A big thank you again to gaiasabre11 for this terrific honor!
Just a few remarks on the Abwehr, as gaisabre11 was interested in, without further ado...
The Abwehr was certainly very fortunate to have placed a spy within Britain’s own Secret Intelligence Service. Still, they face the most formidable intelligence arms in the world -- only now fully coming to bear against the Reich. Those in the world of German intelligence must adapt quickly and act ruthlessly if they are to maintain their early gains.
Let’s take a look at a few of those that have been featured in Weltkriegschaft so far:
Victor Reinert is brilliant and methodical -- one of the “new men” brought into the Abwehr from civilian life. He’s clearly in awe of Canaris, who’s professionalism he seeks to emulate. He’s probably most gifted in analytical roles, yet yet finds himself typically assigned to operational positions, which benefit from his intelligence and determination. Reinert finds himself endowed with more compassion and decency than is valued in his business, making it personally difficult for him to accept some of the hard realities of intelligence work. Nonetheless, he does his job and does it very, very well. How this tension -- between personal decency and professional ruthlessness -- plays out in the long run will be central to his character.
Fritz-Albert Geier, just introduced in III:VIII leading Alpha team of Operation Sphynx, is willing to do things that Reinert would have a hard time with. He’s certainly an intellectual, but showed great aptitude in France when it came to going behind the lines and getting his hands dirty. The same was evidenced in Cairo. No doubt he’ll advance to further responsibility as the Abwehr finds need for many dangerous missions in the months ahead.
Admiral Canaris, though not a narrative character, surely deserves mention of his own. I was rather pleasantly surprised to find how much many readers enjoyed this character. I would advance that perhaps the most appealing thing about him -- for myself especially -- is the enigma that he poses. His contemporaries could never quite figure him out, and even today historians have a notoriously hard time with him. He (in OTL) saved the lives of numerous persecuted people in Germany, yet contributed to the deaths of many more in the name of the nation he served. He had made statements supporting Hitler and criticizing Hitler. In short, he is a peerless man of secrets. Just what side of the fence he’s sitting on and why will be of the utmost importance to Germany in the times ahead.
And here’s a little teaser for what the Abwehr will be up to in the near future:
Back again later with my successor!