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Authors: Richard Bassett
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could not deflect those interests and personalities who were determined to throw off the shackles of Versailles. One such man was Captain Walter Lohmann. This roguish descendant of a Bremen merchant, whose father had been a director of the powerful North German Lloyd shipping line, was a dedicated intriguer with a passion for secrecy and backstairs deals. Lohmann andCanaris linked conspiratorial hands across a sea of Zenker caution.
Secret funds were channelled to a score of front companies ostensibly engaged in shipping or sailing boat construction. In 1923 Navis GmbH was set up as an undertaking ostensibly carrying out work for north German sailing clubs. Other companies, all well capitalised, followed suit. Trayag GmbH, the same year, was followed within eighteen months by half a dozen others. These included Berliner Oeltransport GmbH, Caspar Werke, and the film company Phoebus: an important addition for Lohmann which he hoped would help combat American penetration of German industry by propaganda.
In this maelstrom of secret activity, it was perhaps inevitable that as soon as Canaris mentioned submarines to Lohmann, yet another shell company was established to further the secret submarine programme. But with Japanese cooperation stymied by Zenker, it was necessary to look for another friendly navy closer to home. It was time to reactivate Canarisâ links to the Spanish navy, now and since the end of the war being supplied by that old friend Basil Zaharoff. Happily, this coincided with the German admiraltyâs keenness to set up a network of agents in Spain. Canaris was the obvious man for this job and within two days of arriving in Madrid in June 1925 he had rekindled his old links and begun to set up a web of agents covering all principal ports.
In Barcelona, Carlos Baum, a businessman, was employed under the codename Martha. In Valencia, it was Carlos Fricke (code name Fernando). In Cartagena, Alfred Menzel (Edoardo), in Cadiz, Riccardo Classen (Ricardo). These agents were supported by networks resurrected by Canaris from his wartime experiences.
In addition to this sterling work, his official task, Canaris now set about ensuring a home for his submarine projects. With the help of his old friends Ullmann and Echevarrrieta, he rapidly disabused Berlin of the value of working with the âthird rateâ Banco de Cataluña as a partner and noted that the only financial house worth having as a partner wasEchevarrieta. By happy coincidence, Echevarrieta, âthe richest man in Spainâ, was running short of funds. He was by no means the first, nor indeed the last, industrialist at the centre of a countryâs power structures to suddenly require capital replenishment. If German money was available to help Echevarrieta escape bankruptcy and enable him, with Ullmann, to realise the dream of establishing an independent arms industry for Spain, what reason could there be for not helping Germany with her illegal submarine programme?
Fortunately for Canaris, these powerful interests were in tune with the younger officers in the Spanish navy who had not been suborned like their superiors by Zaharoff. Like most officers of junior rank they resented the âsweetsâ lavished on their superiors. They knew the reputation of German submarines from the war and were eager to have them for their own navy. By another stroke of luck, a few weeks later a Spanish naval delegation was in Berlin. They soon came to the conclusion that the only man they could do business with in Germany was Canaris. Only he understood their language and their foibles. Thus, in a matter of a few months, Canaris had placed himself at the centre of the interlocking circles of German and Spanish naval rearmament. From now on nothing concerning relations with the Spanish Navy in Berlin took place without Canarisâ approval.
Events now moved relatively swiftly. Echevarrieta was invited to sail his yacht, the magnificent Cosmo Jacinta ,
Secret funds were channelled to a score of front companies ostensibly engaged in shipping or sailing boat construction. In 1923 Navis GmbH was set up as an undertaking ostensibly carrying out work for north German sailing clubs. Other companies, all well capitalised, followed suit. Trayag GmbH, the same year, was followed within eighteen months by half a dozen others. These included Berliner Oeltransport GmbH, Caspar Werke, and the film company Phoebus: an important addition for Lohmann which he hoped would help combat American penetration of German industry by propaganda.
In this maelstrom of secret activity, it was perhaps inevitable that as soon as Canaris mentioned submarines to Lohmann, yet another shell company was established to further the secret submarine programme. But with Japanese cooperation stymied by Zenker, it was necessary to look for another friendly navy closer to home. It was time to reactivate Canarisâ links to the Spanish navy, now and since the end of the war being supplied by that old friend Basil Zaharoff. Happily, this coincided with the German admiraltyâs keenness to set up a network of agents in Spain. Canaris was the obvious man for this job and within two days of arriving in Madrid in June 1925 he had rekindled his old links and begun to set up a web of agents covering all principal ports.
In Barcelona, Carlos Baum, a businessman, was employed under the codename Martha. In Valencia, it was Carlos Fricke (code name Fernando). In Cartagena, Alfred Menzel (Edoardo), in Cadiz, Riccardo Classen (Ricardo). These agents were supported by networks resurrected by Canaris from his wartime experiences.
In addition to this sterling work, his official task, Canaris now set about ensuring a home for his submarine projects. With the help of his old friends Ullmann and Echevarrrieta, he rapidly disabused Berlin of the value of working with the âthird rateâ Banco de Cataluña as a partner and noted that the only financial house worth having as a partner wasEchevarrieta. By happy coincidence, Echevarrieta, âthe richest man in Spainâ, was running short of funds. He was by no means the first, nor indeed the last, industrialist at the centre of a countryâs power structures to suddenly require capital replenishment. If German money was available to help Echevarrieta escape bankruptcy and enable him, with Ullmann, to realise the dream of establishing an independent arms industry for Spain, what reason could there be for not helping Germany with her illegal submarine programme?
Fortunately for Canaris, these powerful interests were in tune with the younger officers in the Spanish navy who had not been suborned like their superiors by Zaharoff. Like most officers of junior rank they resented the âsweetsâ lavished on their superiors. They knew the reputation of German submarines from the war and were eager to have them for their own navy. By another stroke of luck, a few weeks later a Spanish naval delegation was in Berlin. They soon came to the conclusion that the only man they could do business with in Germany was Canaris. Only he understood their language and their foibles. Thus, in a matter of a few months, Canaris had placed himself at the centre of the interlocking circles of German and Spanish naval rearmament. From now on nothing concerning relations with the Spanish Navy in Berlin took place without Canarisâ approval.
Events now moved relatively swiftly. Echevarrieta was invited to sail his yacht, the magnificent Cosmo Jacinta ,
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