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Righteous Deception: German Officers Against Hitler

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I started reading Righteous Deception because i was writing a ten page reasearch paper on Admiral Canaris. He is my great uncle or something like that, so i wanted to find out more about him. There are many fascinating stories of espionage, and Johnson weaves the story that ends in the defeat of Hitler. Suprisingly this book keeps your attention, even for an eighteen year old. All in all I am very pleased with this book, and i recommend this book for anybody that is interested in WWII.

Issac Newton's third law states: For every action, there is an equal, but opposite reaction. This is the hidden theme within David Johnson's _Righteous Deception_. Johnson's "action" is the Allies' D-Day deception plan FORTITUDE and its tributary plan QUICKSILVER, the counter-intelligence effort to convince the Germans of the existence of the fictional First United States Army Group (FUSTAG), and that the real invasion would be aimed at the Pas de Calais. The German "reaction" centers around the activities of two key individuals: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Hitler's Chief of German Military Intelligence (Abwehr) and Colonel Alexis von Roenne, Chief of Fremde Heere West (FHW). Johnson provides a readable account of the better known machinations of Canaris; his counter-espionage activities providing vital intelligence to the British and his key role in the General's conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, Swarze Kapelle (Black Orchestra). It was when Canaris swayed the brilliant intelligence officer von Roenne to join the ranks of the conspirator's network, argues Johnson, that a critical partnership developed between the two men.Johnson places quite a bit of emphasis upon the role of von Roenne. Other authors (Fargo, _The Game of the Foxes_, and Cave Brown, _Bodyguard of Lies_) have documented von Roenne's official duties at FHW. Their consensus, however, is that Roenne was hoodwinked by the FORTITUDE deception, credited only with purposely inflating the Allied order of battle in order to get Hitler to reinforce the Normandy area. Johnson presents an opposing thesis. Johnson argues that Roenne was well aware that the FORTITUDE/QUICKSILVER deception to invade the Pas de Calais was bogus, but instead, led Hitler on to its validity in order that the Fuhrer keep the German 15th Army right where it was not needed for as long as possible. Johnson states that Canaris and Roenne were the flip-side of the FORTITUDE/QUICKSILVER coin. Johnson concludes had it not been for the duel-role of these two men, Canaris feeding valuable informaton to the Allies, and Roenne feeding Hitler false intelligence, Operation FORTITUDE, the D-Day landings and subsequent Normandy campaign would most likely have ended in failure.This book is timely, given the criticism levelled at America's current military intelligence community. Johnson places a feather in the cap of Allied deception during Word War II, however, he also creates a strange dichotomy in the process. One the one hand, Johnson shows how the Allies were successful in pulling off the deception and eventual victory in Normandy. On the other hand, he has Canaris and Roenne portrayed as willing accomplices whispering under their cloak and dagger: "You did not win on your own, we let you win." Whether or not one agrees with Johnson's conclusions, this book is an easy read and the author maintains his argument solidly throughout. For those wishing to delve deeper into his sources, however, Johnson does not make it easy. He relies primarily on secondary sources, biographies and memoirs of all the key players on both sides. He lists documentary evidence housed both here at the Eisenhower Library and the Bundesarchiv-Militararchiv in Germany. Unfortunately he does not cite these sources specifically in the text. Fans of World War II counter-espionage and intelligence may want to add this book to their collection for its different take and readability.

The title is a little bit of a misnomer. One gets the idea you will be reading a story of conspiracy against the German dictator by German army officers. What one gets is the story of German army officers misleading Hitler and letting the Allies win at the Normandy invasion. Even this is not really proved. The author footnotes many authors that have proven false themselves. An author he quotes even wrote a book about Hitler purporting him to be alive in South America. Johnson gives a lot of attention to Canaris, as the master of this conspiracy. Most don't know what this shadowy figure gave in the resistance movement. There are a lot of theories but very little actual proof. This book is unfounded in many things on the Normandy invasion.

This book gives a lot of trivial facts about the Normandy invasion, but little in the way of proof of what the author alleged happened. Not a difficult book, but the reader must understand that what is written is not always true.