In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914

Felix A. Sommerfeld moved through the Mexican Revolution (1910 to 1920) like a wraith. Neither his contemporaries nor scholars throughout the past hundred years have been able to piece together a clandestine career that relegates the exploits of James Bond to mere child s play. Appearing on the scene in Mexico from obscurity, Sommerfeld became the personal confidante of Mexican President Francisco Madero in 1911. Unbeknownst to his peers, Sommerfeld had worked for the German secret service since 1908. German agents had maneuvered him close to the future president of Mexico. From that position, Sommerfeld managed to climb to become the highest placed German asset in the Mexican government. While working for President Madero, and most likely with his tacit approval, Sommerfeld acted as the intelligence liaison for the German ambassador in Mexico, Rear Admiral Paul von Hintze, and provided him with valuable intelligence on Mexico, Europe, and the United States. His clout helped focus German foreign policy towards Madero and his successor Huerta. Sommerfeld's organizational skills and the help of his contacts at the highest levels of the American Government produced a notorious network of agents along the Mexican-American border. When Mexican army general Victoriano Huerta usurped the presidency in February of 1913 and killed Madero in a bloody coup d'Etat Sommerfeld re-activated his secret service organization along the U.S. - Mexican border to join the battle against the usurper president Huerta. With the help of his connections in Germany and the United States, Sommerfeld became the linchpin in the revolutionary supply chain. His organization along the border smuggled arms and ammunition to the troops in amounts never before thought possible, while his contacts in the highest echelons of the American and German governments shut off credit and supplies for Huerta. Surprising to most but not illogical, the U.S. government fully cooperated with Sommerfeld and turned a blind eye to the blatant violations of U.S. laws.

Biographies & Memoirs

Von Feilitzsch, Heribert

Historical

Henselstone Verlag LLC

Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front in the Great War (Secret War Council)

The German government decided in the fall of 1914 to corner the U.S. arms and ammunition market to the detriment of England and France. In New York German Military Attaché Franz von Papen and Naval Attaché Karl Boy-Ed could not think of anyone more effective and with better connections than Felix A. Sommerfeld to sell off the weapons and ammunition to Mexico. A few months later, Sommerfeld received orders to create a border incident. Tensions along the U.S. - Mexican border suddenly increased in a wave of border raids under the Plan de San Diego. When Pancho Villa attacked the town of Columbus, NM, on March 9, 1916, virtually the entire regular U.S. Army descended upon Mexico or patrolled the border. War seemed inevitable. Federal agents could not prove it, but suspected German involvement. Felix A. Sommerfeld and fellow agents had forced the hand of the U.S. government through some of the most intricate clandestine operations in the history of World War I.

The Secret War Council, Germany’s spy organization in New York, received orders from Berlin to stop the flow of munitions through terrorism in January 1915. German agents in the U.S. firebombed freighters on the high seas, incited labor unrest, fomented troubles along the Mexican-American border, and damaged or destroyed dozens of American factories and logistics installations. The German secret war against the United States in 1915, its discovery and publication, combined with the disastrous sinking of the Lusitania in May of that year, did much to prepare the American public to finally accept joining the Entente powers against Germany in 1917. This is the story of a group of German agents in the United States, who executed this mission.

The Secret War on the United States in 1915: A Tale of Sabotage, Labor Unrest and Border Troubles (Secret War Council)

History

Americas

The Secret War Council, Germany’s spy organization in New York, received orders from Berlin to stop the flow of munitions through terrorism in January 1915. German agents in the U.S. firebombed freighters on the high seas, incited labor unrest, fomented troubles along the Mexican-American border, and damaged or destroyed dozens of American factories and logistics installations. The German secret war against the United States in 1915, its discovery and publication, combined with the disastrous sinking of the Lusitania in May of that year, did much to prepare the American public to finally accept joining the Entente powers against Germany in 1917. This is the story of a group of German agents in the United States, who executed this mission.

The Secret War on the United States in 1915: A Tale of Sabotage, Labor Unrest, and Border Troubles (The Secret War Council)

The Secret War Council describes the espionage cell which Germany sent to the United States at the outbreak of World War I. Its initial mission was to combat interests of the Entente powers in North America through attacks on Canada, blockade running, propaganda, and cornering supplies.

The Secret War Council: The German Fight Against the Entente in America in 1914

Have you ever wondered how to get into the head of your negotiation partner? In easy to follow steps with lots of practical examples and anecdotes from the author's extensive business career, The Negotiator's Toolbox guides the reader through the preparation and execution of a strategic negotiation. In part 1, the book explains how to prepare a negotiation, taking into account the personalities involved, their motivations, fears, and behavioral patterns. This information determines how to set achievable goals with psychology in mind. In part 2 The Negotiator's Toolbox introduces important negotiation strategies and corresponding tactics using real life stories to illustrate the choices. What will be the correct strategy to achieve our goals? In part 3, The Negotiator's Toolbox guides the reader through the actual negotiation, from question techniques and stress management tools to consciously interpreting body language, tone of voice, and detecting lies. Part 4 offers real life cases and their resolutions. The book is designed for the corporate buyer, purchasing manager, and small business owner. It contains more than a dozen illustrations and checklists, as well as over fifty photographs.

The Negotiator's Toolbox: Winning Strategies for Corporate Buyers and Small Businesses

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

J. Edgar Hoover, who took the helm of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924, is regularly credited with the birth of the Bureau of Investigation. Yet, the Bureau existed since 1908, provided intelligence, and enforced the neutrality laws for the US government through the tumultuous years of the Mexican Revolution and World War I. It is on the backs of the early federal agents of the Justice Department that the modern FBI emerged. This is the story of these pioneer special agents and their leaders, who on a shoestring budget battled political headwinds and local resistance, to try and prevent the civil war in Mexico from spilling into the homeland.

The federal Bureau of Investigation before Hoover: Volume 1: The fBI and Mexican Revolutionists, 1908-1914

Harris III, Charles H.

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