The Rote Drei: World War II Espionage

The necessities of World War II placed significant demands on Allied and Axis powers to increase war production and make advances in technology. Successes in these advances resulted in the conquest of other territories at various times throughout the war. For example, the investment placed by the Nazis on a mechanized infantry enabled the success of their “blitzkrieg” strategy and allowed German forces to quickly capture much of Western Europe. Nazi investments were also placed on the production of u-boats, advances in aircraft, and the encoding of wartime communications. On the Pacific front, the Japanese occupied many strategic islands with their powerful navy and determined troops, making it difficult for the Allied powers to advance.

Spies have always been popular in fiction and history. As kids, we perceive them as people dressed in black with spy gadgets that we could never even imagine, but then as we get older we start to realize there is more than just gadgets and black uniforms. Everyday, spies risk their lives. This made me think what it would be like to be a spy during a war, and specifically during World War II.

The case in the relentless early months of the war, when Gen.George chanced an poorly equipped, poorly trained army of volunteers against one of the more impressive military organizations of the 18th century. Topnotch force enabled the British to forces to push back the Revolutionaries from their defensive structure in Boston and some places of New England.

When you think of the Civil War you think of bloody battles, muskets exploding, bayonets sinking into enemy soldiers, and people giving their lives for the sake of either the Union or Confederate States and what they believed in. But most people do not think of one very important factor in the Civil War. Espionage. Throughout this paper we will be exploring the secretive world of espionage in the Civil War from both of the opposing sides.

Before the military had Internet hacking, spy planes, and drones that were all used for spy missions to collect information about the enemies’ plans, they had to use different tactics to get the information they needed. But, long before any of these kinds of technology were available to them, they had to find other ways to get the job done. Some of the earliest spy missions done for the United States, was done during the American Revolution by George Washington’s secret six. “The six members of the Culper Spy Ring had served Washington under one condition: their names and activities were never to be revealed.” This was done to ensure that after the war was over and if the British had won, that they would be safe and unharmed since no one would know who they were, or what they did during the war. This information about spies during the American Revolution isn’t known by many Americans and hasn’t been known by anyone in general until now.

According to Sun Tzu’s book, The Art of War, he states, “All war is based on deception” (“D-Day as a Parable”). The Allied Invasion of Normandy, code named Operation Overlord, on June 6, 1944, was considered the most decisive and deceptive battle in Western Europe between the Allied and the Axis powers. The Allies were led by Britain, France, and the United States in the Western front and the Soviet Union in the Eastern front. The Axis powers were led by Germany, Italy, and Japan, but the Normandy Invasion was only against the Nazi regime in the German controlled parts of Western Europe. In order to prevent Germany from obtaining more land in Russia and Western Europe it was necessary for the Allied forces to open a second front at

What role did Allied codebreakers have in the outcome of World War II? Though cryptography did not decide the outcome of World War II, it was very successful in shortening the war. In the Pacific theatre, the Americans broke several codes, including the PURPLE and JN25 codes. Though they were unable to anticipate the Pearl Harbor attack, codebreaking did benefit the Americans at the Battle of Midway and with the assassination of Yamamoto. In Europe, the Allies worked together against Germany to break the ENIGMA naval code, allowing the Allies to maintain superiority in the Battle of the Atlantic. Breaking the Japanese and German codes allowed the Allies to gain an advantage in both theatres, bringing about a resolution to the war. From World

" If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle" (Sun Tzu). Espionage is the secret gathering of information on rival countries for military purposes. However, espionage in other countries is considered illegal: Even though it gains valuable information that could protect our country. Although many spies got caught and was sentence to life in jail or death, the espionage in World War II was effective because it gave information about the enemies and what there next move was going to be. Espionage in World War II had three major components which were code breaking, traditional spying, and deception operations.

The U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the pamphlets were designed to cause men to resist the draft. Therefore, the court decided, Schenck had violated the Espionage Act. Schenck claimed there was not enough evidence to convict him of the charges that had been brought against him. He said that his actions were a form of free speech and claimed that the Espionage Act cut the rights of free speech. According to Schenck, the act was unconstitutional. He was convicted in the district court, and then he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The issue before the Court was the following: Does the Espionage Act violate the First Amendment in respect to Schenck’s freedom of speech? The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to affirm the decision

During WWII, governments engaged in a constant struggle for the hearts and minds of the public. Propaganda was a technique utilized to spread information and ideas to help the nation through songs, posters, videos, and other social media methods. According to the article, “Propaganda Posters of WWII,” the U.S. government intended to use propaganda to recruit, unify, and support the war effort. The government needed something to ignite the citizen’s patriotic feelings in the war, thus using the most effective tool: propaganda. Although many viewed propaganda use by the government to be negative and manipulative, the Allied forces issued these images effectively to escalate patriotic core values. Thus encouraging

World War II was a war of many victories and losses. A battle for constant control of territories, that was ushered by greed and corruption. With this comes the persistent need to find an advantage over the enemy, and during this time Germany became the front runner in innovations and technology. This intelligence showed by the Germans had the allied forces in a scramble to help propel them on top of the battle again. In hopes of success, through desperation the United States had managed to put together a top-secret task force. However this was not the typical task force that the United States was know to specialize in, until the early 1940 's. This task force was hand selected to specialize in tricking the German forces, specifically in the art of Deception. Through the use of these technologies given to them, these brave soldiers used their skills in sonic, radio, and visual deception, to help lead the allied forces to victory. Later called the Ghost Army of the War, these American 's were essential in deceiving the German forces.

Wartime propaganda has always been a beneficial tool for warring nations. Its ability to effectively persuade, influence, and convince citizens even in a time of distress has made it a vital component of many war-engaged countries. The United States, for example, reaped great benefits by using war propaganda in World War II. American propaganda helped dramatically increase the sale of war bonds, rate of civic engagement, and public morale. Although American propaganda during World War II can be considered as extremely biased and racist, it would have been more difficult to for the Americans to defeat Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany if propaganda was not used at all.

Propaganda is information that may be true or false, used to influence an audience or further an agenda (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In WWII propaganda posters and illustrations created tension and fears throughout nations, but was useful for victory in war. If your country is going to war will you engage into the propaganda posters and be influenced to support your country against the enemies at war? Propaganda is a successful way to get the public involved during war because it urges the public for a greater effort in war production, instigates hatred for the enemies and support for allies, and persuades information for the sake of protecting a nation.

The Geheime Staatspolizei, meaning “German Secret Police” and shortened to Gestapo, was founded by Hermann Goring, the minister of the Interior for Prussia, in 1933, soon after the Nazi rise to power in Germany. It formed out of the SS, the main protective squadron for the Nazi party. It was considered an elite branch of the German military, and it consisted of about 50,000 volunteer members at its peak. The Gestapo was, by law, above the law in Germany. Their main job was to oppress the Jews and other minorities, and they were lawfully justified to do so in any fashion that they pleased.

In order for a person to be capable of sabotage and in order for him or her to be a spy, he or she would have to be trusted by everyone around him or her, to be proficient in his or her field of work, and to be fueled by a controversial ideology. Klaus Fuchs meets all of these requirements and it is thus not surprising that he was actually a spy for the Soviet Union. He managed to get people's trust and he went as far as to have people previously supporting him believe that the whole thing concerning his treason had been a misunderstanding and that they needed to do everything in their power in order to save him.