The Secrets of the German War Office | Page 8

the reader step
back with me in the narrative to the day of my officially joining the
Service? Returning to my hotel after my interview with Captain von
Tappken in his office, I began to reflect.
I had not entered the Service out of pure adventure or for monetary
reasons alone. Money has never appealed to me as the all-powerful
thing in life. I have always had enough for creature comforts and as for
adventure I had had my fill during the Boer War and my world
wanderings. No, I had joined the German Secret Service for quite a
different reason. I was thinking of the influences that had pressed me
out of my destined groove, by every human right my own. I remember

how sanguine Count Reitzenstein was that through the Service I ought
to gain the power I had lost. But as I sat in the hotel room had occult
powers been given me, I never would have taken up Secret Service
work. But one is not quite as wise at twenty-four as at thirty-nine.
Well satisfied with my prospects, I arose early the next morning and
walked briskly to Captain Tappken's office. Punctually at ten o'clock I
announced myself at the Admiralty and after the usual procedure with
the door man, I was received by Herr von Stammer, private secretary of
Captain Tappken. A very astute and calculating gentleman is Herr von
Stammer. Suave, genial, talkative, he has the plausible and unstudied
art of extracting information without committing himself in turn. A
marvelous encyclopædia of devious Secret Service facts, an ideal tutor.
When we were alone in his office, von Stammer began by saying
abruptly:
"From now on, you must be entirely and absolutely at our Service. You
will report daily at twelve noon by telephoning a certain number. At all
times you must be accessible. You will pay close attention to the
following rules:
"Absolute silence in regard to your missions. No conversation with
minor officials but only with the respective heads of departments or to
whomever you are sent. You will make no memoranda nor carry
written documents. You will never discuss your affairs with any
employee in the Service whom you may meet. You are not likely to
meet many. It is strictly against the rules to become friendly or intimate
with any agent. You must abstain from intoxicating liquors. You are
not permitted to have any women associates. You will be known to us
by a number. You will sign all your reports by that number. Always
avoid telephoning, telegraphing and cabling as much as possible. In
urgent cases do so, but use the cipher that will be supplied to you."
He went on to give numerous other minor details and instructions,
elaborating the system, but which might prove wearisome here. I was
in his office all the forenoon, and when he ushered me out I half
expected to be called into von Tappken's presence to be sent on my first
mission. Instead of that, I had to wait five months before I was given
my first work and an exceedingly unimportant thing it was. During
those five months I was kept at a steady grind of schooling in certain
things. Day after day, week after week, I was grounded in subjects that

were essential to efficient Secret Service work.
Broadly, they could be divided into four classes--topography,
trigonometry, naval construction and drawing. The reasons for these
you will see from my missions. My tutors were all experts in the
Imperial Service. A Secret Service agent sent out to investigate and
report on the condition, situation, and armament of a fort like Verdun in
France must be able to make correct estimates of distances, height,
angles, conditions of the ground, etc. This can only be done by a man
of the correct scientific training. He must have the science of
topography at his finger tips; he must be able to make quick and
accurate calculations using trigonometry, as well as possessing skill as
a draftsman. In my mission to Port Arthur, where I had to report on the
defenses, I found this training invaluable.
The same applies to the subject of naval construction. Before entering
the German Secret Service, I certainly knew the difference between a
torpedo and a torpedo boat destroyer, but naturally could not give an
accurate description of the various types of destroyers and torpedoes.
My instructor in this subject was Lieutenant Captain Kurt Steffens,
torpedo expert of the Intelligence Department of the Imperial Navy.
After a month of tutelage under him, I was able to tell the various types
of torpedoes, submarines, and mines, etc., in use by the principal
Powers. I could even tell by the peculiar whistle it made whether the
torpedo that was being discharged was a Whitehead