Historian Mills tracks Imperial Germany’s clandestine operations across the U.S. during WWI in this gripping saga. When war broke out in Europe, the Germans deployed spies to sabotage U.S. cargo ships carrying armaments and supplies to Allied nations. Two such agents were ex-U.S. marine Kurt Jahnke and former German sea cadet Lothar Witzke, who led “the most deadly sabotage team in history,” according to Mills. In 1914, the saboteurs nearly sank the world’s largest cargo ship, the SS Minnesota, by tampering with the boilers. The two plotters also carried out the 1916 nighttime explosion of the munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New York harbor (shrapnel from which pummeled the Statue of Liberty). Once the U.S. joined the war, Jahnke took charge of all German espionage operations on the American continent, which included assassination plots and a planned insurrection. Jahnke remained free at war’s end; Witzke had been caught and remained jailed until 1923 when he was released as “the last prisoner of war” being held by the Americans. Both were active German intelligence agents during WWII. Drawing from a painstakingly gathered collection of government records (including Witzke’s court-martial trial transcript, discovered by chance at a used bookshop), Mills documents these events with extensive detail. Devotees of cloak-and-dagger intrigue will revel in this thrilling and complex account.
— Publishers Weekly
This story could not be made up. That is how bizarre it is, and the reader will not be able to put this book down. Most impressive is the author’s easy-to-understand description of the highly complicated deciphering process of Witzke’s code, not a small feat. Agent of the Iron Cross is a masterpiece of a historical tale. It reads like a novel, while uncovering hitherto unknown history, and satisfying highest scholarly standards.
— Heribert von Feilitzsch, Author of the Secret War Council Book Series
This is the brilliantly told, fast-paced story of “the most deadly sabotage team in history” as they carried out a campaign of terror on America and the exploits of the men brave enough to stop them. It’s a story as compelling and relevant today as it was then.
— Michael Digby, Author of Burn, Bomb, Destroy
The most resourceful, inventive, and outright dashing covert operator of World War I, Lothar Witzke continually evaded capture and ultimately cheated death. What Manfred von Richthofen was among German combat aviators during the Great War, Witzke was among German spies and saboteurs. He demands and deserves to be better known—and so do those who made it their mission to run him to ground once and for all. William B. Mills has cast a fascinating light on a most obscure corner of a cataclysmic war that, having largely receded from the popular memory, is for ample reason coming to seem increasingly relevant to our experience today.
— Alan Axelrod, author of How America Won World War I
Bill Mills is on the trail, tracking spies across three continents to craft a remarkable story of espionage, disinformation, and terror. Based on years of research and written with a novelist’s skill, Agent of the Iron Cross offers forgotten heroes, unforgettable villains, and a fresh new take on the First World War.
— Christopher Capozzola, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen,