Copyright 2007 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
In studies of military history, espionage makes an occasional appearance. “Intelligence work” is a military specialty. Occasionally, intelligence work requires the use of covert agents serving in various capacities. The most common of these is gathering information. The majority of agents are placed to acquire information. Most of this is a simple matter of observation. Te more difficult task is gaining specialized information through subterfuge or manipulation of others. Here the spy will use such varied tricks as burglary, bribery, cajolery and trickery. He may choose to develop the friendship of individuals who have direct access to the information he desires.
A more insidious trick is the deliberate plot to turn a person into a resource. For instance, a spy may try to gain control of an enemy officer. He can use any variety of tricks, from bribery to blackmail. For this, the spy will try to exploit several human weaknesses. He will determine his target’s particular weakness, and plan accordingly. The usual traps are lust, greed, ego, power, revenge, self-indulgence, fear and guilt.
Here are some examples:
A spy sets up a target with a mistresss. The target is married, and an affair would harm him socially as well as wreck his military career. Once the affair is going along well, the spy blackmails his target into providing information.
A target has a penchant for gambling. He gets deep into debt. The spy lends him money. When the gambler has trouble paying, the spy offers him a way to pay off his debts through providing secret information. So long as the gambler keeps betting, the spy has a constant source of information.
A target is a very proud man who has an exaggerated sense of importance. The spy moves in, befriending the man and acting as if he is impressed. The agent strokes the target’s ego, and over time encourages him to brag. He can then manipulate the egotist and get lots of information just be encouraging him to brag about his work. A smooth talker can steer the conversation to bragging about secrets.
The obvious thing here is that spies exploit human weakness and flawed character. The defense against them is simple: don’t be stupid. The easiest way to deter subterfuge is through reasonable behavior.
Before you get the idea that espionage of this sort is relatively “safe,” consider this: If a spy gets caught in such a plot, it invariably blows back at the people he serves. Tricks like this evoke bad feelings, especially if aired publicly. An exposed spy plot of this sort backfires with tremendous impact.
You have to wonder how much of his soul a spy must sell. Whether it is military espionage, diplomatic subterfuge or undercover police work, it grates on a person. Many is the story told by an undercover operative coming to like some of his targets. In befriending them, he discovers that he genuinely likes them. How hard it is, then, to work against that “friend.” Such incidents are tragic, indeed. Only the most heartless of individuals could do that without feeling remorse.
It is no wonder that espionage is the habitation of confidence men and women. One of the more amausing stories is of a man called “Armgaard Karl Graves,.” He wrote a book entitled Secrets of the German War Office, which was published in June of 1914.” Graves had indeed been an operative, but his intelligence coups were few and paltry. His best skill was in wiring for more money. The German eventually released him from service, allowing him to be captured by British counterintelligence. Graves turned, and started working for Britain. The British military intelligence became tired of him for his talent for asking for more money.
Graves’ book is a tale of braggadocio that makes some wild claims. However, it includes a few genuine episodes. He could work within the shadowy world of demimondes (professional mistresses), hired spies and tricksters. That is the milieu of the confidence man. “Like attracts like.”
Graves is no different than other spies who write “tell all” books. You have to take them with a grain of salt the size of a limpet mine. Truth is not so much in the grand events as in the small details.
In Secrets of the German War Office, Graves tells who he was double-crossed by German intelligence. A mistakenly-addressed letter led to his capture. This may be true. (He doesn’t tell how he bilked the Germans time and again.) Spying is full of such tricks. An agency is willing to sacrifice agents for a larger coup. It is a world where friends may be enemies.
Forget the movies. Spies try to avoid violence. The assassin is rarely employed because untimely death attracts a great deal of scrutiny. Most spies use a non-lethal trick or two to escape. One is a bag containing a throwing powder made of pepper and other noxious stuff. This would be thrown at attackers to afford a moment’s opportunity to escape. Graves mentioned it in his book, but I had heard of others using a similar technique. Spies avoid weapons and violence for the same reason as professional private investigators. It is unnecessary and it evokes too much attention. This is why spies do not carry pistols.
In the “wisdom of the street”: if you do not carry a weapon, you are unlikely to get yourself in a place where you need it. It is a psychological thing.. I know from my own experience back in the “bad old days” that weapons increase the chances of problems. (These were not military experiences; they were episodes of youthful wildness.) If that happened in our world, imagine how much more it applies to the realm of espionage.
A gun gives you courage that you cannot handle. No gun means using wits, common sense and less likelihood of trouble.
Killing is easy enough, and doubly so for someone who specializes in trickery. The problem is that untimely death calls attention even if there is no immediate suspicion of foul play. A skilled spy could use anything from poison to a mock accident. The employment of recognized weapons such as sniper rifles and garrottes is rare in espionage. Suffice to say that you do not want to know the techniques of tricky killing, because such knowledge is unsettling.
Espionage-related killings are not the province of professional spies, so much as the petty criminals around the fringes. Spy work requires contact with a variety of sordid creatures: deminonds (professional mistresses), petty criminals, low-level con men, and other equally unsavory types. These are more likely to kill out of criminal motives. Occasionally, their criminality affects spycraft.
Espionage is an unlovely profession. Our survey of it began a few months back with the medieval Japanese commando-warrior, the Ninja. It has ended up here, with a look at some hard and unpleasant facts.
Armgaard Karl Graves book entitled Secrets of the German War Office can be found as a free Ebook at Google Booksearch.
Military Miniature collecting and Miniature Wargaming have affected the study of History. Because of growing interest in various conflicts, more research has been done and more books were written. This may not be a big thing with popular wars such as the Civil War, Napoleonic Wars and Second World War. However, it is big when it comes to less popular conflicts.
Military Miniature collecting and Miniature Wargaming have encouraged research into lesser-known wars and armies. The result is more scholarship, thereby creating more resources for hobbyists and historians. Information is readily available for events which had been obscure. The field of history, especially military history, is richer as a result.
When you look at the old photographs contained in our articles, please take a momment to relflect on a few things. The me nand women in the pohotos are more than history. There were very real people and are the ancestors of people who live today. What you see is somebody's brother or uncle, father or great-great-great grandfather. That Civil War rifleman in a photo might have become patriarch of a large family. The soldier in the tank's turret might be the uncle who later inspired a generation of his family to go on to college. We lose touch of so much when we forget that the photos show very real people, many of whom mattered in the lives of others.