I received the usual summons to report at the Wilhelmstrasse. Instead
of being brought before Count von Wedel, I was taken over to
Koenigergratzerstrasse 70, to the German Admiralty Intelligence
Department. Here I met my old Chief Captain Tappken, head of the
naval branch of the Intelligence Department. The Captain briefly
informed me that it had been deemed advisable to send me to
England--unwelcome news, this, as you will see. In the usual curt yet
polite manner of German officers, the Captain introduced me to three
naval experts. One was a construction officer, another in the
signaling department, the third, an expert on explosives and mines.
One at a time they took me in hand, grooming me in the intricacies of
their respective fields. It was like a rehearsal in the grooming I
had received years ago when taken into the Service and trained for
months. I sat for hours over diagrams with a naval officer on each
side. They brought me before charts that were as big as the wall of
the room. These charts gave the exact dimensions and type of every
vessel in the British navy. Not only that, I was made to study the
silhouettes of all the new and different types of English
warships--why you will see.
Obviously this special training was significant. Part of my mission
to England was to watch the preparations and maneuvers of British
warships at the naval bases on the Scottish coast.
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