Ernst Wollweber, that culminated in Operations feuerwerk,
pfeil, and blitz. Despite these setbacks, the OG could claim sev-
eral major victories, such as the recruitment of Hermann Kastner.
Notably, the OG forbade sabotage activities from the outset, prefer-
ring instead to build a voluminous archive of names and informa-
tion.
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s desire to have his own intelligence
service coincided with Gehlen’s ultimate aim, and thus the official
transition of the OG to the BND took place on 1 April 1956. As
late as 1970, some 25–30 percent of the BND’s workforce had been
previously associated with the OG. See also GENERALVERTRE-
TUNG; HERRE, HEINZ-DANKO.OSHIMA, HIROSHI (1886–1975). The Japanese envoy to Nazi Ger-
many who became an unwitting source of high-level information for
the United States, Hiroshi Oshima was the son of a prominent family
and a graduate of the Imperial Army Academy and the War College.
Following postings in Vienna and Budapest, he came to Berlin in
1933 as the military attaché and was soon befriended by Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The first of many meetings with
Adolf Hitler took place in the fall of 1935. Appointed ambassador
three years later, Oshima remained in Germany for the duration of
the war except for a brief period in 1939.
Unknown to him, however, U.S. Signals Intelligence broke the
Japanese diplomatic code shortly before the start of his second tour
of duty as ambassador. As a result, all of his frequent and comprehen-
sive communications to Tokyo were deciphered and made available
to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, General George Marshall, and
the senior intelligence staff. Not only was Oshima given daily brief-
ings once war commenced, but nearly all Japanese intelligence in Eu-
rope filtered through his office. Some of his best reporting concerned
the initial stages of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, as
he even flew to the East Prussian base of operations for long con-
versations with Ribbentrop and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel. Also
invaluable were his detailed descriptions of German defenses along
the Atlantic coastline of France following an inspection tour in the
fall of 1943. Despite his intense admiration for National Socialism
and his advocacy of close German-Japanese relations, his synopsis
OSHIMA, HIROSHI • 335