“The federal Bureau of Investigation before Hoover, Volume II: The fBI and American Neutrality, 1914-1917

Excellence describes this book. The manuscript demonstrates exceptional characteristics in three major ways: the research demonstrates superior historical skills, including an acceptance of the sources that exist rather than attempt to determine what sources will work in one methodology or another; a fresh interpretation of the significance of the Bureau of Investigation in the years when the US remained officially neutral in World War I, ignoring previous conclusions, reached as the authors show through political motives, and careful discussion of programs imagined, dismissed or ignored in previous monographs.

The authors used sources ignored or only sampled by other authors, even official FBI ones. Here the authors have reviewed the official Bureau of Investigation’s files on the Mexican Revolution that include more than 70,000 pages of reports, correspondence, and files for the Neutrality Period and World War I, 1914 to 1918, an additional 450,000 pages of case files known as the “Old German Files,” all declassified in 1977. This investigation alone makes the book stand out.

Reviewing the massive archive of documents, the authors decided to organize the manuscript topically so that readers do not become confused with overlapping cases and events. The topics divided into fifteen chapters that focus on such themes as attacks on Canada (1914 to 1916), conspiracies involving the Hindu-German and Irish groups (1915-1918), the campaign of firebombing and sabotage (1915-1917), Pancho Villa and his attacks on US interests (1915-1916), and the Carranza and Wilson administrations’ conflicts (1915-1917). This topical organization gives the text a clarity of narrative.

It is this narrative that moves the book beyond the simple explication of international politics or government administrative policies to a sophisticated analysis of the development taken for granted by other authors. For example, the Bureau built and successfully prosecuted many legal cases against German plotters. Still the bureau missed some major actions such as the unprecedented attack on the United States in July 1916, when the German sabotage cell of Paul Hilken and Friedrich Hinsch caused the explosion at Black Tom Island in the New York Harbor. It was only resolved after World War II.

Moreover the case of the Albert portfolio provides the most striking theme in the book. President Wilson permitted the British to campaign for US entry into the war on the side of the Allies. The publication of the contents of Heinrich Albert’s briefcase is linked to the president in support of British propaganda efforts. The authors show clearly the Albert affair, despite accounts by a dozen or so historians, never happened as told.

The conclusion is clear: read this book for a clear explanation of what took place during the period when the US remained out of World War I! It is excellent!”

“The federal Bureau of Investigation before Hoover, Volume 2: The fBI and American Neutrality, 1914-1917

You won’t find a better history of how the FBI developed during the First World War and the influence the intelligence war in the US exerted on its creation. The authors tap into neglected archival collections to bring to life the battle on American soil between an Imperial Germany desperate to keep the US from joining the Allies and a new and untried group of federal agents. This work clears up long-standing misinterpretations and restores long-missing parts of the historical record. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of espionage and for those who want a fuller understanding of the United States’ role in The Great War.”

“The fBI and American Neutrality, 1914-1917

This superbly researched history is all the more fascinating in the parallels it illuminates to our present situation and challenges. When considered together with the authors’ earlier works on the periods just before and during WWI, the result is an amazing sequence of subversion, espionage, struggle and reaction. For readers such as myself who are much more familiar with WWII or Cold War history, this book and its companions provide vital history and essential context to what began and followed in intelligence and counterintelligence.”

“The Secret War on the United States in 1915
One of the fascinating aspects of The Secret War on the United States in 1915 is the author’s use of behavioral science to help the reader understand the motivations and the reactions of both major and minor characters during this important period of history. Lawyers, engineers, naval captains, politicians, secret agents, ambassadors, scientists and bankers are just a few of the dramatis persona in the tightly knit complexity of plot and counter-plot in the frightening days of 1915.

Plans and conspiracies, increased naval activity, sabotage (sometimes clever, sometimes stupidly executed), all formed a part of the effort to counter “neutral” America’s growing support by President Wilson to Germany’s enemies. As the war in Europe intensified, more and more American and Canadian supplies were being shipped to Europe to aid those nations allied against Germany. So, too, did German counter-moves through persuasion, propaganda, subversive techniques, and ultimately active submarine warfare, attempt to undermine these efforts. German efforts in Mexico both in supporting the Revolution and attempting to create a second front formed another fascinating strategy which Heribert von Feilitzsch has already written a volume on and is considered an expert.

For the scholar, he has provided ample resources. He has done his research carefully and well. He has in the process corrected flawed assumptions which were disseminated by earlier historians and often smacked more of war propaganda than actual. Some of the assumptions based on this false data were even repeated in later texts without correction. This book sets the record straight and even takes on Barbara Tuchman, who did not have access to valuable research now available to the author back in the 1960s, and repeated some of these errors of assumption.

This is an important book on the history of World War I. It is part of a trilogy which shed light on an important segment of the histories of the United States, Mexico and Germany in prose that is crisp, precise and compelling for the general reader as well as the historian. I recommend it most highly.”

“No será ventajoso para el ejército actuar sin conocer la situación del enemigo, y conocer la situación del enemigo no es posible sin el espionaje.”
Sun Tsu

Una nueva mirada sobre la “Revolución Mexicana” y la “Decena trágica”, llega a nuestras manos tras una minuciosa investigación sobre el espía alemán que con los auspicios del Almirante Paul Von Hintze logró infiltrarse en el círculo íntimo de Francisco I. Madero.

Sommerfield, un alemán aventurero quien estuvo en la guerra de los Boxers en China por azares del destino unió su destino con Francisco I. Madero, quien inició bisoñamente la lucha armada contra del Porfirio Díaz. Gracias a sus dotes organizativas y a su preparación en inteligencia, Sommerfield llegó a ser el principal enlace entre el gobierno norteamericano y el entonces candidato y después Presidente de México, quien fue asesinado a instancias de Henry Lane Wilson, embajador de Estados Unidos en México.

El libro nos muestra como este sujeto desde las sombras movió los hilos del poder entorno a Francisco y a su hermano Gustavo Madero, quienes fueron cruelmente asesinados en la “Decena Trágica” pese a las advertencias de éste agente de inteligencia alemán, quien tras el inicio de las hostilidades en la primera guerra mundial (1914-1918) fue interrogado por agentes norteamericanos quienes lo tenían en la mira por sus continuos viajes a la Unión Americana y por sus nexos con congresistas norteamericanos, quienes desde entonces veían con recelo la insurgencia armada.

El libro producto de una investigación ardua y minuciosa, nos muestra en sus páginas la vida y obra de Félix A. Sommerfield y de cómo logró convertirse en el recurso alemán más valioso dentro del gobierno revolucionario y de cómo México, mucho antes del telegrama Zimmerman, estuvo en la mira del gobierno del Káiser, que vio con recelo el declive de Porfirio Díaz quien tanta simpatía mostró hacia el imperio teutón.

Una investigación que dará mucho de qué hablar y que nos muestra a esos guerrero en las sombras quienes son los que tras bambalinas entretejen el destino de los pueblo. Un libro que sin duda dará mucho de que hablar y que nos muestra una vez más que nada es lo que parece.

Texto más que indispensable para ver las intrigas y los personajes que hicieron de la Revolución Mexicana, el primer movimiento insurgente del siglo XX y de cómo el legado de Sommerfield continúa en los servicios secretos nacionales.”

“All of us old-fashioned historians, of course, know how important the recall of historical events can be for national culture. You are doing excellent work and it will be decades later when that work will be discovered and help to have a clearer picture of how it was. “Wie es war” will hopefully again be of importance to understand the highway of mankind... Anyway never mind that we disagree on some interpretations, I find your publications important and hope that some libraries will keep books, ours included, for future generations who may actually care to know how it really was. I often check your books and always find your comments relevant and of interest!”

“5.0 out of 5 stars An important fascinating work of original research, October 10, 2013

A gripping read and at the same time a vital contribution to understanding the Revolution of 1910 and the government of Francisco I. Madero. Highly recommended.”

“Excellent research has been done ! April 14, 2013

I am from Mexico and I was fascinated by the amount of research that was done to write this book. What I like about the book is the way it challenges facts given by other authors.”

“Fascinating, September 10, 2013

This is an extraordinary account of a relatively unknown figure in history who played a major role in the Mexican Revolution. Von Feilitzsch writes the saga of Felix Sommerfeld’s rise from obscurity to rub elbows with Mexican President Madero, while acting in secret liaison with German intelligence and developing significant contacts in America. What makes this book fascinating is the meticulous attention to research and detail. Unlike many histories which are bogged down by arduous fact, the details here bring life to Sommerfeld’s story. Everything is put into its broader context, displaying the importance of Sommerfeld in history and revealing how complicated a chess game the revolution was. I appreciated Mr. von Feilitzsch’s world view of the events that took place during this time. Nothing happens in a vacuum, as his book clearly demonstrates.”

“Villa Rides The Sommerfeld Tide? October 6, 2013

In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914 by Heribert von Felitzsch is a comprehensive, well-researched and intriguing biography focusing on the life and times of Felix Sommerfeld, arguably the most successful double agent in North American history. Von Feilitzsch provides us with an intimate look at a perfectionist and disciplinarian whose need to succeed took him from his native Germany to America on to Mexico where he established his legend. The author’s meticulously documented study of Sommerfeld’s life and times is an incisive study of the internecine activity during the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900’s.

Historians note that Sommerfeld was of Jewish descent, a native of Posen, Germany, which makes this study all the more fascinating. Sommerfeld was a complex man whose life was filled with contradictions suggesting a continuous internal struggle. Sommerfeld studied engineering in Berlin but gave up his studies to visit his brother in America. He answered President Mc Kinley’s call for volunteers in the Spanish-American War, yet decided to desert to attend to his ailing father back in Germany. Upon his return, Sommerfeld is brought up on charges of stealing the money for his trip. It marks the beginning of Sommerfeld’s career of scheming and double-dealing which eventually ends with his retirement before the dawn of the anti-Semitic Nazi Regime of the Thirties in his native country.

To von Feilitzsch’s credit, this is not an apologetic narrative of Sommerfeld’s life though the temptation is apparent. By most accounts, Sommerfeld is seen by his contemporaries as sublimely clever, an ambitious opportunist who was visionary in his ability to predict political climates and maximize every resource to influence the course of history. Yet the author points out the ambiguity and moral turpitude of many of the key figures and major players of that episode in German-Mexican-American relations. Among these are the constituents of the Madero regime, the revolutionaries of the Carranza and the Pancho Villa factions, and the agents of pre-WWI America and Germany. One of the more interesting figures is Franz von Papen, described as a Captain by von Feilitszch during this point in history. Scholars will note that von Papen rose to prominence during the Hitler Era, but was marginalized to the point of obscurity by the Nazis precisely for his inconsistency and vacillation.

This scholarly yet quick-paced and well-written narrative is a worthy read for both Mexican-American history students as well as espionage buffs and biography lovers alike. In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914 by Heribert von Feilitzsch is one you won’t want to miss.”

“Insight into what really goes on behind the political scenes, February 25, 2013

If you really want to understand how international political maneuvering works, this is the book for you.

This incredibly detailed and documented history of the shenanigans going on during the Mexican revolution will give you a new perspective on the possible intrigue behind current world events!”

“For years I have hoped that someone would disentangle Sommerfeld s role in the Mexican Revolution. You have done that and much more utilizing a most impressive range of archival sources. In Plain Sight is a splendid work. ”

“You have a winner! Tying Sommerfeld to Hopkins is all new to me and linking the soldiers of fortune to Sommerfeld is also new. We know a bit about Flint and you have excellent detail on that relationship. ”

“This current work is not only a must-read for people interested in history but also highly recommended for those who like to get a glimpse into the causes and motives of human activity and historical events. In a brilliant style the author takes the reader on a trip back in time, where he illuminates the relationships between Mexico, the United States, and Germany in a new approach not seen until now. It is correct, as the author writes, This book is not designed to provide a complete recollection of the causes and course of the Mexican Revolution , but it does have the intention to describe, that there had been a man, whose name appears in almost every work on the Mexican Revolution , Felix A. Sommerfeld. Though minute correlation, and analysis of original archival sources, some of which had never been used before, the author succeeds in painting the picture of a man, who grew to become the most influential and most effective spymaster. He succeeded in tying together Mexican, German and US interests in an inimitable way. Previous publications on Sommerfeld came to the flawed conclusion that he was a double, even triple agent. Von Feilitzsch proves beyond doubt that Sommerfeld had much more complicated and peculiar character. He was conservative, yet had no ethical problems with giving information to Germany...his intelligence was instrumental in changing German attitudes and foreign policy. He traded information and favors, not loyalties. He thirsted for power and influence, collected information and used it according to his own discretion. He played in his own movie like a chess player with an ingenious strategy. He did nothing without intent and therefore worked alone. Consequently, he built Mexico s secret service, which was so effective that parts of the organization became absorbed into the American Bureau of Investigations. As a German agent working on behalf of the Mexican revolutionaries, his activities coincided with the interests of the US and German governments. Using this knowledge Sommerfeld succeeded in manipulating everyone around him. As a result it came as no surprise that Sommerfeld through the network of his connections in America, Germany and Mexico finally became the highest placed German agent in North of America. This short summary alone should create curiosity about reading the whole, over 300 page manuscript. Most impressive in addition to the story is the use of the sources. Rarely has it been possible to document motivation of secret agents in such detail and so accurately. This fact alone pays tribute to the author and makes this work so significant. ”

“5.0 out of 5 stars In Plain Sight, December 13, 2012

I bought this book for a friend so I have not read it but...He loved it! He’s a major history nut, thought it was very well written, was impressed with all the research, learned things he didn’t know and loved the writing style!”

“Cornucopia shaped Mexico is blessed with a varied climate producing agricultural wealth and a soil filled with mineral riches. This land of plenty has, therefore, attracted explorers, entrepreneurs and adventurers who became involved in the country‘s struggle for equitable government and control of its natural resources. And, as the flag follows commerce, so do diplomats and intelligence agents. Felix A. Sommerfeld was a German born mining engineer, veteran of the Imperial German Army and an agent of German Naval Intelligence . Operating in Mexico in the early years of the twentieth century he became heavily involved in Mexico’s tumultuous history, providing security to Mexican leaders and logistic expertise to their armies, often interacting with United States authorities and citizens; all the while working for the Imperial German Government. He supported Madero against Diaz and for a while Carranza, eventually switching to Villa.

Concluding in 1914, this volume may be followed by another detailing Sommerfeld’s activities in Mexico during World War I.

Despite the author’s explanation that “Madero was the most viable not only in the eyes of Sommerfeld but also the broad coalition of Mexicans’ (p. 380) one wonders whether it was a judgment of Sommerfield’s conscience or in accordance with his instructions from Berlin. And of course the naïve, bumbling, racist United States, despite all the information given to them by Sommerfeld, botch their efforts to control events in Mexico. The reviewer is not inclined to accept Mr. Feilitzsch’s analyses of the foreign policy of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson. And, one is left to wonder what the Kaiser’s plan for Mexico was.

Notwithstanding, In Plain Sight gives a useful detailing of events in Mexico prior to the First World War, including a Mexican cast of thousands, in that peoples’ struggle for decent government and the foreigners who became involved.. It also provides a decidedly antipodal view of American foreign policy during the period and sets the stage for an interpretation of German machinations in Mexico during World War I.

The author, a native of Germany graduated from the University of Arizona with an MA in Latin American History and holds an MBA”

“The biography of a German spymaster in Mexico during the tumultuous early 1900s.

Born in 1879 in Germany, Sommerfeld was the fourth son of a middle class Jewish couple. His early life was fraught with questionable decisions and adventures across the globe: He stole money from his brother’s landlord in the U.S., joined the U.S. Army to fight in the Spanish-American War only to drop out and make his way to China to fight during the Boxer Rebellion. When he was done with battlefields, he returned to the U.S. and attempted to become a prospector in the West but ended up back in Chicago, broke. Though von Feilitzsch assiduously researched his subject’s life, he admits that there are holes in history’s account, including that no one knows exactly where Sommerfeld was from 1906–1908. The author speculates that during this time Sommerfeld could have traveled to Germany for secret-service training. What is known is that this enigmatic figure worked as a German informant (he posed as a mining engineer and then an Associated Press reporter) in Chihuahua, Mexico, starting in 1908. When Francisco Madero overthrew Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz, Sommerfeld’s spy career quickly began to take shape. He positioned himself as Mexico’s chief of secret service and helped put down uprisings and overthrow rebellions. In 1913, he traveled to Washington, D.C., and liaised with chief weapons buyers. This in-depth biography takes readers up to the year 1914, carefully detailing the shifting reigns and unrest of Mexico during these years. Fans of Latin American history and global politics during this time period are sure to appreciate von Feilitzch’s illuminating attention to detail. Unfortunately, since Sommerfeld was so elusive, von Feilitzsch has a hard time truly capturing his character. The epilogue allows him to flesh out Sommerfeld’s personality somewhat, but rather frustratingly the spymaster’s intents and motives remain largely a mystery.

A well-researched historical account.”

“This decade marks the centennial of both the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and the First World War (1914-1918). They overlapped in more ways than just simple chronology. During the pre-revolutionary regime of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1880, 1884-1911), American, British and German businesses competed for business opportunities in Mexico, especially for mining, oil, and railroads. After the World War began, in large part because a new Mexican-American War would distract the U.S. and divert arms then going to the Allies, Washington, London and Berlin’s interest in Mexico intensified. In short, Mexico became an important front in the intelligence sector of the World War.

Numerous studies have been released over the past few years, most notably books by Charles Harris III and Louis Sadler. Independent scholar Heribert von Feilitzsch has added a new volume to these studies with In Plain Sight, which discusses the career of Felix Sommerfeld, sometime miner and soldier of fortune, who became an advisor to Mexican President Francisco I. Madero during his short-lived presidency (November 1911-February 1913). While he acted as Madero’s advisor and gatekeeper, Sommerfeld worked as an agent for the German government, reporting not just on Mexican affairs, but also on American policies in Mexico.

Sommerfeld was born in 1879 into a middle-class family in Germany. He studied to be a mining engineer before immigrating to the US to join a brother. He enlisted in the US Army for the Spanish-American War, deserted—perhaps out of boredom—and returned to Germany. Sommerfeld served in the Kaiser’s army in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He returned to the US, avoiding arrest for his desertion, and passed through Arizona and northern Mexico working as an engineer. His actions from 1906-1908 are hazy, but Feilitzsch suggests that he returned to Germany to train for intelligence work. Sommerfeld reappeared in Mexico as a German agent and in 1910, while he was officially a reporter for the Associated Press (AP), he worked his way into Madero’s inner circle. After President Madero’s assassination in early 1913, Sommerfeld began working for various revolutionary factions, often collaborating with the US Bureau of Investigation while secretly sending reports to Berlin. By 1915 he was “Pancho” Villa’s major arms broker in the US while working for German Naval Attaché Karl Boy-Ed, who was then running a large spying and sabotage organization in the US working to interfere with arms sales to the Allies. Sommerfeld suggested using Villa to create an incident to drag the US into a war with Mexico. In March 1916, Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico can very close to doing just that. Interned as an enemy alien once the US entered the war, Sommerfeld was interviewed by the US Army in 1918 and much of this book is based on those interviews. Sommerfeld disappeared from the historical record in the 1930s.

Sommerfeld successfully juggled his multiplicity of roles, at least initially. But even in a pre-electronic era, he left traces which the author successfully follows to pierce Sommerfeld’s slightly amateurish Denial and Deception campaign. For example, Sommerfeld often travelled under his real name, which left immigration records. Sometimes it’s the lack of a record that proves useful. Von Feilitzsch found no evidence to substantiate Sommerfeld’s claim that he was the manager of several Mexican mines just before the Revolution (36). Still, some parts of Sommerfeld’s activities remain clouded, such as any role he may have played in sparking Villa’s Columbus raid.

In Plain Sight is well-researched and well-argued. The bibliography is fine; von Feilitzsch used libraries and archives in the US, Mexico and Germany as well as the major scholarly works on international involvement in the Mexican Revolution. He is, however, sometimes prone to overstatement. When discussing Sommerfeld’s activities, the author will often say “the only explanation is….” His conclusions are logical, but while they are the most reasonable explanation for Sommerfeld’s activities, they are not the “only” explanations. For example, von Feilitzsch describes Sommerfeld’s relationship with the German vice-consul in Chihuahua before the Revolution. Sommerfeld’s reports praised the vice-consul’s work and the man received a promotion. The consul then put Sommerfeld on his payroll. “There is only one interpretation of what Sommerfeld was paid to do” von Feilitzsch writes, “Espionage.” (75) While I agree that’s a likely explanation given Sommerfeld’s role in Mexico at the time, it is not the only possible reason for the consul’s actions. It might also have reflected gratitude for aid in winning promotion. Often replacing “only” with “a likely” would have improved the author’s argument.

In Plain Sight was published by Henselstone Verlang, the author’s own company. Self-published books are usually ignored by academics, often for good reason. However, they seem to be increasingly popular. For example, “The History Press” has found a niche releasing local histories by talented, if sometimes irregularly trained, historians. While self-published authors often have little or no training as historians, von Feilitzsch earned an MA in Latin American history at the University of Arizona. Nonetheless, the book would have benefited from the services of a professional editor at a scholarly press. There are a few too many awkward phrasings and the author often slides into the passive voice. The index is rather spare and is merely adequate. Despite these issues, von Feilitzsch has done an exemplary job of tracing the activities of a shadowy character in a chaotic time and place. In Plain Sight is a welcome addition to the growing literature of the intelligence war of the 1910’s and is well-worth the read.
”

“Five Stars: A great piece of non-fiction, October 16, 2013

Well written, well researched and a fascinating true story. It took me a while to finally sit down and read this book, but now I’m glad that I did. The painstaking amount of detail that went into creating In Plain Sight is unfathomable. This book is worth your time. Pour yourself a glass of wine, or better yet, some German beer, and enjoy the hours you spend with this volume.”

“An excellent book about the true story of the Mexican Revolution on the ancient art of espionage, which is a fashionable topic in Mexico, it has been practiced since ancient times (Bible).

With pleasure we expect the Spanish version which I think will be a success.”

“...Besonders interessant sind die internationalen Verwicklungen der Revolutionäre sowie das inoffizielle Eingreifen amerikanischer Investoren zur Förderung der Revolution oder zur Verhinderung unerwünschter Machtanwärter in Mexiko... Nationalmexikanische sowie internationale politische und wirtschaftliche Fakten werden sehr gut beschrieben und der Einfluss bedeutender Persönlichkeiten aus Politik und Wirtschaft auf das Geschehen in Mexiko herausgestellt. Alleine aus diesem Grund ist das Buch sehr zu empfehlen... Das Buch ist für die Geschichtsforschung eine große Bereicherung. Die Forschungsarbeit und ein hervorragendes Quellenstudium in Bibliotheken und Archiven sprechen sehr für Feilitzsch und sein Werk.”

“Felix A. Sommerfeld and The Mexican Front in the Great War

Most books are tough to finish; some beg to be read twice. This book is one of the latter. I almost ran one pen out of ink by merely making notations in all the margins. As soon as I read the author’s thanks to Drs. Meyer, Sadler, and Harris, I knew I was in for a good read. I was not disappointed.

The study of the international implications and intrigues involved in the US-Mexican borderlands during the Mexican Revolution is full of the potential for broad generalizations, misapplication of fact, and reductionism. Von Feilitzsch avoids all of that. He provides page after page and chapter after chapter of specificity-well-applied. The level of detail and data was, at times, a bit overwhelming. There is nothing wrong with that. This book is for serious historians interested in serious writing about a more-than-serious time in the world. Rich in research, this book challenges the reader to coalesce the disparate characters, plots, and places engaged in a great struggle for political and military superiority.

This reader has had the privilege of traveling to many places in the borderlands and into southern Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, and Durango during his own research. The best review I can give is simply saying that in reading this book, this crusty old historian of the revolution learned, laughed, and launched into a broader understanding of the complexities of the revolutionary and pre-WWI period, especially from 1915-1917.

Tiny hamlets like Newman, NM, and the great cities of Europe, Mexico, and the US came alive with planning and plotting. Small and great personalities became all-too-human as the author explained both their feats and foibles. Another way to review this book is to write how last week it motivated me to drive 100 miles each way to see the previously mentioned Newman, NM for myself. Suppose you would like to know more about how US cavalry, customs agents, and federal marshals accosted famous General Pascual Orozco behind a Newman outhouse in June 1915. In that case, you will have to read the book yourself! Going there raised more questions than answers, so I am still digging (maybe literally) to learn more.

Felix A Sommerfeld and The Mexican Front in the Great War is a five-star history. Drs. Meyer, Sadler, and Harris would be proud!”

“Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front in the Great War
By Heribert von Feilitzsch
Reviewed by Jim Gallen

Even for many Roads readers, a Mexican Front in the Great War is a novel concept. In “Felix A. Sommerfeld And The Mexican Front In The Great War”, author Heribert von Feilitzsch untangles the twines of espionage, intrigue, money-laundering and multi-party arms deals that demonstrate that there really was a Mexican front and that it came very close to igniting a second Mexican-American war. Between 1913 and 1916 Mexico was in the throes of a three-sided civil war in which the United States was deeply involved in choosing and assisting the sides while German agents sought to exploit the unrest to distract the United States from the Great War in Europe and to divert American arms shipments from the Allied powers.

Felix A. Summerfield was an expatriate German Jew who came to the United States as a 17-year-old in 1896. He joined, and deserted from the United States Army during the Spanish American War, after which he returned to Germany. In 1902 he came back to the United States and spent the next several years in the U. S. and Mexico. When the interests of Germany and the United States diverged, Sommerfeld served his homeland as a naval intelligence agent. Having gained the trust of American and Mexican interests, he was called upon by both. This facilitated his operations as chief weapons and munitions buyer for Pancho Villa and Villa’s diplomatic envoy to the United States and made him a valuable asset for Germany.

The extent of initiatives by all parties demonstrates a much more serious situation than the Zimmerman Telegram that is viewed as a Quixotic quest by many. German operatives were active in attempting to divert American arms from Allied to Mexican factions, some of which were to eventually be sold to Axis forces, to stir up trouble between Mexican partisans and the United States and to cut off the flow of Mexican oil to the Royal Navy either through purchases of stock or sabotage of production capabilities. Many know about Villa’s Columbus, New Mexico raid and the resulting Punitive Expedition in pursuit of him, but fewer are aware of the raids at Naco, Arizona and elsewhere. Steps to incite insurrection by Mexican Americans threatened to set the Southwest ablaze. Concern over the situation was so great that intervention was actively debated in Congress and other public forums and the U.S. Army drew up plans for a three-pronged invasion of Northern Mexico.

Author Heribert von Feilitzsch has done almost incredible research into the activities of Sommerfeld and his accomplices in transferring money and munitions among the parties and the interactions among the various Mexican factions. He has found and compared bank records, sales accounts, government archives, newspaper reports, court documents, correspondence, and other sources to unearth an extensive German conspiracy to further entangle the United States in Mexican affairs.

For most Americans the characters of this book are either familiar, Woodrow Wilson and John J. Pershing, but their association with Mexico not within our ken; known by name only, Pancho Villa; or unheard of, Venustiano Carranza, Felix A. Sommerfeld, et al. The author helps by providing a Cast of Characters before commencing the text. Keep a bookmark by it for easy reference as you advance through the volume. The extensive endnotes and bibliography are valuable for those seeking more.

This work reveals much about political and military conditions in Mexico in 1913-1916 and its tumultuous relations with the United States. It provides insights into Woodrow Wilson’s policy-making process with regard to Mexico. Many readers will find names of familiar institutions, Olin Industries and Mississippi Valley Bank, in my case and personalities, J. P. Morgan for most, on these pages.

“Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front In The Great War” has changed my view of the role of Mexico on America’s road to the Great War. Von Feilitzsch has made a compelling case that, due to both German initiatives and Mexican instability, a second Mexican-American War was a real possibility during the early phases of the Great War. This could have had massive impact on America’s response to and ability to engage in the European war. Conceivably the international border could have migrated, either north or south with incalculable influences on the United States, Mexico and hemispheric relations. In my opinion “Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front In The Great War” has established that, although not a belligerent, there truly was a Mexican front in the Great War.

Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front in the Great War, By Heribert von Feilitzsch (Amissville, VA: Henselstone Verlag, 2014); ISBN 978-0-9850317-3-2
Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front in the Great War (Secret War Council): Heribert Von Feilitzsch: 9780985031732: Amazon.com: Books”