Abwehr The Abwehr was a German military intelligence ( information gathering ) organization from 1921 to 1944 . The term " Abwehr " ( , German for " defence " ) was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany ' s post – World War I intelligence activities be for " defensive " purposes only . After 4 February 1938 , its name in title was Foreign Affairs / Defence Office of the Armed Forces High Command ( " Amt Ausland / Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht " ) . Despite its name implying counterespionage , the " Abwehr " was an intelligence - gathering agency and dealt exclusively with human intelligence , especially raw intelligence reports from field agents and other sources . The Chief of the " Abwehr " reported directly to the High Command of the Armed Forces ( " Oberkommando der Wehrmacht " , or OKW ) . Intelligence summaries and intelligence dissemination were the prerogative of the Operations Branch ( as distinct from the Intelligence Branch ) of the OKW , and through it to the intelligence - evaluation sections of the Army ( " Heer " ) , the Navy ( " Kriegsmarine " ) , and the Air Force ( " Luftwaffe " ) . The headquarters ( HQ ) of the " Abwehr " were located at 76 / 78 Tirpitzufer , Berlin , adjacent to the offices of the OKW . Before Canaris . The " Abwehr " was created in 1921 as part of the Ministry of Defence when the German government was allowed to form the Reichswehr , the military organization of the Weimar Republic . The first head was Major Friedrich Gempp , a former deputy to Colonel Walter Nicolai , the head of German intelligence during World War I . At that time it was composed of only three officers and seven former officers plus a clerical staff . By the 1920s it was organized into three sections : The Reichsmarine intelligence staff merged with the " Abwehr " in 1928 . In the 1930s , with the rise of the Nazi movement , the Ministry of Defence was reorganized ; surprisingly , on June 7 , 1932 , a naval officer , Captain Konrad Patzig , was named chief of the " Abwehr " , despite the fact that it was staffed largely by Army officers . But perhaps not surprisingly , due to the small size of the organization and its limited importance at that time , it was unsuitable for a more ambitious army officer . Another possible factor was that naval officers had more foreign experience than their Army counterparts and understood more of foreign affairs . However , all three services eventually developed their own intelligence staff . Because of " Abwehr " - sponsored reconnaissance flights across the border with Poland , Patzig soon had confrontations with Heinrich Himmler , head of the SS . Army leaders feared that the flights would endanger the secret plans for an attack on Poland . Patzig was fired in January 1935 as a result , and was sent to command the new pocket battleship " Admiral Graf Spee " ; he later became Chief of Naval Personnel . His replacement was another Reichsmarine captain , Wilhelm Canaris . Under Canaris . Before the War . Before he took over the " Abwehr " on 1 January 1935 , the soon - to - be Admiral Canaris was warned by Patzig of attempts by Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich to take over all German intelligence organisations . Canaris , a master of backroom dealings , thought he knew how to deal with them . But even though he tried to maintain an at least cordial relationship with them , the antagonism between the " Abwehr " and the SS did not stop with Canaris at the helm . It came to a head in 1937 when Adolf Hitler decided to help Joseph Stalin in the latter ' s purge against the Soviet military . Hitler ordered that the German Army staff should be kept in the dark about Stalin ' s intentions , for fear that they would warn their Soviet counterparts . Accordingly , special SS teams , accompanied by burglary experts from the criminal police , broke into the secret files of the General Staff and the " Abwehr " and removed documents related to German - Soviet collaboration . To conceal the thefts , fires were started at the break - ins , which included " Abwehr " headquarters . 1938 reorganisation . Canaris reorganized the agency in 1938 , with the " Abwehr " being subdivided into three main sections : " Abwehr " liaisons were also established with the Army , Navy and Luftwaffe High Commands , and these liaisons would pass on specific intelligence requests to the operational sections of the " Abwehr " . " Abwehr " I was commanded by Colonel Hans Pieckenbrock , " Abwehr " II was commanded by Colonel Erwin von Lahousen and " Abwehr " III was commanded by Colonel Egbert Bentivegni . " Ast / Abwehrstelle " . Under the structure outlined above , " Abwehr " placed a local station in each military district in Germany , ( " " Wehrkreis " " ) , called ' Abwehrstelle ' or ' Ast ' . Following the German Table of Organisation and Equipment model of " Abwehr " headquarters , each Ast was usually subdivided into sections for Typically each Ast would be commanded by a senior Army or Naval officer and would be answerable to " Abwehr " HQ . in Berlin . Operations carried out by each " Ast " would be in tandem with the overall strategic plan formulated by Admiral Canaris . Canaris in turn would receive instructions on what intelligence gathering should take priority from the OKW or , increasingly after 1941 , the Führer , directly . In practice however , each " Ast " was given considerable latitude in mission planning and execution - a facet of the organisation which ultimately damaged its intelligence gathering capability . Each local " Ast " could recruit potential agents for missions and the " Abwehr " also employed freelance recruiters to groom and vet potential agents . In most cases , the agents who formed the " Abwehr " were recruited civilians , not officers / soldiers from the military . The recruitment emphasis seems to have been very much on " quantity " not " quality " . The poor quality of recruits often led to the failure of " Abwehr " missions . Operational structure in neutral countries . In neutral countries the " Abwehr " frequently disguised its organisation by attaching its personnel to the German Embassy or to trade missions . Such postings were referred to as " War Organisations " ( " " Kriegsorganisationen " " or " " KO ' s " " in German ) . In neutral but friendly Spain for example , the " Abwehr " had both an " Ast " and a KO while Ireland had neither . In friendly countries of interest , occupied countries , or in Germany itself , the intelligence service would normally organise " " Abwehr " sub - stations " ( " " Abwehrleitstellen " " in German or " " Alsts " " in German ) , or " " Abwehr " adjoining posts " ( " " Abwehrnebenstellen " " in German ) . The " " Alsts " " would fall under the jurisdiction of the geographically appropriate " Ast " , which in turn would be supervised by the Central division in Berlin . Canaris and " Die Schwarze Kapelle " . During his reorganisation , Canaris took care to surround himself with a hand - picked staff , notably his second - in - command , Hans Oster and Section II Chief , Erwin von Lahousen . All but one were not members of the Nazi party . The exception was Rudolf Bamler , who was appointed as chief of Section III by Canaris to gain the trust of Himmler . Canaris did make sure to keep Bamler on a short leash however , and restricted his access to operational information . Canaris had good reason to do this because unknown to the High Command and Hitler , during his reorganisation Canaris had peppered the chief operational and administrative staff of the " Abwehr " with men more loyal to him than to the Nazi Government . While outwardly Canaris appeared to be the model of intelligence - gathering efficiency , evidence exists that he secretly opposed , and actively worked against the wishes of his Commander in Chief . Canaris , Oster and the Chiefs of " Abwehr " sections I . , II . , and III . were all heavily involved in what the Security Police " Sicherheitsdienst " were to later dub " The Black Orchestra " ( " " Die Schwarze Kapelle " " in German ) , a plot to overthrow the Nazi regime from the inside . Canaris ' s operational decisions , his choice of appointments and their decisions , and crucially for the Third Reich – the input each plotter had into " Abwehr " operations , are all tainted by these secret dealings . During World War II . Under Canaris the " Abwehr " expanded and proved relatively efficient during the early years of the war . Its most notable success was Operation " Nordpol " , which was an operation against the Dutch underground network , which at the time was supported by the British Special Operations Executive . In March 1941 , the Germans forced a captured SOE radio operator to transmit messages to Britain in a code that the Germans had obtained . Even though the operator gave every indication that he was compromised , the receiver in Britain did not notice this . Thus the Germans had been able to penetrate the Dutch operation and maintained this state of affairs for two years , capturing agents that were sent and sending false intelligence and sabotage reports until the British caught on . On the other hand , evidence published by Anthony Cave Brown in " Bodyguard of Lies " suggests that the British were well aware that the radios were compromised and used this method to feed false information to the Germans regarding the site of the D - Day landings . But it was ineffective overall for several reasons . Much of its intelligence was deemed politically unacceptable to the German leadership . Moreover , it was in direct competition / conflict with SS intelligence activities under Reinhard Heydrich and Walter Schellenberg . The animosity between the SS and " Abwehr " did not stop there . Many of the " Abwehr " ' s operatives — including Canaris himself — were in fact anti - Nazi and were involved in many assassination attempts against Hitler , including the most serious one on July 20 , 1944 . Canaris even employed Jews in the " Abwehr " ( a good example is the story of the Geographer Paul Borchardt and used the agency to help a small number of Jews to escape from Germany into Switzerland . Another contributing factor was that by 1941 British code - breakers at Bletchley Park have managed to decypher the " Abwehr " hand cypher , and all the wireless transmissions of " Abwehr " field agents were read at Bletchley Park . In early 1942 the Enigma machine code was also broken , thus all secret radio messages were intercepted . An interesting piece of evidence on the athmosphere within the " Abwehr " is revealed by the post - war interrogation report of Thomas Ludwig ( Theodor Levin ) , an officer at AST Istambul . Levin stated that " With Admiral Canaris one could work with a good conscience . . . he would never demand of an " Abwehr " officer anything which his conscience would forbid him to do . Canaris stressed this at any meeting of " Abwehr " officers and constantly forbade , in the severest terms , any ' murder organisation ' under his command . " The Abwehr was active in North Africa during the Desert Campaigns of 1941 - 42 . Major Witilo von Griesheim was sent to ( Italian ) Libya in early 1941 to set up AST Tripoli ( code name WIDO ) , and he soon set up a network of agents and wireless stations gathering information not only in Libya , but also in the surrounding French territories . Simultaneously " Abwehr " commando under the command of Major Nikolaus Ritter was sent to Libya in February 1941 ( including the Hungarian desert explorer László Almásy with a mission to gather intelligence from British occupied Egypt . After Ritter ' s injury and departure Almásy took command , and organised the 1942 Operation Salam which succeeded in delivering two German agents to Egypt accross the Libyan Desert behind enemy lines . The " Abwehr " was also responsible for " Sonderkommando Dora " , a mostly scientific mission based in Hun ( Libya ) to study desert topography and terrain and assess results for military use . Canaris made the United States one of " Abwehr " ' s primary targets even before America ' s entry into the conflict . By 1942 , German agents were operating from within all of America ' s top armaments manufacturers . Operation " Vinland " , a particularly intriguing case , centered around a female " Abwehr " agent who infiltrated a US Naval shipyard in the Midwest ( Evansville , Indiana ) but escaped . The " Abwehr " also suffered a very public debacle in Operation " Pastorius " , which resulted in the executions of six " Abwehr " agents sent to the United States to sabotage the American aluminum industry . The " Abwehr " ' s effectiveness was impaired by agents who aided the Allies in whatever covert means were necessary . Canaris personally gave false information which discouraged Hitler from invading Switzerland ( Operation " Tannenbaum " ) . He also persuaded Francisco Franco not to allow German forces to pass through Spain to invade Gibraltar ( Operation " Felix " ) . The SS continually undermined the " Abwehr " by putting several " Abwehr " officers under investigation , believing them ( correctly ) to be involved in anti - Hitler plots . The SS also accused Canaris of being defeatist in his intelligence assessments , especially on the Russian campaign . One such briefing reportedly resulted in Hitler seizing Canaris by the lapels , and demanding to know whether the intelligence chief was insinuating that Germany would lose the war . The Frau Solf Tea Party and the end of the " Abwehr " . On 10 September 1943 , the incident which eventually resulted in the dissolution of the " Abwehr " took place . The incident came to be known as the " Frau Solf Tea Party . " Frau Johanna ( or Hanna ) Solf was the widow of Dr . Wilhelm Solf , a former Colonial Minister under Kaiser Wilhelm II and ex - Ambassador to Japan . Frau Solf had long been involved in the anti - Nazi intellectual movement in Berlin . Members of her group were known as members of the " Solf Circle . " At a tea party hosted by her on 10 September , a new member was included into the circle , a handsome young Swiss doctor named Reckse . It turned out that Dr . Reckse was an agent of the Secret State Police ( " Geheime Staatspolizei " , or " Gestapo " ) , to which he reported on the tea party , providing several incriminating documents . The members of the Solf Circle were tipped off and had to flee for their lives . But they were all rounded up on 12 January 1944 . Eventually everyone who was involved in the Solf Circle , except Frau Solf and her daughter ( the Countess Lagi Gräfin von Ballestrem ) , were executed . One of those executed was Otto Kiep , an official in the Foreign Office , who had friends in the " Abwehr " , among whom were Erich Vermehren and his wife , the former Countess Elizabeth von Plettenberg , who were stationed as agents in Istanbul . Both were summoned to Berlin by the " Gestapo " in connection with the Kiep case . Fearing for their lives , they contacted the British and defected . Hitler had long suspected that the " Abwehr " had been infiltrated by anti - Nazi defectors and Allied agents , and the defection of Vemehren after the Solf Circle arrests all but confirmed this . It was also mistakenly believed in Berlin that the Vermehrens absconded with the secret codes of the " Abwehr " and turned them over to the British . That proved to be the last straw for Hitler . Despite the efforts of the " Abwehr " to shift the blame to the SS [ " Schutzstaffel " ] , or even to the Foreign Ministry , Hitler had had enough of Canaris and he told Himmler so twice . He summoned the chief of the " Abwehr " for a final interview and accused him of allowing the " Abwehr " to " fall to bits " . Canaris quietly agreed that it was " not surprising " , as Germany was losing the war . Hitler fired Canaris on the spot , and on February 18 , 1944 , Hitler signed a decree that abolished the " Abwehr " . Its functions were taken over by the Reich Main Security Office ( " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " or , RSHA ) and Major General of Police Walter Schellenberg replaced Canaris functionally within the RSHA . This action deprived the German Armed Forces ( " Wehrmacht " ) and the anti - Nazi conspirators of an intelligence service of its own and strengthened Himmler ' s control over the military . Canaris , by this time a full admiral , was cashiered and given the empty title of Chief of the Office of Commercial and Economic Warfare . He was arrested on 23 July 1944 , in the aftermath of the " July 20 Plot " against Hitler and executed shortly before the end of the war , along with Oster , his deputy . The functions of the " Abwehr " were then totally absorbed by " Amt " VI , the SD - " Ausland " , a sub - office of the " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " or RSHA , which itself was part of the " Schutzstaffel " or SS .