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      Worm in the Apple German Traitors and Other Influences That Pushed the World Into War: The little-known story of the men who destroyed Adolf Hitler's Germany Friedrich Lenz 16. The role of Admiral Canaris I must now consider a member of the conspiracy who also presumed to carry on 'German politics' on his own initiative, namely Admiral Canaris, the Chief of Intelligence, in other words of that organization whose purpose was first and foremost to gather news throughout the world which would be of military and political significance for the German government. Anyone can understand the importance of this task. Since Canaris was peace-loving and Hitler a war-monger, he worked against him. His biographer Abshagen expresses it thus: "That Canaris took the opportunities, such as when reporting to Hitler or to Keitel, to influence the supreme leadership in a manner that seemed to him to be sensible and morally irreproachable, by giving particular emphasis to certain news which supported his own views and deliberately skipping over others which would tend to encourage Hitler's - that is an entirely different matter."
Herr Canaris opposed it because he considered failure inevitable. Even though the German
government as well as he were aware of what had even been officially admitted by the English
side, namely that Britain had begun to prepare for an invasion of Norway even before Hitler, he
nevertheless tried to foil Hitler's plans. According to his biographer Abshagen, his rationale was:
"In any case,
we (Intelligence) must do everything in our power to reinforce the effect that the British
demonstrations which may be expected will have on Hitler. That Germany's operation succeeded despite his predictions, despite the false news he directed at the planning staff, and despite the fact that his right-hand man, Oster, had even betrayed the German plans to the Norwegians, is a point in Hitler's favor and against Canaris.
There is no question that Spain intended to join Germany in order to gain possession of Gibraltar. I hardly need to explain the advantages that would have accrued to Germany from control over the Mediterranean. Herr Canaris thwarted this in early September 1940 by having Dr. Josef Müller, a member of Intelligence, tell the Spanish Foreign Minister Serrano Suner, who had visited Berlin only shortly before: "The Admiral begs you to tell the Caudillo to keep Spain out of the war at all costs. It may seem to you that our position is the stronger now - in fact it is desperate [and this was after the victory over France! -author] and we have little hope of winning this war. The Caudillo may be sure that Hitler will not invade Spain." While Franco had written Hitler a confirmatory letter as late as September 22, 1940, he was cold and unapproachable at the conference in Hendaye four weeks later - because he was in possession of information whose source was Canaris.
There are reasons to believe that as early as summer 1940 Canaris deliberately passed false news to Hitler about Russian preparations for an attack in order to cause him to worry about a Russian offensive, thus preventing the march through Spain and the subsequent attack on Gibraltar, which was planned for early January 1941. More research is needed to clear up this matter, but it would not surprise me to learn that Hitler's growing concerns over a Russian offensive were due largely to these reports.
When Mussolini was overthrown, Badoglio assured Germany that Italy would continue to fight at Germany's side under the new regime. Since Hitler did not believe this, and found his disbelief reinforced by reports from various sides, he prepared to forestall Italy's breaking-away through military measures. Canaris now began a major campaign to delude Hitler. He had himself sent to Italy "to investigate this matter" and learned from his friend General Amé, Chief of the Italian Secret Service, that Italy was indeed engaged in negotiations for an armistice with the Allies but feared reprisals on Germany's part. He, Canaris, was to prevent such retaliation. Canaris did so by following up on this private conversation with an official conference in the presence of personnel from both sides, to ask Amé the questions Hitler had charged him with. Amé responded by denying Italy's intentions to break with Germany and by giving a "declaration of loyalty" to the Axis Powers. This vulgar farce was taken down and the minutes presented to Hitler, who then reluctantly decided to dispense with preparations for counter-measures.
In conclusion, a character sketch by his biographer: "...he greeted the news of Heydrich's death in May 1942 with a sigh of relief, although at Heydrich's funeral he deemed it politic to tell Heydrich's colleagues, in muffled tones as though choked by tears, that he had admired and respected Heydrich as a great man and that his death had robbed him of a true friend.... When he saw Hitler in his headquarters 'Wolfsschanze', his companion said: 'At this distance it would be a shot through the shoulder to the heart.' Canaris promptly replied: 'So do it!'.... But he also did not object to preparations taken within the ranks of Intelligence which had to do with the planned attempt on Hitler's life. He was more or less aware of these plans but did not want to know too much."
My question to Herrn Strölin: So was Canaris a patriot or a traitor?
  
Worm in the Apple German Traitors and Other Influences That Pushed the World Into War: The little-known story of the men who destroyed Adolf Hitler's Germany |
I will confine myself to the brief discussion of four especially important instances:
We must submit as many alarming
reports as possible about British counter-measures. - And indeed, in the days to follow all news
that could be interpreted in this sense were phrased most urgently and directed to the special
staff
for the Norwegian Campaign."
To quote the British military writer Liddell Hart: "On January 12 the Allies launched an
attack in the Casino sector, and on the 18th it escalated into
a full-scale offensive over Garigliano. The Army Commander feared that there
might be a break-through into the Liri Valley, and requested the loan of two reserve divisions,
commenting that he would only need them for a few days. General Kesselring hesitate to comply
with this request. But just at that moment he was visited by Admiral Canaris, the Chief of
German
Intelligence, who replied to his questions by assuring him that 'there were not the slightest
indications of a new landing, and traffic in the port of Naples was absolutely normal.' So
Kesselring, however reluctantly, agreed to hand over his reserves... with the result that the
British
and American forces met with no resistance when they landed at Anzio, and not even when they
advanced inland and set up a cover for their bridgehead...."