The German Secret Service

[argsilverson]

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=47040.0

First thing that crossed my mind.

Yes but they are a little more modern than IHMN!

Apart the  Bavarians from FP war by Wargames Foundry. and the other  option i.e. those bavarian mechanics from Eureka, is there any other suitable figure?

[von der Tann]

Yes but they are a little more modern than IHMN!

True .... do a weapon swap ... those Lederhosen are way older than IHMN.

[dice shaker]

Hello,

 the great general staff (Großer Generalstab) was not the leading institution for the secret service.
The great generl staff was more a thinktank & more a consultant office, a planing group. The CIC was the king (Kaiser) and then the generals of the armies.
So secret service in Germany would be departments of the foreign service (Auswaertiges Amt) or police (preussische politische geheime Polizei, Berlin Abteilung V) in Germany. From 01.12.1898 this group get a new name. "Zentralstelle für die Auswertungs- und Informationstätigkeit" against anarchists. Maybe this helps.

Yours,   Sebastian  

[argsilverson]

"Zentralstelle für die Auswertungs- und Informationstätigkeit"

Now that is THE name!

Thanks Sebastian!

[argsilverson]

Back to the suitable miniatures:

Since I am almost unable to do any kind of conversion, I must dream of making a Bavarian company out of existing figures:
So, i found the following:
1.- Regent prince Luitpold of Bavaria (by Tradition)
2.- Mata Hari (black Army - lovely figure) or alternative Lola (mina harker by Ironclad)
3.- clockwork engineer by Eureca (Uhrwerkmechaniker)
4.- Oktoberfest girl (either Reaper, or Hasselfree, or Impetus or even a lady from blue moon) to boost morale with beer kegs
5.- Bavarian officer by foundry
6.- up to six bavarian soldiers by foundry.

What do you think?

[oabee]

In addition to a Mata Hari-type character, another female character for Abteilung IIIb could be Elsbeth Schragmüller, known as Fräulein Doktor. Not much is known about her clandestine career, although I found this account here:

http://xdell.blogspot.com/2006/11/infamous.html

"Fräulein Dr. Hauptman Elsbeth Schragmüller (Imperial German Army)—You don’t know her by name, but her legend lives on. A 1969 movie titled Fräulein Doktor, starring Suze Kendall in the title role, gave us the clichéd Nazi dominatrix character, one who would flourish in that flick, the subsequent Ilsa series starring Dyanne Thorne, and in countless films, TV shows and S&M sites around the Internet.

Screenwriter Diulio Coletti based his Nazi dominatrix on Schragmüller, who had some of the same attributes. As one of the first generation of women allowed to study in German universities, she received a commission upon joining the German Army. Because she was, for a time, their only female officer, they allowed her to design and wear a special uniform made of leather, which she accessorized with her ever-present riding crop. And, like the Nazi dominatrix character, she had a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness. The similarities end there, however, for Schragmüller was never a Nazi, and had retired from active service long before WWII. In fact, she passed away in 1941, years before war's end.

Historically, many regard Schragmüller as an important spymaster, who ran a school for espionage in Belgium that trained Axis spies during WWI. There, she would recruit Allied soldiers (mostly through blackmail) and others interested in becoming spies, and train them. She put her riding crop to good use on the mentally slow. She would also intimidate the hell out of her students by slowly, methodically, loading a revolver in front of the entire class and aiming at someone giving her a stupid response.

After training her spies, she dispatched them into the field and administered their reports. She was so successful at eliciting important Allied information that she had to create a legendary ruse to throw the enemy off the track (more about this in a future post).

After resigning her commission, Schragmüller spent a good deal of her time taking care of her invalid mother in Switzerland. During the 1920s, she lived in nearly total obscurity. But after their ascension to power in 1933, the Nazis, completely unbeknownst to her, re-fashioned her as something of a folk hero. For PR reasons, the Nazis looked for her, and found someone claiming to be the heralded spymaster. The Nazis celebrated this woman for about a week until news reached the real Dr. Schragmüller, who briefly came out of seclusion to expose the imposter."

Elsbeth Schragmüller

And here, of course, is Mata Hari. Any suggestions as to an appropriate figure?

[vsfguthroth]

Many thanks for that, fascinating stuff. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. 

[argsilverson]

There is a Special Mata Hari figure

Black Army production here:
http://www.blackarmyproductions.com/index.php?option=com_redshop&view=category&layout=detail&cid=1&Itemid=207

Unfortunately the photo in the site is not a good one. The actual figure is  far better than the photo I could say a Real gem.

[oabee]

More WWI-era female German spies. Craig, you need to include at LEAST two of the four ladies, (Mata Hari, Elsbeth Schragmüller, and the two below)--or reasonable facsimiles--in Abteilung IIIb. Personally I'd be tempted to use all four!

Maria de Victoria (aliases Mme. De Vussiere, Baroness von Kretschmann)
(no picture available )

Maria de Victoria (1878?-1920) "was a German spy during World War I. She was captured when MI-8 secret-ink subsection found a correspondence that detailed her whereabouts. Her plans were to import high explosives into the U.S. by means of hollow figurines of Saints and the Virgin Mary."

Despina Storch (aliases Mme. Nozier, Countess de Beville, Mme. Hesketh, Mme. Nezie)



"Despina Storch or Despina Davidovitch Storch (1894 or 1895 – March 30, 1918) was a Turkish woman who was alleged to be a spy for Germany and the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Storch was later immortalized as "Turkish Delight", "Turkish beauty", and a "modern Cleopatra" in spy literature."

Two contemporary accounts of the deaths of the two women, from the New York Times:

http://wrgmr.com/pdfs/despinastorch.pdf
http://wrgmr.com/pdfs/mariadevictoria.pdf

Appropriate figures for these two ladies?

Maria is described in the NY Times account as having at the time of her death (age 42) "retained something of the blonde, bold attractiveness of feature and complexion  that must have made her conspicuous for beauty in earlier years." She "lived a life of adventure such as falls to the lot of few women." Her activities "involved conspiracy to instigate war on the part of Ireland on the side of Germany, the destruction of American ships by bombs, the organization of a messenger system and various other acts." Maria spoke German, French, Spanish, and English, the latter "with piquant intonations, but with a regard for grammar."

Despina, the "Turkish Delight," was only 23 at her death. The Times described her as "handsome" and "alluring." She was characterized as "dangerous" and "one of the ablest spies that Germany had in this country [USA]," who had "done unusual service for Germany." Despina spoke German, French, Spanish, and English, and had turned "an astonishing list of of Americans of wealth, standing, and political influence" into her "instruments."

[Maldred]

She put her riding crop to good use on the mentally slow. She would also intimidate the hell out of her students by slowly, methodically, loading a revolver in front of the entire class and aiming at someone giving her a stupid response.

As someone called upon to teach reluctant adult learners I mourn the passing of old-school training techniques 

[von der Tann]

As someone called upon to teach reluctant adult learners I mourn the passing of old-school training techniques 

 

[Craig]

OK guys I'll put a Sheila or two in the company ok?  

It's not like I never do...

[oabee]

OK guys I'll put a Sheila or two in the company ok?

It's not like I never do...

How about putting it to a vote?

1. The mysterious exotic dancer

2. The classic coldly beautiful leather-clad-dominatrix-with-riding-crop

3. The alluring raven-haired Turkish Delight

4. The boldly attractive blonde-haired Germanic Baroness

Seems like an embarrassment of riches to me.....Heck, why not an entire Company of female German spies?   

As someone called upon to teach reluctant adult learners I mourn the passing of old-school training techniques 

As a current part-time instructor of adults (mandatory job safety course), I am forced to agree!   

[Elprez]

3 and 4 for me.

Although by putting it to the vote I suspect 1 and 2 will be the most popular, 

[vsfguthroth]

What do our choices say about us ?

Anyway 1 or 4 for me - Not least of all because I finished a #4 last night .....