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Abwehr
Sign in to saveThe '''' (; German for "resistance" or "defence", though the word usually means "counterintelligence" in a military context) was the German military-intelligence service for the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht from 1920 to 1944. Although the 1919 Treaty of Versailles prohibited the Weimar Republic from establishing an intelligence organization of their own, they formed an espionage group in 1920 within the Ministry of Defence, calling it the Abwehr. The initial purpose of the Abwehr was defense against foreign espionage: an organizational role that later evolved considerably. Under General Kurt v
Key facts
- Military unit.image
- Bundesministerium der Verteidigung Berlin Spree.jpg
- Military unit.caption
- Entrance to the Bendlerblock, the headquarters of the
- Military unit.dates
- 1920–1944
- Military unit.country
- Germany
- Military unit.type
- Military intelligence
- Military unit.role
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- Military unit.command_structure
- Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
- Military unit.garrison
- Bendlerblock, Berlin
- Military unit.garrison_label
- Headquarters
- Military unit.colors
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- Military unit.battles
- World War II
- Military unit.commander1
- See list
- Military unit.commander1_label
- Commanders
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Abwehr (military intelligence)
- inception
- 1920-00-00
- native label
- Abwehr
via Wikidata · CC0
~49 min read
Article
27 sectionsContents
- Before Canaris
- Under Canaris
- Before World War II
- 1938 reorganisation
- ''Ast / Abwehrstelle''
- Operational structure in neutral countries
- Pre-war operations
- During World War II
- Early successes
- Underestimating the enemy and the Commissar Order
- North Africa and the Middle East
- Questionable commitment and recruiting
- Agent Garbo
- Repression and complicity
- CASSIA spy ring (Maier–Messner group)
- Undermining the regime
- Eastern Front
- The Frau Solf Tea Party and the end of the Abwehr
- The Zossen documents
- Effectiveness and legacy
- Chiefs
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Bibliography
- External links and further reading
The '''' (; German for "resistance" or "defence", though the word usually means "counterintelligence" in a military context) was the German military-intelligence service for the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht from 1920 to 1944. Although the 1919 Treaty of Versailles prohibited the Weimar Republic from establishing an intelligence organization of their own, they formed an espionage group in 1920 within the Ministry of Defence, calling it the Abwehr. The initial purpose of the Abwehr was defense against foreign espionage: an organizational role that later evolved considerably. Under General Kurt von Schleicher (prominent in running the Reichswehr'' from 1926 onwards) the individual military services' intelligence units were combined and, in 1929, centralized under Schleicher's Ministeramt within the Ministry of Defence, forming the foundation for the more commonly understood manifestation of the Abwehr.
Each Abwehr station throughout Germany was based on the local army district (Wehrkreis); more offices opened in amenable neutral countries and (as the greater Reich expanded) in the occupied territories. On 4 February 1938, the Ministry of Defence—renamed the Ministry of War in 1935—was dissolved and became the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) with Hitler in direct command. The OKW formed part of the Führer's personal "working staff" from June 1938 and the Abwehr became its intelligence agency under Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The Abwehr had its headquarters at 76/78 Tirpitzufer (the present-day Reichpietschufer) in Berlin, adjacent to the offices of the OKW.