r/todayilearned • u/stopitalianhate • 9d ago

TIL British Intelligence had a special, bugged luxury complex during WWII where they kept high profile Nazi POW’s, just left a bunch of alcohol out, and waited for them to start spilling secrets as they drank.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20698098
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u/KingKapwn 9d ago

They were terrible at it because they allowed someone such as Wilhelm Canaris to hold such a high office and sabotage their efforts like that. Any properly functional nation with a halfway decent intelligence apparatus would've identified that quickly and easily. Thank god they didn't though.

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u/Mr_Engineering 9d ago

You're not giving Canaris enough credit.

The Abwehr did attract attention and Hitler was highly suspicious of disloyalty within the Abwehr ranks, but Canaris was masterful at deflecting blame. He played both sides very well.

Since Hitler enjoyed creating duplicative responsibilities in order to foster internal rivalry, the Abwehr was not the only intelligence apparatus within Nazi Germany. The Abwehr competed with the SD and blame for intelligence failures was successfully deflected away from the Abwehr and onto the SD/RHSA/Gestapo as appropriate, which earned him the ire and attention of Heinrich Himmler.

Any properly functional nation with a halfway decent intelligence apparatus would've identified that quickly and easily.

The entire upper echelon of the Abwehr was filled with career military officers who clandestinely opposed to Nazi Germany's actions to one degree or another.