German Intelligence during the Second World War: The Canary Islands as a Case Study

Abstract Between 1939 and 1945, the Canary Islands, an important region of nominally neutral or non-belligerent Spain, were a site of military planning, diplomacy, propaganda, naval supply, and intelligence. Most practically, the Third Reich utilized the islands as a supply station for ships and submarines. It could also draw on the National Socialist sympathies of the large and integrated German community. It established intelligence-gathering campaigns in four forms: (1) naval intelligence gathered by the secret supply service of the German Navy, (2) a network of espionage, information, subversion and sabotage operations organized by the Abwehr, which connected the islands with Río de Oro, Ifni and Cabo Juby in Spanish Sahara, (3) a military radio monitoring and interception substation; and (4) surveillance and information-gathering undertaken by agents of police organizations. This article considers the role played by German intelligence in the Canary Islands as a case study of wartime intelligence operations.