The Japanese, of course, in their war with Russia in Manchuria made
extensive use of spies, and Port Arthur, with all its defects of
fortification and equipment, was known thoroughly inside and out to
the Japanese general staff before they ever fired a shot at it.
In the field service regulations of the German army a paragraph
directed that the service of protection in the field--that is to
say, outposts, advanced guards, and reconnaissances--should always be
assisted by a system of spying, and although this paragraph no longer
stands in the book, the spirit of it is none the less carried out.
The field spies are a recognised and efficient arm.
Frederick the Great is recorded to have said: "When Marshal Subise
goes to war, he is followed by a hundred cooks, but when I take the
field I am preceded by a hundred spies."
The present leader of the German army might well say the same, though
probably his "hundred" would amount to thousands.
We hear of them dressed in plain clothes as peasants, and signalling
with coloured lights, with puffs of smoke from chimneys, and by using
the church clock hands as semaphores.
Very frequently a priest was arrested and found to be a spy disguised,
and as such he was shot. Also a German chauffeur in a French uniform,
who had for some time been driving French staff officers about, was
found to be a spy, and so met his death.
Early in the present war the German field spies had their secret code
of signs, so that by drawing sketches of cattle of different colours
and sizes on gates, etc., they conveyed information to each other of
the strength and direction of different bodies of hostile troops in
the neighbourhood.
As a rule, these are residential spies, who have lived for months or
years as small tradesmen, etc., in the towns and villages now included
in the theatre of war. On the arrival of the German invaders they
have chalked on their doors, "Not to be destroyed. Good people here,"
and have done it for some of their neighbours also in order to divert
suspicion. In their capacity of naturalised inhabitants they are in
position, of course, to gain valuable tactical information for the
commanders of the troops. And their different ways of communicating it
are more than ingenious.
In some cases both spies and commanders have maps ruled off in small
squares. The watchful spy signals to his commander, "Enemy's cavalry
halted behind wood in square E15," and very soon a salvo of shells
visits this spot. A woman spy was caught signalling with an electric
flash lamp. Two different men (one of them an old one-legged
stonebreaker at the roadside) were caught with field telephones hidden
on them with wire coiled round their bodies. Shepherds with lanterns
went about on the downs at night dodging the lanterns about in various
ways which did not seem altogether necessary for finding sheep.
Wireless telegraphs were set up to look like supports to iron
chimneys.
In the South African Campaign a Dutch stationmaster acted as field
spy for the Boers for a short time. It was only a very short time. His
town and station were captured by my force, and, in order to divert
suspicion, he cut and pulled down the telegraph wires, all except
one, which was left in working order. By this wire he sent to the Boer
headquarters all the information he could get about our forces and
plans. Unfortunately, we had a party of men tapping the wire, and were
able to read all his messages, and to confront him with them shortly
afterwards.
Another stationmaster, in our own territory, acted as spy to the enemy
before the war began by employing enemies as gangers and platelayers
along the line with a view to the destruction of bridges and culverts
as soon as war was declared. There was also found in his office a code
by which the different arms of the service were designated in terms of
timber for secretly telegraphing information. Thus:
Beams meant Brigades
Timbers " Batteries
Logs " Guns
Scantlings " Battalions
Joists " Squadrons
Planks " Companies