Author: ekkarn

Dark Invasion:1915: Germany’s Secret War & the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America – Howard Blum

The Beginning of World War I

The hunt for the first terrorist cell in the United States had its beginnings on June 28, 1914 when…..

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, visit Sarajevo in Bosnia. A bomb is thrown at their auto but misses. Undaunted, they continue their visit only to be shot and killed a short time later by a lone assassin. Believing the assassin to be a Serbian nationalist, the Austrians target their anger toward Serbia

That began the march towards World War I. In the subsequent month Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia,on July 28th. That was followed by Germany declaring war on Russia on August 1st. On August 3rd Germany declared war on France and invaded neutral Belgium. After Germany ignored Great Britain’s ultimatum to withdraw from Belgium. Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th and the United States declared its neutrality.

Dark Invasion:1915: Germany’s Secret War & the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America

As the war progressed the United States maintained its neutrality, but was selling supplies and ammunition to the Allies. In 1915 the German ambassador to the US is instructed to find and finance a team of undercover saboteurs who can disrupt this flow of supplies to the Allies and potentially keep America out of the war. The results of those orders were terrorist attacks on Allied ships and various sites around New York.

The job to catch the German saboteurs fell on the shoulders of New York police Captain Tom Tunney. The story of that hunt is vividly told in Howard Blum’s book Dark Invasion:1915: Germany’s Secret War & the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America

From Goodreads:

As Germany teeters on the brink of war, its ambassador to the United States is given instructions to find and finance a team of undercover saboteurs who can bring America to its knees before it has a chance to enter the conflict on the side of the Allies.

At the page-turning pace of a spy thriller, Dark Invasion tells the remarkable true story of Tunney and his pivotal role in discovering, and delivering to justice, a ruthless ring of German terrorists determined to annihilate the United States. Overwhelmed and undermatched, Tunney’s small squad of cops was the David to Germany’s Goliath, the operatives of which included military officers, a germ warfare expert, a gifted Harvard professor, a bomb technician, and a document forger. As explosions leveled munitions plants and destroyed cargo ships, particularly in and around New York City, pan- icked officials talked about rogue activists and anarchists—but it was Tunney who suspected that these incidents were part of something bigger and became determined to bring down the culprits. Read More

Dark Invasion was a great read. The book was the result of years of research by Blum. Blum used many first had accounts of the events to tell the tale. I must say that prior to reading this book I knew nothing about these terrorist attacks. The attacks included: explosions of many ships at sea, the bombing of the US Capital building, an attempt to launch a germ warfare campaign against horses being sold to the Allies and an attempt on the life of J.P Morgan!!

Bottom-Line:

Dark invasion is a 4.5 fo 5 star book for me. It gave me what I love about history a story about the people who make history. That’s what history is all about for me – the people who make it. The story in Dark invasion was eye-opening from the design of the cigar-bombs that were smuggled on ships bound for Europe to a  germ-warfare attack on horses similarly headed to the Allies.I had never heard about he bombing of the Capital Building, In the book, there is even a picture of the building post explosion!!

If you are a lover of history check this one out!! It doesn’t need to be said that the subject of Dark Invasion the hunt to stop potential terrorist attacks, is as relevant today, as it was more than a 100 years ago!!

 Personal Side Notes….

. My father’s maternal grandparents came to the US in 1912 from Dresden, Germany. His grandfather Herman Meyer was at one time a member of the King of Saxony’s royal guard. Herman lived on Walter Avenue in Delanco until 1954. He and his second wife sold the house to Ray and Joy Vanamin Ray’s wife was Joy Lippincott my old boss’s sister.

Many years ago Ray gave me many of my great-grandfather’s old German Military Yearbooks that he found in his attic and kept. The dates on the yearbooks ranged  from the 1910s through the 1930s.

As I was reading Dark Invasion, I constantly wondered, since I know he kept these yearbooks what were his thoughts during this time period. I know that his wife’s brother Moritz Wendel lost his life fighting on the Russia front

My wife has no doubts that Herman’s sentiment would have been with his homeland. But if presented with  the opportunity, would he have participated in any of these attacks on his new homeland. I don’t think he would have done it. The fact he became a citizen during this times is an indication to me, that he wouldn’t have done it.  Of course today, some would say that was just a cover……

another side note

In the book Blum writes about Captain Frederick Hinsch, a German operative and commander of the ship the Neckar. I father’s paternal grandfather Henry Karn traveled from Hesse, Germany to the US alone in 1882 at the age of 17 on the Neckar