Canaris - The Life And Death Of Hitler's Spymaster

This First Edition published in English (2017); Translated & Edited by Geoffrey Brooks.

Even today Admiral Wilhelm Canaris is a mystery - a man that historians cannot easily classify; a man who rarely showed his hand, who talked very little and always preferred to listen. 

We do know that he was the great protector of the growing opposition inside the Third Reich to Adolf Hitler from its earliest days - but at the same time, he was the one who prepared all the major expansion plans for Grossdeutschland. While he actively covered, protected and motivated those who were eager to bring down the Führer from within - at the same time he was just as actively hunting for them - one of the many contradictions he was forced to live with in order to survive. 

This superbly researched & illustrated biography which features new details on Admiral Canaris's career begins with his joining the Imperial German Navy in 1905, covering in depth his service in The Great War on both surface warships and U-Boats - including his successful evasion and return to Germany after surviving the loss of the SMS Dresden in 1915. After the Armistice of 1918, he remained with the Navy and later commanded the The Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) which had been in existence since 1920. Admiral Canaris became its commander in 1934 and immediately went about modernising and improving the service so that by 1939 it was one of the best in the world. After managing to survive for years against plots and intrigues to remove him from his position - especially by Reinhard Heydrich - He held on until he was implicated in the plot to kill Hitler. Arrested by the SS in July 1944, he was interrogated and put on trial after being charged with treason, found guilty he was executed in April 1945 at KZ Flossenbürg.