Arthur Tapken
Arthur Tapken (born February 9, 1864 Düsseldorf ; † January 27, 1945 Löchingen / Black Forest ) was a German naval officer , admiral and from 1909 to 1914 head of the intelligence department in the imperial admiral staff, the naval intelligence service .
Life and professional development
There are currently no sources of origin or the Arthur Tapkens family. On April 16, 1883, he began his naval career as a cadet on the training ship SMS Niobe . From 1884 to 1886 he served on SMS Elisabeth and in 1886 on SMS Stein . On April 17, 1886 he was promoted to lieutenant at sea . In 1887/88 Tapken served as a watch officer on the cruiser corvette SMS Freya , 1888 to 1890 on SMS Leipzig , 1890/91 on SMS Mars .
In 1891 Tapken became the commandant of the SMS Hay tender . In 1891/92 he was an officer on watch and navigation officer on the gunboat SMS Habicht and was temporarily on duty at the West African station . After using land, he served again as a watch and navigation officer on the liner SMS Brandenburg from 1895 to 1897 .
From 1897 to 1900 Arthur Tapken was used in the naval high command and in the admiralty staff . From 1900 to 1902 he served as an admiralty staff officer with the cruiser squadron in East Asia to secure the German "model colony" Kiautschou administered by the Reichsmarineamt. After his return from Tsingtau he became first officer on the liner SMS Wettin (1902/03). From 1904 to 1907 he was a head of department in the admiralty staff. From 1907 to 1909 Tapken again had on-board commands, from 1907/08 as the commander of the small cruiser SMS Berlin . The SMS Berlin had belonged to the "reconnaissance ships" of the Imperial Navy since 1905 and was primarily deployed in the Baltic and North Sea areas. Their task was to observe and document enemy ship movements and to monitor radio communications from foreign ships. He then switched to the armored cruiser SMS Yorck as commander in 1908/09 . This armored cruiser had been the association flagship of the commander of the "reconnaissance ships" since 1906. On March 30, 1908 he was promoted to sea captain.
Head of the news department
On October 1, 1909, Arthur Tapken became head of the communications department of the Admiralty. The agency and its head were internally referred to as "N" and was first established in 1900 as a so-called news office on the initiative of the head of the admiralty staff of the imperial navy, Admiral Otto von Diederichs , who is constantly in conflict with the state secretary over the allocation of funds and the urgent need for military information in the Reichsmarineamt Alfred von Tirpitz was. Why Tapken was entrusted with the management of the agency is unknown. However, due to his development since his service from 1904 directly in the Admiralty's staff, it is obvious that he was gradually built up for the tasks of intelligence gathering information in the Navy. Since at this point the main opponent in Great Britain had already been identified, alongside Russia and France. Possibly beneficial was the fact that he spoke fluent English and was married to an English woman. At that time, the task of the intelligence department of the Admiralty's staff consisted of the intelligence-gathering of information about the naval forces of potential opponents of Germany. These were above all Russia, France and, due to its maritime location, especially England. In addition to the use of secret informants in the port cities, this also included cooperation with the naval attachés and control of the communication media that crossed Germany's sea borders. At the time, "N" only comprised a handful of naval officers. At this time the "N" was already working closely with the technically beginning radio surveillance at sea, as well as a Chriffrebüro (Ch) for the encryption and decryption of radio messages. One of the first major challenges in his office in 1910/1911 for Arthur Tapken was playing poker in Germany to the brink of a possible war in Morocco, the plan “Panther's jump” to Agadir. At short notice, a number of informants from the naval intelligence service also had to be brought to Morocco for this political event. One of them also Armgaard Karl Graves (born 1882) of the recruited in Berlin by Tapken and received a first order for Agadir.
Arthur Tapken's attempts to establish a network of agents in the UK were severely hampered by the tight financial resources of his tenure. But also the unwillingness of the then German naval attaché in London , Wilhelm Widenmann , who tried to be involved in intelligence activities. were difficult framework conditions. Carl Richard Gneist (1868–1939), who was deployed in the German embassy in the Netherlands and received several warnings for his "additional" intelligence activities, behaved differently in this matter . Starting in 1911, Tapken and at his side Gustav Steinhauer (1870–1930), who was already specialized in observing British ports, began intensifying intelligence activities in the direction of England. In addition, the task of the naval intelligence service was to place covertly working liaison officers at the most important ports in the world who were able to obtain information about the navies of other countries at their location. In the event of war, they were equipped with a sealed envelope containing instructions and a cipher code for covert communication to the Admiral's staff in Berlin. From 1912 onwards, this group of people included people selected and recruited by Arthur Tapken, such as Heinrich Wendt in the Philippines, Theodor Helfrich in the Dutch-Indian region, his brother Emil Helfrich, Vincent Kraft (born 1888) in Singapore and the consul in Manila , Franz Karl Zitelmann (1872–1947). During Tapken's term of office, Ludwig Schnitzer had organized the gathering of information from Rotterdam since July 1913 about ship movements coming from England for Dept. "N" of the Admiralty's staff.
Due to the principle of rotation in the general staffs of the imperial army and the navy, Alfred Tapken was replaced at the end of February 1914, now with the rank of admiral. His successor as head of the naval intelligence service was on March 1, 1914 Walter Isendahl (1872-1945).
First World War
On March 1, 1914 Arthur Tapken moved to the position of III. Admiral of the reconnaissance ships. Its flagship was the battle cruiser SMS Von der Tann . On March 22nd, he was promoted to rear admiral . As III. In the event of war, Admiral was responsible for securing the German Bight at sea . On board the Von der Tann , Tapken apparently also participated in the bombardment of Great Yarmouth on 2/3 November 1914, from raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15/16. December of the year. The post of III. Admirals was disbanded on December 25, 1914, and Tapken was appointed Chief of Staff of the Baltic Naval Station the following day . In October / November 1915 he was then made available at short notice to the chief of the naval station, Admiral Gustav Bachmann (1860-1949). From March 1916 to June 1917 he was then fortress commander of Kiel .
On September 25, 1917 Tapken was at the age of 53 years with the character of a vice-admiral adopted. About another professional or other activity e.g. B. as an author is not known.
He died on January 27, 1945 at the age of 80 in Löchingen in the Black Forest.
literature
- Thomas Boghardt : Spies of the Kaiser. German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era , Houndmills / New York (Palgrave Macmillian) 2004. ISBN 1-4039-3248-4 .
- Entry of the large cruiser Von der Tann in: Hans H. Hildebrand / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present , Ratingen (Mundus Verlag GmbH) n.d. (One-volume reprint of the seven-volume original edition, Herford 1979ff.) Volume 6, pp. 35ff.
- Hans H. Hildebrand / Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers in the Admiralsrang , Volume 3, Osnabrück (Biblio) 1989, p. 426f. ISBN 3-7648-14993 .
- Volker Schult, wish and reality. German-Filipino Relations in the Context of Global Interdependencies 1860–1945, Logos Verlag Berlin 2008.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boghardt, p. 14 f.
- ↑ Thomas Meyer: Finally an act, a liberating act. Alfred von Kiderlen-Wächter's "Panther's Jump to Agadir" under pressure from public opinion. (Historical studies) Matthiesen-Verlag, Husum 1996 (dissertation, University of Düsseldorf)
- ↑ actually Max Meincke, who later worked as a double agent after his final camouflage by MI 5, see: Thomas Boghardt Spies of the Kaiser. German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era , Houndmills / New York, 2004
- ^ Wilhelm Widemann was employed as a military attaché in London from 1907 to 1912; See also. Boghardt, pp. 44f.
- ↑ Volker Schult, Desire and Reality. German-Filipino Relations in the Context of Global Interdependencies 1860–1945, Logos Verlag Berlin 2008, p. 192 ff.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tapken, Arthur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German naval officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1864 |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 27, 1945 |