British and American intelligence, of course, did not devote such enormous energy to collecting this information for the benefit of later generations of historians. So what sort of results did the surveillance yield? Intelligence gathered during World War II was highly complex, and decisions were never made on the basis of a single source. Interrogation and eavesdropping on POWs was part of the Human Intelligence Division, which was only a part, if a key one, of a whole intelligence network. Over the course of the war, the Allies succeeded in gaining insights into all aspects of the Wehrmacht, including the condition, tactics, and morale of Germany’s fighting forces and the technical specifications of their weaponry. The enormous potential of human intelligence became obvious for the first time during the Battle of Britain, and after that it was unthinkable that it would not be part of the process of information gathering. The most spectacular success recorded by human intelligence was probably information that proved crucial to Britain’s successful defense against the V1 and V2 rockets. A conversation between Generals Thoma and Crüwell had given the decisive tip.916
There is no doubt that the energy invested in surveillance of POWs was worthwhile, and the Allies knew only too well that they had built up an effective system for gathering human intelligence. For that reason the surveillance files were not made available to prosecutors at the war crimes trials in Germany. The Allies’ own methods of gathering intelligence were, at all costs, to be kept secret.917
A book like this is the result of many people’s research and would not exist without the support of numerous colleagues.
Our most profound gratitude goes out to the Gerda Henkel and Fritz Thyssen Foundation for financing our research group. Dr. Michael Hanssler, Dr. Angela Kühnen, Dr. Frank Suder, and their teams were extremely committed in assisting us. They and their institutions are impressive examples of how research can be funded in a goal-oriented, efficient, uncomplicated, and cordial manner.
We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Matheus, the director of German Historical Institute in Rome, for helping us with the grant application, supporting work on the project in Italy, and for organizing a conference in April 2008, where we were able to present some of our findings to our Italian colleagues. We are also very grateful to Dr. Lutz Klinkhammer for his work on the Italian part of the project. The Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen was not only a central research location, but a generous host for workshops, conferences, and lectures. That helped us make progress in an extremely inspiring, interdisciplinary atmosphere.
We would also like to acknowledge those who worked on the project—Dr. Christian Gudehus, Dr. Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, Dr. Felix Römer, Dr. Michaela Christ, Sebastian Gross, MA, and Tobias Seidl, MA—for three years of intense and constructive research. They formed an excellent team, and it was a joy to work with them. In June 2008, Dr. Richard Germann of Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Historical Social Science in Vienna joined our ranks. To him we owe numerous bits of information about the socio-biographical background of the POWs who were put under surveillance as well as about Austrians in the Wehrmacht. Dr. Dietmar Rost provided us with a number of excellent pieces of advice concerning American soldiers.
We were very pleased that our work on this project spilled over into university instruction, and that a number of MA theses were written on this topic. With their work, Falko Bell, Nicole Bögli, Stephanie Fuchs, Alexander Hoerkens, Frederik Müllers, Anette Neder, Katharina Straub, Martin Treutlein, Daniela Wellnitz, and Matthias Weusmann all made important contributions to the project, and we thank them sincerely for their commitment and interest.
We also received valuable tips, advice, and support from Dr. Alexander Brakel, Dr. Christian Hartmann, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Hirschfeld, Dr. Johannes Hürter, Prof. Dr. Michael Kißener, Prof. Dr. MacGregor Knox, Dr. Peter Lieb, Dr. Timothy Mulligan, Dr. Axel Niestlé, Prof. Dr. Andreas Rödder, Dr. Thomas Schlemmer, Dr. Klaus Schmider, and Adrian Wettstein. Dr. Jens Kroh, Manuel Dittrich, Dr. Sabine Meister, Vanessa Stahl, and Florian Hessel were very helpful in preparing the manuscript and deserve our gratitude. Finally, we would like to thank the S. Fischer publishing house for their faith in us and above all Prof. Dr. Walter Pehle for his customarily expert and careful editing.
AFHQ — Allied Forces Headquarters
BA/MA — German Federal Archive/Military Archive, Freiburg i.Br.
CSDIC (UK) — Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (U.K.)
GRGG — General Report German Generals
HDv — Official Germany Army Reports
