14 December: Heinrich Müller is appointed head of the Ge-
stapo.
1941 10 May 1941: Deputy leader Rudolf Hess mysteriously para-
chutes into Scotland. 22 June: The Russian offensive begins.
July: Walter Schellenberg assumes leadership of SD foreign
intelligence. November: Operation nordpol begins its trans-
missions to Great Britain. 11 December: Germany declares
war on the United States.
1942 Three Nazi spies are executed in Britain and six in the United
States. Members of the Rote Kapelle are arrested by the
Gestapo and executed. Ernst Hanfstaengl is engaged as an
intelligence aide to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
20 January: Heydrich convenes the Wannsee Conference to
implement the Final Solution. 1 April: Reinhard Gehlen takes
command of Fremde Heere Ost. 27 May: Heydrich is fatally
wounded in Prague by members of the Czech resistance.
1943 14–24 January: The United States and Great Britain agree
at Casablanca to secure the “unconditional surrender” of the
Axis powers. 30 January: Ernst Kaltenbrunner is appointed
head of the RSHA. 5 April: Several members of the resistance
group within the Abwehr are arrested. 12–13 July: The Na-
tionalkomitee Freies Deutschland is established near Moscow.
18 August: Fritz Kolbe has his first meeting with Allen Dulles
of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS). 2 September:
Otto Skorzeny’s commando unit rescues Benito Mussolini
from Italian captivity.
1944 26 January: Argentina breaks relations with Germany and
arrests a large number of Nazi spies. February: Erich Ver-
mehren of the Abwehr defects to the British in Istanbul. The
Abwehr is absorbed by the RSHA. The Cicero Affair comes
to light. 6 June: The Allied invasion of Normandy com-
mences. 20 June: Hitler survives an assassination attempt at
Rastenburg.
1945 9 April: Wilhelm Canaris is executed. 29 April: Karl Wolff
negotiates an early surrender on the Italian front with the OSS.
30 April: Hitler takes his own life in Berlin. 8 May: Germany
surrenders unconditionally. 23 May: Himmler commits sui-
cide in British captivity. 9 June: The Soviet Military Admin-
xviii • CHRONOLOGY