Post by Diarist on Dec 21, 2014 13:15:38 GMT 1
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was born on 1 January 1887 in Aplerbeck, near Dortmund, in Westphalia, Germany. Part-Greek, he considered himself a distant relative of Greek naval officer Constantine Kanaris of the 19th Century, but genealogical evidence had never been found linking the two admirals. In 1905, he joined the German Imperial Navy.
He served aboard the cruiser Dresden as her intelligence officer during the Great War. In 1915, when the ship was disabled by the British Royal Navy and scuttled, he escaped capture and returned to Germany after a three-month journey. He served the remainder of the war as a successful submarine commander in the Mediterranean. After the war he joined the para-military Freikorps organization as he remained in the Reichsmarine. In the early 1930s, he became the executive officer of the cruiser Berlin, then the commander of the battleship Schlesien, while resuming doing intelligence work.
On 1 Jan 1935, Canaris' experience in the intelligence field led him to the appointment as the head of the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence agency. Immediately, due to his excellent Spanish, he set out to establish a spy network in Spain for German interests.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Canaris
He served aboard the cruiser Dresden as her intelligence officer during the Great War. In 1915, when the ship was disabled by the British Royal Navy and scuttled, he escaped capture and returned to Germany after a three-month journey. He served the remainder of the war as a successful submarine commander in the Mediterranean. After the war he joined the para-military Freikorps organization as he remained in the Reichsmarine. In the early 1930s, he became the executive officer of the cruiser Berlin, then the commander of the battleship Schlesien, while resuming doing intelligence work.
On 1 Jan 1935, Canaris' experience in the intelligence field led him to the appointment as the head of the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence agency. Immediately, due to his excellent Spanish, he set out to establish a spy network in Spain for German interests.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Canaris