Hitler's Secret War in South America

by Stanley E. Hilton

Provides a comprehensive portrait of Nazi military intelligence operations in Brazil and their role in keeping Germany abreast of economic and military developments

Genres: History, World War II, Espionage, Nonfiction, Germany, Read For School

358 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Larry Loftis]

I found this book quite helpful in my own research for my WWII book, Into the Lion's Mouth. The material on Albrecht Engels (who ran the German radio, code named BOLIVAR) was especially useful. Since all German traffic into the Western hemisphere came through BOLIVAR, Engels was a very important figure. The Abwehr had also tasked Engels to find out about American progress on the atom bomb, a task which Engels passed on to the subject of my book, Dusko Popov.

[Michael Kubat]

This book was published earlier than 1999: the Ballantine papperback came out in 1981. Very little is said about Nazi infiltration of Latin America, but it was a major effort. Had Germany not rushed into war, it might have borne significant fruit over time.

[Thomas Schulte]

Secret "War" seems too strong a word for a punch of pluck radio operators spread out over the large country... feels like modern clickbait. Still reading of these desperately fervent pro-Nazi spies is interesting because of the detail given on the actual encryption and concealment techniques. Two things I was surprised to learn:

1. Even before WWII, So. America had large, integrated German-speaking populations.
2. Despite all the anemic spying efforts, Brazil went all in no the Allied side, including sinking U-boats:

As Brazil's military cooperation with the United States rapidly became more intimate-American and Brazilian air patrols operating out of northeastern bases began sinking U-boats in the South Atlantic in mid-1942-naval planners in Berlin pressed for "a powerful blow" against Brazilian shipping. "The fact that the Brazilian Air Force is attacking Axis submarines is not the only decisive factor," said Kriegsmarine analysts. "Equally important is our conviction that Brazil, because of her warlike actions, is actually in a state of war." Hitler, in a conference with Admiral Raeder on June 15, finally gave permission for attacks on shipping off the coast of Brazil, and early in July a group of U-boats sailed from French ports for Brazilian waters.

[Mike Wigal]

Moderately interesting. It wasn't much of a war.