ENGELSHOFEN, JOSEPH CLANNERN VON. The second and fi-
nal head of the Mainzer Informationsbüro (MIB), Joseph Clannern
von Engelshofen had been sent on numerous intelligence missions to
southwest Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium before his appoint-
ment as the successor to Karl Gustav Noé in late 1841. His confi-
dential reports revealed not only a high intellectual caliber but also
considerable openness in literary and journalistic matters. Austrian
chancellor Klemens von Metternich later noted that Engelshofen pos-
sessed the “calm and clearheaded awareness” required for the direc-
tion of his office and recommended him for a special court honor. His
tenure ended with the dissolution of the MIB in 1848.
ENIGMA MACHINE. See SCHERBIUS, ARTHUR; SCHMIDT,
HANS-THILO.
ENTEN. See RIAS.
EPPLER, JOHN (1914–?). An Abwehr operative involved in Opera-
tion Salaam, John Eppler was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the ad-
opted son of a judge, Gaafer Pascha. Joining the Abwehr following
the advent of the Third Reich, he received the wartime assignment
of collecting information in Cairo and trying to foment an anti-Brit-
ish revolution as outlined in Operation salaam. Yet only months
after reaching the Egyptian capital via a hazardous 1,700-mile des-
ert journey led by László Almásy, both he and his radio operator,
Hans-Georg Sandstede, were arrested and tried by the British in July
- Their death sentences, however, were not carried out, and both
men were released on 17 July 1946. Subsequently, Eppler wrote his
memoirs—Geheimagent im II. Weltkrieg: Zwischen Berlin, Kabul,
und Kairo (Operation Condor: Rommel’s Spy)—and attempted un-
successfully to retrieve his unpaid Abwehr salary from the Federal
Republic of Germany in 1971.
ERNST, HELMUT. A prized West German source for the Haupt-
verwaltung Aufklärung, Helmut Ernst (code name henry) was
a journalist recruited in 1960. His high-level military informa-
tion came from two women with whom he had close contact: one,
code name heike, worked as a secretary in the Federal Office for
ERNST, HELMUT • 99