paper. Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring had ultimate authority for
their contents and distribution, which occurred by courier under
strictest secrecy. They had to be returned within a month for de-
struction. Known for their strict objectivity, they had increasingly
less influence on decision-making as Germany’s wartime situation
worsened.BREDOW, FERDINAND VON (1884–1934). An early head of the
Abwehr assassinated during the Night of the Long Knives, Ferdi-
nand von Bredow was born in Neuruppin (Brandenburg) on 16 May
1884, the son of an old military family. After serving on the western
front throughout World War I, he joined the Reichswehr and became
a member of the Abwehr in 1925. When Bredow came to head the
expanding organization four years later, his admiration for the British
Secret Intelligence Service caused him to gather as much information
as possible in order to emulate its best operational features. Through
the Hungarian military attaché in London as well as decrypted sig-
nals, the Abwehr also obtained inside knowledge about the scope of
intelligence cooperation between Great Britain and France in 1930.
Bredow’s greater allegiance was to his mentor Kurt von Schleicher,
the ambitious chief of the General Staff who became a presidential
chancellor in 1932. Bredow was replaced at the Abwehr by Konrad
Patzig and became Schleicher’s cabinet-level deputy responsible for
his private “information bureau.” Bredow’s advocacy of a military
coup in January 1933 to prolong the Schleicher government was
rejected by his chief, and his anti-Nazi strategy of parliamentary co-
option failed to prevent Adolf Hitler from gaining power later that
month. Both Bredow and Schleicher soon became prime targets of
Reinhard Heydrich and were among the numerous people shot to
death by the SS on 30 June 1934.
BRIEFTAUBEN. A long-established means of delivering messages,
Brieftauben, carrier pigeons, were used during World War I as a
communications link with secret operatives behind enemy lines. To
counter the extensive carrier pigeon network that Heinrich Him-
mler developed during World War II, the British trained a number of
predatory peregrine falcons. According to MI5 records, at least two
captured pigeons were classified as prisoners of war.
BRIEFTAUBEN • 53