Fritz Prieger

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Fritz Prieger, code name Franz Kuhle , (* 18 September 1877 in Wiesbaden , † after 1920) was a German naval officer, most recently with the rank of frigate captain , and Deputy Director of the news department N in the Naval Staff in the First World War .

Life

Fritz Prieger was born as the son of Carl Prieger (1831–1890), descendant of Johann Erhard Prieger and uncle of Erich Prieger , and his wife Flora, née. Kovatsch (born in Vienna in 1852) was born in Wiesbaden.

After attending school, he joined the imperial navy as a midshipman in early April 1896 and attended the officers' course at the naval school in Kiel . In 1904 he was employed in the rank of first lieutenant at sea as a company officer in the IV. Sailor Artillery Department in Cuxhaven . In 1907 he was in command of the torpedo boat S 128 of the 2nd half-flotilla as a lieutenant commander . In addition, he was a company officer in the IV Reserve Half Flotilla. In 1909/1910 he was the first officer with the small cruiser Seeadler abroad for the East African station and was at the same time at the Naval Academy . In 1911 he was z. V. at the II. Naval inspection.

Before the outbreak of World War I, Fritz Prieger was assigned to the naval admiral's staff in Berlin in 1912 . From December 1913 he was entrusted with the management of the NI subdivision of the news office (N). The subdivision with the focus on intelligence gathering information in the direction of potential war opponents England and France is considered to be one of the most important within the naval intelligence service. Priegers tasks consisted in the recruitment, management and handling of espionage activities. For this purpose he used the code name Franz Kuhle . From August 1914 the German naval officer and tour guide Carl Hans Lody was one of the reporters recruited and led by Fritz Prieger . The following espionage missions were coordinated by Prieger, among others:

  • Ludwig Schnitzer : recruited by Prieger and since July 1913 organized the gathering of information about British ship movements, later unmasked and arrested
  • Paul E. Daelen alias PE Parker alias Lambrecht alias William Kottkamp : enlisted by Prieger, several operations between September 1914 and 1917, awarded the Iron Cross , 2nd class
  • Fred Herrmann : recruited by Paul E. Daelen, worked for NI until February 1916 with contact to Karl Boy-Ed
  • Maximilian Johann Links alias John Mack : in England from October 1914, later exposed as a British spy and captured in Germany
  • Wilhelm Rehder: in action from October 1914 to April 1915, established contact with a large number of people who subsequently also carried out espionage activities for NI under his leadership.
  • Tullio Irace : captain of the Italian infantry; sent to London and used until June 1916
  • Georg Spitz alias George S. Speetz : in southern England, indicted in Germany in April 1917 for treason
  • Robert Rosenthal : was exposed and revealed the name of his liaison man Prieger together with the code name and the address of the headquarters in Berlin (Belzigerstrasse 19), hanged in London in July 1915

Fritz Prieger headed the NI subdivision until 1918. In November 1919 he was given the character of frigate captain. In 1920 he worked in the naval settlement office, where he was responsible for handling the naval intelligence service (4 / Skl).

No information or sources are available about his further life and his death.

literature

  • Thomas Boghardt: Spies of the Kaiser. German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke / New York 2004, ISBN 1-4039-3248-4 . Chapter: The life and death of Carl Hans Lody , pp. 97-104
  • Hugo Delmes: From outside and at home ", Stuttgart, approx. 1916 (with a multi-page biography of Lody, written by his brother-in-law, sister-in-law, Richard Lucius)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Albert Stoelzel: Honorary Ranking List of the Imperial German Navy, 1914-1918 . Navy Officer Association, 1930, p. 159 ( google.de [accessed April 26, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy. 1899, p. 52 , accessed April 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy. 1907, p. 29 , accessed April 26, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy. 1907, p. 57 , accessed April 26, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy. 1909, p. 39 , accessed April 26, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy. 1911, p. 42 , accessed April 26, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b c Thomas Boghardt: Spies of the Kaiser , St Antony's Series, ISBN 0-333-71109-2 , page 16 [1]
  8. ^ A b Nigel West: Historical Dictionary of World War I Intelligence . Scarecrow Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8002-3 , pp. 266 ff . ( google.de [accessed on April 26, 2020]).
  9. ↑ Jefferson Adams: Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence . Scarecrow Press, 2009 (p. 270)
  10. ↑ Thomas Boghardt: Spies of the Kaiser , St Antony's Series, ISBN 0-333-71109-2 , Appendix 3 [2]
  11. ^ Nigel West: Historical Dictionary of World War I Intelligence . Scarecrow Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8002-3 , pp. 124 ( google.de [accessed April 26, 2020]).
  12. ^ Nigel West: Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence . Scarecrow Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-8108-7897-6 , pp. 204 ( google.de [accessed April 26, 2020]).
  13. ↑ Volker Schult: Desire and Reality: German-Filipino Relations
personal data
SURNAME Prieger, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer and head of the naval intelligence service in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH after 1920