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Military Spies Research Paper

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In the fall of 1940, a seaplane came up on the English coast from across the North Sea. The engines rumbled softly as the pilot turned the engine off and was preparing to land the plane. Eventhough he was in his uniform, both of his passengers we're wearing their everyday clothes. Moments later, the plane touched down in a cloud of dust from the wind. Its pontoons barely even touched the water, like the legs of some giant crane fly. As it bobbed in the waves of the water, the passengers inflated a rubber dinghy which is a boat type float. After tossing several suitcases into it and waved when the pilot wished them luck, they got on the float and started rowing toward the cliffs outlined in the distance. Within the hour another German spy team …show more content…

Each nation has secrets that it guards jealously, especially in wartime. In order to learn these secrets, the spy must take over where the intelligence officer leaves off.

Spies, or espionage agents, are trained to gather secret information by going undercover. Spying is against the law all over the world, yet every important nation employs spies and has schools for training them. Since they don’t wear military uniform, captured spies are not entitled to treatment as war prisoners. The usual reward for the blown spy is a firing squad or the hangman's noose. Knowing how dangerous their work is, spies have developed certain time-tested ways of operating and protecting themselves. The men who beached their dinghy that morning in 1940 knew their business.

These spies belonged to the Abwehr, or German Military Intelligence. Headquartered in Berlin, the German Military Intelligence was commanded by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, a wily, tight-lipped man who kept his thoughts and plans to himself. Under Canaris, the German Military Intelligence had already configured an impressive string of victories, such as obtaining the plans of the German border. Now, with France defeated, the Abwehr turned its attention to

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