Richard Bassett set himself a tough task.
Spies tend towards secrecy and leave few trails to follow. Admiral Canaris was no exception; so Bassett had to look far and wide to gather information about his subject – indeed his bibliography of private and published papers extends to four pages. If Canaris himself emerges as rather a shadowy figure – well that’s a testament to the Admiral’s skill at his profession. Born in 1887 he was of an age to participate in the First World War and this is well described on Wikipedia.
”By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Canaris was serving as a naval intelligence officer on board SMS Dresden, a light cruiser to which he had been assigned in December 1911. This was the only warship of Admiral Maximilian von Spee’s East Asia Squadron that managed to evade the Royal Navy for a prolonged period during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, largely because of Canaris’s highly skilful tactics.
After the Battle of Más a Tierra, the immobilized Dresden anchored in Cumberland Bay, Robinson Crusoe Island and contacted Chile with regard to internment. While in the bay, Royal Navy ships approached and shelled Dresden, and the crew scuttled the ship. Most of the crew was interned in Chile in March 1915, but in August 1915, Canaris escaped by using his fluency in Spanish. With the help of some German merchants he was able to return to Germany in October 1915. On the way, he called at several ports, including Plymouth in Great Britain.
Canaris was then given intelligence work as a result of having come to the attention of German naval intelligence, possibly because of his clever escape from Chile. German plans to establish intelligence operations in the Mediterranean were under way and Canaris seemed a good fit for that role. Eventually, he was sent to Spain, where, in Madrid, his task was to provide clandestine reconnaissance over enemy shipping movements and to establish a supply service for U-boats serving in the Mediterranean. After being assigned to the Inspectorate of Submarines by the Naval Staff on 24 October 1916, he took up training for duty as a U-boat commander and graduated from Submarine School on 11 September 1917.
He ended the war as a U-boat commander from late 1917 in the Mediterranean and was credited with a number of sinkings and even came to the attention of the Kaiser. As a result of his exploits in Spain, he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class.
Canaris was fluent in six languages, including English. As a naval officer of the old school, he had a great respect for Britain’s Royal Navy, despite the rivalry between the two nations.“ (Wikipedia)
This sets the scene for WW II in which Canaris played a vital role covertly supporting the Allies. When Hitler was trying to decide to invade England in 1940, Operation Sealion, Canaris dissuaded him by providing false intelligence on the British south coast defences. More importantly he kept Spain out of the war, something that came to a head when Hitler and Franco met acrimoniously at Hendaye in October 1940. Franco played a cool hand to preserve Spain’s neutrality having been briefed by one of Canaris’s officers. Had Hitler possessed Spain he would have controlled access to the Mediterranean. Throughout the war Canaris supported factions opposed to Hitler; a perilous game.
Like a Shakespeare tragedy, he was arrested and executed in a concentration camp weeks before the end of the war. He saved his wife and children – Franco gave them refuge in Spain – and it is most probable that Canaris could have saved himself but chose not to. Much of his story in the war is supposition but Bassett builds up a good case to support his theories. It is a somewhat specialist biography but I enjoyed it and learned from it.
It is a good book. Canaris was a most interesting and brave fellow. He managed to combine strong German patriotism with a certain belief that Hitler was leading his country to disaster. Hence his work in Spain and possibly elsewhere was aimed solely at bringing the defeat of Hitler to as fast a conclusion as possible.
You should now read Michael Bloch’s equally excellent book on Ribbentrop to give you the figure in the German top team who is most opposite to Canaris in almost every way and certainly in values.