SPIES AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144667, 29 April 1915, Page 6

SPIES AT THE FRONT.

LIVES RISKED FOR INFORMATION. Spies flourished at the front as they do everywhere else, as has boon proved by the numbers caught and condemned. In the early stages of the war spies were caught in Belgium and Franco by the dozen, and in Antwerp fifty Germans engaged in espionage work were taken in' one day. Many were caught in such diverse disguises as Belgian officers’ uniforms and priests 5 and mins’ robes. They had spied out the land from end to end. Gorman secret code signs were discovered everywhere. PLOUGHMAN AS SPY, On the field of battle Iho same extraordinary enterprise has been shown on many occasions. The daring and ingenious fashion in which the position of certain French artillery batteries was communicated to the enemy may he cited as a -case in point. Under cover of a wood the guns wore so skilfully placed that even the French infantry were unaware of their exact position. Jn front of the position was an expansive plateau, and beyond that were the German linos. Presently an old farm hand emerged from a lane, guiding a horse-drawn plough. There were two horses in the team. One was white and the other ronn. Quito freely the gunners commented upon the acute contrast. Ho was a typical French peasant, and the soldiers were lost in their admiration of the coolness—or carelessness —which could permit an old husbandman to start ploughing even whilst a battle raged about him. Soon, however, they were induced to regard the situation in rather a different light, for scarcely had the old fellow addressed himself to his first furrow than shells began to rain upon the French batteries. The supposed ploughman was a spy, who. by moans of his conspicuous team, had given away the pun position. They never «nv him again, but it was not for want of trying to find him, A NECESSARY EVIL. Spies are indisputably an indispensable and integral part of every army in the field, and it is not overstating their value to say that many a bailie, indeed, has been won simply by •’information brought in.“ As a well-known army officer said at the time of the South African war. “that army that is well supplied with secret information is in the best position to make a campaign short, .sharp, and decisive. The Intelligence Department grows in importance every year, and every time our army takes the field it is palpable that less and less is left to chance. A comparatively small force is more efficient if well equipped in the secret service section than a large body of men totally ignorant of the. enemy’s positions, bases, and capabilities. As is. of course, the wisest plan, little news is given to the public as to secret intelligence Work; hut the department. 1 may confidently say, is efficient in the very highest degree/’ Information of all sorts in time of war suddenly becomes of the utmost value, and spies do not confine themselves to getting details about the enemy's army. It is the Secret Service agents, of course, who. before and when an army takes the field, keeps its chiefs informed a< to the enemy's strength and movements. the extent of his commissariat arrangements, and the quantity of In’s ammunition. In addition, they must, with the whole country systematically parcelled out between them, enable those at headquarters, probably long before the first blow has been .struck, to know exactly whore there are reservoirs and even springs..where there is timber of any size. the number of horses, motor cars..ami bicycles in each district, what, stores hold slocks of provisions, and a whole mass rf similar information. The services of these men are frequently simply priceless, and their reward is often ample.

A DANGEROUS GAME. ' Who arc the daring spirits undertaking this dangerous work f—for terribly risky it often is. If caught, there is no formal trial full of legal technicalities. no counsel for the defence, or chance of appeal. A little trench is dug. a squad "of soldiers luces the prisoner, and lie falls dead into his readymade grave. The men who chance 111 is fate are frequently local residents who have a good knowledge of the enemy and of the country. Maybe they have friends amongst tlio foe; and until they feel they aro becoming suspected they come and go. gleaning all the information they can. Others, again, are men who and there are many of them—arc horn spies. Wily, intelligent adventurers they may be, often blasters of a number of languages. and endowed with a natural gift for wriggling out of tight, corners, wherever war threatens theje they (look. Bv day they mix with the enemy, helping eagerly, perhaps, with his preparations. When night falls, disguisedthey sneak out from the lines and make their way to tho adversary's camp to whisper the secrets they have learned. These men work, of course, for pay, hut their natural love of adventure prompts them to the task. Many of them are innocent of the slightest germ of patriotism ; many, indeed, have no country to call their" own, and they sell their services to the highest bidder. GERMANY’S ELABORATE SYSTEM. The extraordinary extent of German espionage at tho front and elsewhere litis never been properly understood; its ramifications aro more astounding and far-reaching than wo have ever given them credit for. All our alien restrictions in this country and out of it have been far too flabby and feeble for such an array of subtle schemers. It is the same iii France. Previous to tho war and at the present moment there is a wide system of German military espionage in France, modelled on the lines laid down by sticber, "the sleuth-hound of the Prussians,” who played so vital a part in securing secret intelligence preliminary to the wav of 1870. When the present war broke out the German Secret Service comprised not less than 80,000 individuals of both sexes, distributed throughout French territory, in its garrison towns, at railway junctions, and in localities in the neighbourhood of strategic points and places of concentration of troops. A brief glance at the work of Stiobcr prior to the outbreak of the FrancoGonnau wn v will give an idea of Ins value to bis country. >lo personally organised a system of espionage in fourteen departments of .France. nieven being suspected hy a single Prefect of Police ho visited 1800 nf his spies, who iiad already boon posted, and poured no fewqr than 12,000 to 13.000 additional spies, as agricultural labourers, domestic servants, and commercial travellers, into the country. He strewed the" road from Berlin to Paris with Ins emissaries. In 1870 the Active Sendee Secret Plice of Germany had its central'

office in Versailles! It was ono of the finest mansions in the town, and when the Herman army marched into Versailles on September I<, Sticber. amongst the great headquarters staff, was met hy his lieutenant, Zcrniki, at the Chantiors gate, and informed that “all was ready." The ‘ secret police"' lie had organised had performed the work of au advance guard, as it always did throughout the war, and had settled all questions regarding tile distribution of tho artillery parks, the billeting of the troops, aud tlio quarters to he appropriated by the King of Prussia and his immense following of Highnesses, Generals, Aides-dcs-camp. and courtiers. DARING BRITISH OFFICERS. Even tlm daring of such spies as have already been mentioned is totally eclipsed by the feats of those British officers who, suitably disguised, venture courageously into thy heart of the enemy's stronghold. Every campaign witnesses achievements of this description. In the Sudan at least one disguised as a native, spent davs amidst the fierce Dervishes, living their lives aud joining fervently in their savage imprecations against his own comrades, to esca lie one moonless night into the desert, with full knowledge of the enemy's plans. In the Transvaal an officer, who is a practical engineer, got humble employment on a certain railway, and was soon acquainted with every yard of some hundred miles of country. Another officer got liniiself locked up in Johaiinesburg gaol for disorderly conduct. He was set to hard work helping to build the fort, and so attained his end. Two others worked respectively as a navvy and as driver of a baker s cart, in order to glean information: and the real intentions of some of the native tribes were ascertained by a man who. "got up' 1 as a broken-down, gooii-fnr-iiotliing. willing to do anything for a few shillings, worked with tho blacks in the mines.