In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914 - Hardcover

Heribert Von Feilitzsch

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14 ratings by Goodreads

9780985031701: In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0985031700 ISBN 13: 9780985031701

Publisher: Henselstone Verlag LLC, 2012

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Felix A. Sommerfeld moved through the Mexican Revolution (1910 to 1920) like a wraith. Neither his contemporaries nor scholars throughout the past hundred years have been able to piece together a clandestine career that relegates the exploits of James Bond to mere child s play. Appearing on the scene in Mexico from obscurity, Sommerfeld became the personal confidante of Mexican President Francisco Madero in 1911. Unbeknownst to his peers, Sommerfeld had worked for the German secret service since 1908. German agents had maneuvered him close to the future president of Mexico. From that position, Sommerfeld managed to climb to become the highest placed German asset in the Mexican government. While working for President Madero, and most likely with his tacit approval, Sommerfeld acted as the intelligence liaison for the German ambassador in Mexico, Rear Admiral Paul von Hintze, and provided him with valuable intelligence on Mexico, Europe, and the United States. His clout helped focus German foreign policy towards Madero and his successor Huerta. Sommerfeld s organizational skills and the help of his contacts at the highest levels of the American Government produced a notorious network of agents along the Mexican-American border. When Mexican army general Victoriano Huerta usurped the presidency in February of 1913 and killed Madero in a bloody coup d état Sommerfeld re-activated his secret service organization along the U.S. - Mexican border to join the battle against the usurper president Huerta. With the help of his connections in Germany and the United States, Sommerfeld became the linchpin in the revolutionary supply chain. His organization along the border smuggled arms and ammunition to the troops in amounts never before thought possible, while his contacts in the highest echelons of the American and German governments shut off credit and supplies for Huerta. Surprising to most but not illogical, the U.S. government fully cooperated with Sommerfeld and turned a blind eye to the blatant violations of U.S. laws.

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About the Author:

Heribert von Feilitzsch, MA, MBA a native of Germany, graduated from the University of Arizona in 1991 with an MA in Latin American History. He lives with his wife and children on a farm in Northern Virginia.

Review:

This current work is not only a must-read for people interested in history but also highly recommended for those who like to get a glimpse into the causes and motives of human activity and historical events. In a brilliant style the author takes the reader on a trip back in time, where he illuminates the relationships between Mexico, the United States, and Germany in a new approach not seen until now. It is correct, as the author writes, This book is not designed to provide a complete recollection of the causes and course of the Mexican Revolution , but it does have the intention to describe, that there had been a man, whose name appears in almost every work on the Mexican Revolution , Felix A. Sommerfeld. Though minute correlation, and analysis of original archival sources, some of which had never been used before, the author succeeds in painting the picture of a man, who grew to become the most influential and most effective spymaster. He succeeded in tying together Mexican, German and US interests in an inimitable way. Previous publications on Sommerfeld came to the flawed conclusion that he was a double, even triple agent. Von Feilitzsch proves beyond doubt that Sommerfeld had much more complicated and peculiar character. He was conservative, yet had no ethical problems with giving information to Germany...his intelligence was instrumental in changing German attitudes and foreign policy. He traded information and favors, not loyalties. He thirsted for power and influence, collected information and used it according to his own discretion. He played in his own movie like a chess player with an ingenious strategy. He did nothing without intent and therefore worked alone. Consequently, he built Mexico s secret service, which was so effective that parts of the organization became absorbed into the American Bureau of Investigations. As a German agent working on behalf of the Mexican revolutionaries, his activities coincided with the interests of the US and German governments. Using this knowledge Sommerfeld succeeded in manipulating everyone around him. As a result it came as no surprise that Sommerfeld through the network of his connections in America, Germany and Mexico finally became the highest placed German agent in North of America. This short summary alone should create curiosity about reading the whole, over 300 page manuscript. Most impressive in addition to the story is the use of the sources. Rarely has it been possible to document motivation of secret agents in such detail and so accurately. This fact alone pays tribute to the author and makes this work so significant. -- --G�nter K�hler, Professor Emeritus, Humboldt Universit�t Berlin

Cornucopia shaped Mexico is blessed with a varied climate producing agricultural wealth and a soil filled with mineral riches. This land of plenty has, therefore, attracted explorers, entrepreneurs and adventurers who became involved in the country s struggle for equitable government and control of its natural resources. And, as the flag follows commerce, so do diplomats and intelligence agents. Felix A. Sommerfeld was a German born mining engineer, veteran of the Imperial German Army and an agent of German Naval Intelligence. Operating in Mexico in the early years of the twentieth century he became heavily involved in Mexico s tumultuous history, providing security to Mexican leaders and logistic expertise to their armies, often interacting with United States authorities and citizens; all the while working for the Imperial German Government. He supported Madero against Diaz and for a while Carranza, eventually switching to Villa. Concluding in 1914, this volume may be followed by another detailing Sommerfeld s activities in Mexico during World War I. Despite the author s explanation that Madero was the most viable not only in the eyes of Sommerfeld but also the broad coalition of Mexicans" (p. 380) one wonders whether it was a judgment of Sommerfield s conscience or in accordance with his instructions from Berlin. And of course the na�ve, bumbling, racist United States, despite all the information given to them by Sommerfeld, botch their efforts to control events in Mexico. The reviewer is not inclined to accept Mr. Feilitzsch s analyses of the foreign policy of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson. And, one is left to wonder what the Kaiser s plan for Mexico was. Notwithstanding, In Plain Sight gives a useful detailing of events in Mexico prior to the First World War, including a Mexican cast of thousands, in that peoples struggle for decent government and the foreigners who became involved. It also provides a decidedly antipodal view of American foreign policy during the period and sets the stage for an interpretation of German machinations in Mexico during World War I. --James B. Ronan II Assistant Editor at the Company of Military Historians

You have a winner. Tying Sommerfeld to Hopkins is all new to me and linking the soldiers of fortune to Sommerfeld is also new. We know a bit about Flint and you have excellent detail on that relationship. -- For years I have hoped that someone would disentangle Sommerfeld s role in the Mexican Revolution. You have done that and much more utilizing a most impressive range of archival sources. In Plain Sight is a splendid work. -- --Louis R. Sadler and Charles H. Harris III, Professors Emeriti, New Mexico State University

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