Secret Armies | Page 2

direct interference in the affairs of the American people and
their Government, has now assumed the more sinister aspect of also
seeking American naval and military secrets.
Further studies in Central America, Mexico and the Panama Canal
Zone disclosed an espionage network directed by the
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis and operating against the peace and security
of the United States. A scrutiny of the Nazi Fifth Column[1] in a few

European countries, especially in Czechoslovakia just before that
Republic was turned over to Germany's mercy by the Munich "peace"
and in France where Nazi and Italian agents built an amazing secret
underground army, has made the fascist activities in the Western
Hemisphere somewhat clearer to me.
I have included one chapter detailing events which cannot, so far as I
have been able to discover, be traced directly to Nazi espionage; but it
shows the influence of Nazi ideology upon England's now notorious
"Cliveden set," which maneuvered the betrayal of Austria, sacrificed
Czechoslovakia and is working in devious ways to strengthen Hitler in
Europe. The "Cliveden set" has already had so profound an effect upon
the growth and influence of fascism throughout the world, that I
thought it advisable to include it.
The sources for most of the material, by its very nature, naturally
cannot be revealed. Those conversations which I quote directly came
from people who were present when they occurred or, as in the case of
the Cagoulards in France, from official records. In the chapter on
Czechoslovakia I quote a conversation between a Nazi spy and his
chief. The details came to me from a source which in the past I had
found accurate. Subsequently, the spy was arrested by Czech secret
police, and his confession substantiated the conversation as I have
given it.
Much of the material in this volume has been published in various
periodicals from time to time, but so many Americans feel that concern
over Nazi penetration in this country is exaggerated, that I hope even
this brief and incomplete picture will serve to impress the reader, as it
has impressed me, with the gravity of the situation.
J.L.S.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] When the Spanish Insurgents were investing Madrid early in
November, 1936, newspaper correspondents asked Insurgent General
Emilio Mola which of his four columns would take the city. Mola

replied enigmatically: "The Fifth Column." He referred to the fascist
sympathizers within Madrid--those attempting to abet the defeat of the
Spanish Government by means of spying, sabotage and terrorism. The
term "Fifth Column" is today widely used to describe the various
fascist and Nazi organizations operating within the borders of
non-fascist nations.

I
Czechoslovakia--Before The Carving
It is pretty generally admitted now that the Munich "peace" gave
Germany industrial and military areas essential to further aggressions.
Instead of helping to put a troubled Europe on the road to lasting peace,
Munich strengthened the totalitarian powers, especially Germany, and a
strengthened Germany inevitably means increased activities of the
Nazis' Fifth Column which is, in all quarters of the globe, actively
preparing the ground for Hitler's greater plans.
If we can divine the future by the past, the Fifth Column, that shadowy
group of secret agents now entrenched in every important country
throughout the world, is an omen of what is to come. Before Germany
marched into Austria, that unhappy country witnessed a large influx of
Fifth Column members. In Czechoslovakia, especially in those months
before the Republic's heart was handed to Hitler on a platter, there was
a tremendous increase in the numbers and activities of agents sent into
the Central European country.
During my stay there in the brief period immediately preceding the
"peace," I learned a little about the operations of the Gestapo's secret
agents in Czechoslovakia. Their numbers are vast and those few of
whom I learned, are infinitesimal to the actual numbers at work then
and now, not only in Czechoslovakia but in other countries. What I
learned of those few, however, shows how the Gestapo, the Nazi secret
service, operates in its ruthless drive.

For years Hitler had laid plans to fight, if he had to, for Czechoslovakia,
whose natural mountain barriers and man-made defensive line of steel
and concrete stood in the way of his announced drive to the Ukrainian
wheat fields. In preparation for the day when he might have to fight for
its control, he sent into the Republic a host of spies, provocateurs,
propagandists and saboteurs to establish themselves, make contacts,
carry on propaganda and build a machine which would be invaluable in
time of war.
In a few instances I learned the details of the Nazis' inexorable
determination and their inhuman indifference to the lives of even their
own agents.
Arno Oertel, alias Harald Half, was a thin, white-faced spy trained in
two Gestapo schools for Fifth Column work. Oertel