ! Rintelen's agents placed in the holds | incendiary bombs. I Ships caught fire at sea and sank. ! Sometimes he blew up barges load- . ed with Allied munitions in the Hudj son River, or burnt down the docks, j The police were mystified; Rintelen | was never captured, and would have i returned to Germany had not the Geri man attaches at Washington appa- ! rently deliberately informedi the Bri- , tish that he would be returning to ! Germany. He was captured, and rej turned to America for trial. Rintelen | hints that the ataches were jealous ' of his operations.