8
BLOOD AND STEEL: The Rise of the House of Krupp." By Born- hard Menne.
K
RUPP is a name that finds its
way into the public prints: rather frequently these days. It was reported a few years ago that Krupp was backing the Nazis in Germany. During the World war, Krupp was the name associated with the "Big Bertha that pour- ed its shells into Paris.. As far back as the Thirty-Years' war in the seventeenth century, the name of Krupp-was familiar to the war makers of the world. Now Bern- hard Menne sets down the story of the dynasty that has spanned three centuries in catering to the needs of nations for the imple- ments of death.
Bernhard Menne was once an in employee of the giant works Essen. "To escape charges of high treason based on this book, Herr Menne had to flee from Germany while writing it, and finished the work in Prague. He was last heard of in Vienna on the eve of Anschluss." So writes the pub- lisher in connection with the question of Herr Menne's thority. And further, "To the have been American edition restored all the passages deleted, 'for reasons of policy,' from the English edition. Thus, the reader can understand the wartime deal- ings between the Krupps such English firms as
au-
and Vickers, and the international chicanery of munition makers in general." All of which promises sensations beyond those already enjoyed by readers of "Merchants of Death" and other recent publications along the same lines.
The Rise
House
THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, OCTOBER 14, 1938
Of The Krupp
Of
all' The sensations are here right. Herr Menne has dipped his pen in poison.. Modern men and
women will find the history of Krupp and Nazi Germany vastly interesting: According to the au- thor, Krupp was not in sympathy with National Socialism when it arose in Germany, nor even when Hitler it first assumed power. went to Essen just before the 1984 purge. Thereafter Dr. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach pledged himself and his organisa- tion to the service of "our great. leader, Adolf Hitler,”.
The chapters on Krupp and Germany to-day are of tremend- ous interest. Unfortunately, the earlier chapters, those concerned with the beginnings of the Essen leviathan, their growth through- of two centuries out the course
readable. and a half, are less From their start, the Krupp or- ganisations sold to both sides in any European or Asiatic dispute. From their start, they picked the brains of men as holdup artists pick their pockets. Always they have talked about their charities, their workmen's compensations-- the good they have accomplished in any number of fields. And all Bernhard these, according to
Menne, are as but the sheep's clothing on the wolf. "Blood and Steel" offers but little comfort to and those who hope for peace idealism amongst the nations of the earth. Realists will discover in it the things they knew exist- ed all along. Bernhard Menne writes for realists.
.
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SECRET LIFE OF A SECRET AGENT. By Henry W. Lanier.
THIS latest addition to
the
stranger-than-fiction school of writing in both a hair-raiser and a serious study of the sort of a man a spy must be. Mr. Lanier ghost-writes for one of the ablest secret service men in Europe. Carefully protecting his hero's identity, and even his nationality; Lanier spares no details to make this one of the most complete per- sonal stories ever written about such a character.
It is more than just a personal chronicle of one man, however, For in telling this story Mr. Lanier tells of much of the secret service activity going on through- out the world. He shows the ex- tent to which this branch of ser- vice has grown in most count- ries, how familiar its operatives are with the internal workings and personnel of foreign govern- ments, how highly trained the men in the service must be and what drastic and dangerous meth- ods they must employ to get in- formation. It is not a pretty tale, but it will bear serious considera- tion as one of the inevitable fac- tors in a war-minded era.
His own story, which naturally takes up the greater part of the in his childhood. book, begins He was the son of an army officer of the most arrogant and reac- tionary type who ruled the life of his only boy with sadistic tyranny. It was a relief to the lad to escape to a Jesuit school at a
very early age, even though his discipline there was scarcely re- laxed and opportunities for his natural growth were nil. Finally, as a young officer, he is sent to one of his country's colonies;. where his luck changes for the better. He finds himself under a sympathetic Colonel and seeś some active service in a minor war. It is too late, however, to undỡ the work of years of harsh, unremitting discipline. He finds. himself unable to make friends or reveal his inner spiritual rebel- lion to anyone. He has been for- ged into a silent, efficient cog in the army, completely self-contain- ed and completely without out-
side resources.
At this point the secret service claims him, and he is sent home to training school to learn how to be a spy. His description of that feverish, soul-destroying of the most process makes one absorbing and challenging chap- ters in the book. From training he goes on to tell something of his career, his first assignments, his first murder and his second, an and the adjustment which
in honourable and sensitive man
across
his profession must make to this side of his job. It is all here--the poisoned darts, silent death-deal- ing blows on the arteries, dis- guises, midnight races borders, sudden disappearances and the invisible messages of spy melodrama. Told in the calm, de- tached manner of this man who has lived through it all and who has developed a philosophy about it all, it is stronger in effect than any cooked-up tale. After reading this account, one will no longer be shocked at the disclosure of spy rings in our midst. This book shows that they are very much .with us all the time, and it is per- haps well for the laymen to know something of their methods as well as their reason for being.
HENNESSY
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