German Spies in England: An ExposureLe Queux, William
History
German Spies in England: An Exposure
Le Queux, William
Secret service -- Germany; Spies
We next hear of him as a "breeder of bulldogs" in the little village of
Hemley-on-Deben, in Suffolk, not far from Harwich. This was about the
middle of 1913. The amusing part of his pose here is that it was quite
obvious to everyone that he knew nothing whatever about the subject
which he made his hobby! He was utterly ignorant of bulldogs, and
everything pertaining to them. However, they served as the excuse he
wanted to cover his real operations.
It is not thought that this Schulenberg did any actual spying; it is
more probable that he was merely an agent and a "cover" for the work of
others. That he may have been an organiser under Steinhauer is probable
enough, and it is known that he received visits from mysterious
Germans, to one of whom, in particular, he paid considerable deference.
After his departure, a very significant statement is said to have been
made by a young man who is now serving in our army at the front. This
man asserted that if he had been willing to do what von Schulenberg
asked him, he would, by this time, "have been a rich man, able to drive
his own motor-car." We can make a pretty good guess as to the class of
service that was sought.
Many other cases of a similar nature that have come to light make
it plain that Great Britain was systematically divided out into
territories, for the purpose of espionage, each territory having a
head spy, or agent, to whom all others under him were responsible, and
to whom they gave their reports for transmission to the headquarters
of the German spy system in Brussels. These cases are too numerous to
mention individually, and it will be sufficient to quote one as an
example, that of Captain X----, of Manchester.
The captain was originally arrested for having--needless to say he
was a German--travelled more than five miles from the city without
permission. When the case came on the magistrates took the view that
the offence was a mere oversight, and inflicted a small fine. Later,
however, certain facts came to light, and the captain was re-arrested
at the instance of the military authorities. Great importance was
attached to the case, as the authorities believed that through it they
would be able to lay their hands upon centres, not only in the North of
England, but also in London, through which the Germans were in receipt
of important information.
Captain X---- was a man of the type who have done excellent service for
Germany among the too trustful English. Of charming manners, apparently
a rich man, and very "English" in his ways, he was able to move in
good society, and numbered among his friends many prominent Manchester
people. But there was another side to his character of which his
Manchester friends were not aware.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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