Overview
Surveying the expanding conflict in Europe during one of his famous fireside chats in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt ominously warned that ""we know of other methods, new methods of attack. The Trojan horse. The fifth column that betrays a nation unprepared for treachery. Spies, saboteurs, and traitors are the actors in this new strategy."" Having identified a new type of war-a shadow war-being perpetrated by Hitler's Germany, FDR decided to fight fire with fire, authorizing the formation of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to organize and oversee covert operations. Based on an extensive analysis of OSS records, including the vast trove of records released by the CIA in the 1980s and '90s, as well as a new set of interviews with OSS veterans conducted by the author and a team of American scholars from 1995 to 1997, The Shadow War Against Hitler is the full story of America's far-flung secret intelligence apparatus during World War II. In addition to its responsibilities generating, processing, and interpreting intelligence information, the OSS orchestrated all manner of dark operations, including extending feelers to anti-Hitler elements, infiltrating spies and sabotage agents behind enemy lines, and implementing propaganda programs. Planned and directed from Washington, the anti-Hitler campaign was largely conducted in Europe, especially through the OSS's foreign outposts in Bern and London. A fascinating cast of characters made the OSS run: William J. Donovan, one of the most decorated individuals in the American military who became the driving force behind the OSS's genesis; Allen Dulles, the future CIA chief who ran the Bern office, which he called ""the big window onto the fascist world""; a veritable pantheon of Ivy League academics who were recruited to work for the intelligence services; and, not least, Roosevelt himself. A major contribution of the book is the story of how FDR employed Hitler's former propaganda chief, Ernst ""Putzi"" Hanfstengl, as a private spy. More than a record of dramatic incidents and daring personalities, this book adds significantly to our understanding of how the United States fought World War II. It demonstrates that the extent, and limitations, of secret intelligence information shaped not only the conduct of the war but also the face of the world that emerged from the shadows.
Full Product Details
Author: Christof Mauch (Director) ,
Jeremiah Riemer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.10cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 23.70cm
Weight: 0.610kg
ISBN: 9780231120449
ISBN 10: 0231120443
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 30 April 2003
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Language: German
Reviews
A thrilling look into the work of the first central secret service of the U.S. -- Stuttgarter Nachrichten (of the German edition) This excellent book...is well translated and boasts impressive research...a fine job of telling the OSS story. -- Library Journal [Mauch] offers valuable information concerning the 'Sauerkrauts,' German POWs who volunteered to infiltrate German lines to spread defeatism among Wehrmacht units and the SS formations in northern Italy. This is a valuable addition for graduate students and professionals in the field. Recommended. -- Choice [Mauch] succeeds in transforming his meticulous archival research into a readable and thought provoking monograph. This volume will provide significant new data for scholars and laymen alike on the OSS and its 'shadow war' against the Nazis. -- Jewish Book World A valuable contribution to an understanding of the postwar world. -- Freie Universitat Berlin, Journal of Military History Christof Mauch's book... is a brilliant volume that expertly chronicles the epic saga of the OSS's robust intelligence warfare against the Third Reich, with vivid narratives and critical analysis skillfully intermingled throughout the text... This is a must read for anyone who studies America's war against Nazi Germany. -- Maochun Yu, United States Naval Academy, American Historical Review The most authoritative single volume on the subject... Mauch brilliantly integrates both the research/analytical as well as operational histories of the OSS. -- Rorin M. Platt, American Diplomacy.org A well-researched and balanced study. -- Steve Hewitt, History: The Journal of the Historical Association Scholars of the Second World War should look to Mauch's work to provide a template for analysis of this important subject. -- Patricia Kollander, H-Net
A noted German historian explores the successes and failures of American intelligence and counterintelligence in the European theater during WWII. Mauch (Modern History/Univ. of Cologne) maintains that the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) can claim few great single victories, save, perhaps, for the masterful Operation Sunrise, which resulted in the mass surrender of German troops in northern Italy a few days before the fall of the Nazi regime in Germany. Nevertheless, he writes, the OSS contributed materially to the Allied cause, and in the aggregate OSS actions helped shorten the war in Europe by, at least, several weeks. The OSS accomplished this laudable end by, among other things, targeting and exploiting weak points in the German economy, identifying bombing targets, disrupting civilian and military morale, and spreading misinformation that helped pin down Wehrmacht and SS units that might otherwise have gone into battle against the Allies. To its discredit, however, OSS did little to slow the extermination of Jews in the occupied territories, though OSS (and later CIA) director Allen Dulles privately raised funds to help secure visas and obtain the release of hundreds of individuals, so long as this did not impinge on the business of espionage. Throughout, Mauch writes, Dulles, Wild Bill Donovan, and company warned their superiors not to bet on the Nazi regime's premature collapse: morale may have suffered, but throughout the war, Germans were so thoroughly cowed by Hitler's secret police that they could mount little internal resistance, and even in the final days of the war, Nazi forces were planning a last stand in the Alps-a possibility that Dulles largely dismissed against the evidence, saying, Hitler is not the type of man who, at this stage in his career, would be good at planning to play the role of Robin Hood. A careful study that draws heavily on declassified archives: illuminating research on the WWII era and modern military intelligence. (Kirkus Reviews)
A thrilling look into the work of the first central secret service of the U.S. -- Stuttgarter Nachrichten (of the German edition) This excellent book...is well translated and boasts impressive research...a fine job of telling the OSS story. -- Library Journal [Mauch] offers valuable information concerning the 'Sauerkrauts,' German POWs who volunteered to infiltrate German lines to spread defeatism among Wehrmacht units and the SS formations in northern Italy. This is a valuable addition for graduate students and professionals in the field. Recommended. -- Choice [Mauch] succeeds in transforming his meticulous archival research into a readable and thought provoking monograph. This volume will provide significant new data for scholars and laymen alike on the OSS and its 'shadow war' against the Nazis. -- Jewish Book World Mauch has not only written a superb account of OSS activities during the war, but he has also woven into his narrative the political, diplomatic, and military dynamics that framed key decisions... It is essential reading for students of intelligence and strategy alike and would make a fine addition to the professional library. -- Raymond Millen, International History Review A valuable contribution to an understanding of the postwar world. -- Freie Universitat Berlin, Journal of Military History The Shadow War Against Hitler is an excellent read. -- Mitchell McNaylor, Military Review Christof Mauch's book... is a brilliant volume that expertly chronicles the epic saga of the OSS's robust intelligence warfare against the Third Reich, with vivid narratives and critical analysis skillfully intermingled throughout the text... This is a must read for anyone who studies America's war against Nazi Germany. -- Maochun Yu, United States Naval Academy, American Historical Review The most authoritative single volume on the subject... Mauch brilliantly integrates both the research/analytical as well as operational histories of the OSS. -- Rorin M. Platt, American Diplomacy.org A well-researched and balanced study. -- Steve Hewitt, History: The Journal of the Historical Association Scholars of the Second World War should look to Mauch's work to provide a template for analysis of this important subject. -- Patricia Kollander, H-Net
Author Information
Christof Mauch is deputy director of the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. and a professor of modern history at the University of Cologne. He has been director of the OSS Oral History Project at Georgetown University and is the author of many books and articles.
