A Frightening Glimpse
A German factory producing Bf-109s.
When Truman Smith was sent to Germany in 1935, he was unaware that he would be an observer to one of the largest military build ups in history. He was an official military attache of the US Army to the German government, and as such he had a privileged position during his time in Germany. He was invited to military demonstrations and talked with German generals and other members of the high command. Throughout all of this, he informed his handlers in Washington of what he saw. He told them of massive military exercises and an aircraft industry second only to America’s. Quite possibly one of the only Americans who recognized the resurgent threat in central Europe, Smith wrote urgently that America needed to prepare itself if it wished to maintain parity with the rising German reich.
While Smith risked imprisonment by German authorities, the American politicians receiving his reports placed little importance on them. Germany was far away, and the American people did not want to fight another war in Europe. Truman Smith was telling them that a herculean effort would be required to destroy Germany, and the resounding response was “why bother?”
What He Didn’t Do
When the average person hears the phrase “military espionage” they imagine a man in a dark suit stealing important files or even planting bombs and shooting guards. In Truman Smith’s case, this could not be farther from the truth. He was in Germany by the grace of the German government, they understood his role, and they understood that anything they showed him would be described in detail to the American government.
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