munication with the Berlin headquarters became a major obstacle
once Germany’s overseas cables were severed in August 1914.
Moreover, the navy’s frequently changing operational plans made
the task of long-term intelligence-gathering nearly impossible. In the
end, “N” proved no match for the formidable Royal Navy and had
no discernible impact on the outcome of the war. With the German
defeat in 1918 came the dissolution of “N,” which was supervised
by Fritz Prieger, the former head of the foreign intelligence collec-
tion division.NACHRICHTENOFFIZIER BERLIN (NOB). A special military
intelligence unit during World War I, the Nachrichtenoffizier Berlin
(Intelligence Officer Berlin) was established in April 1915 by Walter
Nicolai, the head of Abteilung IIIb. One of its main tasks was to
remedy the lack of information about Russia through its substations
in Stockholm, Flensburg, Budapest, Piraeus, and Galatz. Besides
developing innovative procedures for the interrogation of prisoners
of war, it spawned its own technical section, which devised a system
of secret codes and manufactured false documents and invisible inks.
Yet as its influence grew, Nicolai came to regard the NOB with
suspicion.
NACHRICHTENSTELLE FÜR DEN ORIENT (NfO). A bureau
designed to translate and distribute pro-German and pan-Islamic
propaganda during World War I, the Nachrichtenstelle für den Ori-
ent (Information Service for the East) was formed at the urging of
Max von Oppenheim in late 1914. Attached to the Foreign Office,
it was based in Berlin and staffed by orientalists recruited from the
universities. Because of his lack of administrative talent, Oppenheim
was succeeded by the diplomat Karl Emil Schabinger Baron von
Schowingen in the spring of 1915. By March 1916, Eugen Mittwoch,
an Egyptologist from the University of Berlin, directed the NfO with
a budget of 300 million marks. An additional target was European
opinion, both within the Central Powers and the neutral countries,
in an attempt to counteract the negative popular images of Islam.
According to its own claims, more than 1,000 publications were pro-
duced between October 1914 and July 1918—or a total of 3 million
copies in nine European and 15 Eastern languages.
314 • NACHRICHTENOFFIZIER BERLIN