World War I, German Sabotage in Canada during
When Canada declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, it created an opportunity for members of the Auswartiges Amt (German Foreign Office, AA) in the United States to organize sabotage activity.
While the United States remained neutral until April 1917, the AA carried out intelligence work throughout North America. This was led by Count Johann von Bern- storff, Germany’s ambassador in Washington. He was aided by Karl Boy-Ed, naval attache; Franz von Papen, military attache; and Heinrich Albert, commercial attache. With direction and support from Berlin they succeeded in establishing small groups of saboteurs within Canada. These individuals were somewhat successful in delaying small amounts of military aid that was destined for Europe in the early stages of the war. Canadian officials maintained that Germany instigated and equipped a campaign of espionage by placing large sums of money in the hands of AA representatives residing in the United States.For Canadian authorities, the most important public utilities that needed protection were the canal systems of Ontario and Quebec. The largest security force, approximately 1,000 men, was deployed to protect the Welland Canal. This canal was a vital supply route running from Port Col- borne, Ontario, on Lake Erie to Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. It allowed ships to avoid Niagara Falls by passing along the Niagara escarpment. In September 1914 one potential saboteur, Horst von der Goltz, visited Papen. He convinced Papen of the military necessity to dynamite the Welland Canal. British security had alerted Canada that the canal was a target, and security was intensified. Goltz abandoned his plan. In October 1914 he returned to Germany. On Goltz’s return trip he stopped in Great Britain to examine the success of German air raids. He was arrested and extradited to the United States.
Goltz implicated others in the United States regarding espionage plans in Canada; he and his accomplices were imprisoned.Papen, in his quest for other saboteurs, met Albert Kaltschmidt through Consul von Reisswitz, the German consul in Chicago. Papen and Kaltschmidt planned to attack Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) property. Kaltschmidt convinced Karl Respa to lay time bombs in Walkerville and Windsor, Ontario, in June 1915. The Walkerville explosion destroyed a clothing plant that was producing uniforms for the British. The bomb in Windsor, which was planted at the local armory, failed to detonate. Respa, a German whom Kaltschmidt convinced to act for the benefit of Germany, was soon captured and later sentenced to life imprisonment. Both Goltz and Respa represent those German nationals who were outside of Germany when World War I began but wanted to do what they could for the land of their birth.
When Japan declared war on Germany and became an ally of Canada, Germany feared that Japanese troops could be transported through Canada by rail to ships destined for Europe. Arthur Zimmermann, undersecretary at the AA in Berlin, wanted Bernstorff to disrupt CPR traffic in several places. Bernstorff’s target was a CPR bridge across the Croix River at Vanceboro, Maine. Papen contacted Werner von Horn, a German reserve officer from Guatemala, for this purpose. Horn was successful in planting his bomb, despite Canadian authorities being warned of this threat. Horn’s bomb did little substantial damage; he was arrested in Maine, where he pleaded guilty and went to a federal detention center in Atlanta, Georgia. Canada demanded his extradition, which was successfully enacted in 1918. Due to the work of Horn and Respa, Germans had successfully carried out two minor sabotage acts in Canada, but their main objective of disabling parts of the CPR remained unfulfilled. Other espionage campaigns in Canada were directed at transportation links such as bridges, canals, railway hubs, communication centers, and power plants.
Sabotage attempts directed by the AA also took place on vessels on the Great Lakes, in coastal harbors, on recently departed ships returning to Europe, and in Canadian factories.Canadian losses due to German sabotage during World War I appear to be small, although the exact number is a matter of historical debate. Arthur G. Slaght, an eminent Ontario lawyer, Member of Parliament, and war emergency planner for Canada, tabulated that AA representatives were responsible for ninety-two acts of sabotage in North America. The majority of Slaght’s figures listed a U.S. city or port, but some simply gave the name of a ship or factory without a point of origin. Deriving exactly how many occurred in Canada is open to debate; it can only be stated with certainty that four took place within Canadian borders. Historians have compiled different figures. Major S. R. Elliot listed the total number to be nine, while Fortescue Duguid gave the figure at eleven. One problem in compiling such data is that some unexplained occurrences that were linked to the war effort were often viewed as sabotage; for example, negligence at factories, unexplained fires, acts of vandalism, etc. Unfortunately, in some circumstances, innocent individuals who were accused of committing or planning crimes suffered.
Grant Grams
See also Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht Count von; Papen, Franz von; World War I
References and Further Reading
Doerries, Reinhard. Imperial Challenge.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1989.
Duguid, Fortescue. Official History of Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914— 1919. Ottawa, ON: J. O. Patenaude, 1938.
Elliot, Major S. R. Scarlet to Green. Toronto: Hunter Rose, 1981.
Landau, Henry. The Enemy Within. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1937.
Mount, Graeme S. Canadas Enemies, Spies and Spying in the Peaceable Kingdom. Toronto: Durdurn, 1993.