Posted: 10/8/2017 1:25:01 AM EDT
[#9]
Quote History Quoted:
Fred Herman, whose wartime rank of lieutenant colonel had been reverted to his regular army (i.e. peacetime) rank of captain, testified before a congressional committee headed by New Mexico Sen. Albert Fall that he believed that German agents led the Mexican combatants during the 27 August battle. View Quote I saw that quotation in the wikipedia article as well. However, it does not constitute proof. If Colonel Herman had testified under oath in front of the committee that he knew, not "believed", but knew that German agents were present, that constitute proof. Captured Germans would constitute proof. Files from the Kaiser's Intelligence Service showing that they had agents in Sonora leading Mexican forces would constitute proof. In looking at the sources currently available, there are a lot of rumors of German involvement- and indeed in the quotations I posted to introduce this topic, the soldiers mention that they thought they were fighting Germans as well. So, I did some research, and I cannot find undeniable evidence either way--- so far. However, as I have learned, absence of proof is not proof of absence, so I will be glad to post what I have found so that people can make up their own minds.
Let's first examine the full section that was quoted partially:
"The US government's investigation into the Battle of Ambos Nogales indicated that the origins of the violence were found in the resentment Mexican nationals felt from the US Customs officials' poor treatment and the sense of impunity that took place when the killers of Francisco Mercado and Gerardo Pesqueira went unpunished. Nevertheless, low-level rumors circulated of potential German involvement in this battle. Echoing the comments of some US participants in the battle, James P. Finley wrote in Huachuca Illustrated "found among the Mexican dead were the bodies of two German agents provocateurs." No further corroborating evidence--such as a description of these individuals' particular persons, belongings or potential intelligence reconnaissance from Nogales residents--is presented by Finley or other authors who have written on the topic. Fred Herman, whose wartime rank of lieutenant colonel had been reverted to his regular army (i.e. peacetime) rank of captain, testified before a congressional committee headed by New Mexico Sen. Albert Fall that he believed that German agents led the Mexican combatants during the 27 August battle.
Herman claimed that "German-looking men in uniforms” were the culprits of the Battle of Ambos Nogales citing his documentation. Historians who have investigated the brief conflict have generally repeated Herman’s allegations at the expense of obscuring the social tensions that led to the battle."
Wiki- Battle of Ambos Nogales
What was Colonel Herman's documentation? From elsewhere in that same article---
"Allegations of foreign wrongdoing arose from the US Army units that claimed their Intelligence Division in Southern Arizona reported that Germans were instructing the Mexican Army in military procedures and helping build defenses. Lt. Col. Frederick J. Herman of the 10th Cavalry (the acting commander in Nogales at the time) claimed to have received an "anonymous letter" written by an "unknown Mexican" claiming to be an ex-Villa officer in which he warned US authorities of an imminent attack on Nogales slated to take place on 25 August 1918.
In his 1921 history of the 10th Cavalry, author Edward Glass states the importance of these reports as "About 15 August 1918, the Intelligence Division reported the presence of strange Mexicans, plentifully supplied with arms, ammunition, food and clothing, gathering in increasing numbers in and about Nogales, Sonora." He also indicated the presence of several white men, apparently Germans in uniforms, instructing Mexican soldiers and militia in military methods. About this time a letter was received, written by a person who claimed to have been a major in Villa's forces. It reportedly stated the person was sickened and disgusted at the atrocities committed by Villa and his men, and without pay or reward, because of "friendly respect" for American troops, warned them of the German financial efforts and influences at work near and in Nogales. These German "agent provocateurs" were encouraging some type of attack on Nogales "on or about 25 August 1918." Lt. Robert Scott Israel, Infantry Intelligence Officer at Nogales, brought this letter to the attention of Lt. Col. Herman, 10th Cavalry, then acting subdistrict commander at Nogales. Further investigation revealed that so many points of the letter were verified that "the letter was given more than ordinary weight."
However, in a 2010 article by Carlos F. Parra, which includes additional details of the incident, the author highlights how neither the suggestive intelligence reports nor the alleged letter to Lt. Col. Herman were mentioned at all during the extensive US military investigation that took place immediately after the 27 August incident. The US military investigation of the Battle of Ambos Nogales instead traced the origins of the violence to the abusive practices of US customs officials and the resentment caused by the killings along the border during the previous year. In the written transcripts of the investigators' interviews with Lt. Col. Herman, the local commander made no mention whatsoever of the letter he later claimed to received from the "unknown" and disgruntled Villista defector. The omission of such powerful evidence from an investigation conducted mere hours after the battle took place makes the existence of these intelligence reports and Lt. Col. Herman's letter (which does not appear in the US Army investigation's document collection for this battle) highly suspect."
If Parra's assertion is true, then why did Colonel Herman not mention this German involvement to General Cabell when the general came to investigate and make peace with Mexico?
There were AARs submitted by General Cabell, which I have not been able to find online. The Pimeria Alta Historical Society in Nogales, AZ supposedly has copies of General Cabell's reports:
“Report on Recent Trouble at Nogales, 1 September 1918”
“Memorandum for the Adjutant General: Subject: Copy of Records to be Furnished to the Secretary of the Treasury. 30 September 1918”
“Record of Investigation held at Nogales, Arizona, 28, 29 and 30 August 1918, in regard to conflict in Nogales, Ariz., 27 August 1918”
and a letter "Cabell to Commanding General, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 30 August 1918"
Accessing these documents may shed more light on the matter. I would also like to get hold of Parra's article, but it is behind a jstor.org paywall.
"Valientes Nogalenses: The 1918 Battle Between the U.S. and Mexico that Transformed Ambos Nogales". Journal of Arizona History 51 (Spring 2010)
The history of the Tenth Cavalry, 1866-1921, by Edward Glass, mentions the Villista letter as quoted above, but no mention of proven German involvement on pp 82-85.
History of the Tenth Cavalry
Now to examine the pro-German involvement viewpoint. There is a quotation in the Ft Huachuca history of the Buffalo Soldiers (10th Cav Rgt) that does mention that bodies of German "agents provocateurs" were found after the battle. However, there is no evidence cited of what made the bodies become suspect, or who reported the data and when. How were the bodies identified among Mexican dead when US troops pulled back quickly to Arizona? It is kind of frustrating from a historical standpoint. The quotation is from page 30:
"Capt. Joseph D. Hungerford, Troop F, 10th Cavalry, was killed while leading his men in a frontal assault on Mexican troops. Lieutenant Loftus of Company C, 35th Infantry, was killed by sniper fire as he brought his men into position. Other American casualties were three enlisted men killed, including Private W. H. Klint and Corporal Barney Lots, both of Company H, 35th Infantry, and several civilians. Two officers, Lt. Col. F. J. Herman and Capt. H. C. Caron, both of the 10th Cavalry, and twenty-nine men were wounded. Mexican casualties are not known, but found among the Mexican dead were the bodies of two German agents provocateur."
Buffalo Soldiers, opens as pdf
Also, to be fair, there is documented German involvement in Mexico and along the border areas. The German saboteur and spy, Imperial Navy Lieutenant Lothar Witzke was apprehended at the border in February 1918. However, this means Witzke did not lead Mexican troops in battle as the conflict occurred in August 1918. From a US Army history:
"Two CIP agents in Nogales, Arizona, Capt. Joel A. Lipscomb and Capt. Byron S. Butcher, recruited Dr. Paul B. Altendorf to infiltrate German spy rings in Mexico. Altendorf was an Austrian immigrant to Mexico, where he served as a colonel in the Mexican army. Known to the CIP as Operative A-1, Altendorf managed to join the German Secret Service and become linked with several other German spies living in Mexico.
In January 1918, the CIP learned that Altendorf was accompanying one Lothar Witzke from Mexico City to the U.S. border. Witzke was a 22-year-old former lieutenant in the Germany navy, who alternately went by Harry Waberski, Hugo Olson and Pablo Davis, to name just a few of his many aliases. He had long been under CIP surveillance as a suspected German spy and saboteur. During the trip from Mexico City, Witzke had no suspicion that his companion was an Allied double agent taking note of Witzke's every move and indiscretion. At one point, a drunk Witzke let slip bits of information that Altendorf quickly passed on to Butcher. Specifically, Altendorf informed the CIP that Witzke's handlers had sent him back to the United States to incite mutiny within the U.S. Army and various labor unions, conduct sabotage and assassinate American officials.
On or about Feb. 1, 1918, Butcher apprehended Witzke once he crossed the border at Nogales, and a search of Witzke's luggage revealed a coded letter and Russian passport. Capt. John Manley, assistant to Herbert Yardley in the Military Intelligence Division's MI-8 Cryptographic Bureau in Washington, D.C., deciphered the letter, revealing Witzke's German connections. The letter stated: "Strictly Secret! The bearer of this is a subject of the Empire who travels as a Russian under the name of Pablo Waberski. He is a German secret agent."
WWI counterintelligence agents get their man
Dr Paul Altendorf seems to have infiltrated the German spy machinery in Mexico City, including befriending the chief spy, one Kurt Jancke. His statement provided to a congressional committee reads more like a James Bond adventure than a dry recitation of fact. From his testimony starting on p 459 of Investigation of Mexican Affairs:
"Indeed, I was appointed a captain in the German Army by direction of Von Eckhardt [German ambassador to Mexico] and a colonel in the Mexican Army with the approval of Carranza [President of Mexico]. In this dual military capacity I helped train 900 German reservists in Sonora, who were to form the nucleus of a German-Mexican army of 45,000 men which was to invade the United States simultaneously with the last great German drive in France and on the sea in July 1918- and in my true character as an American Secret Service agent I prevented the raid from being carried out.
It was this that made me exceedingly unpopular with Gen Elias Policarpo Calles, Carranza's governor of Sonora, and the most rabidly pro-German of Mexican officials. Gen Calles even went so far as to offer 20,000 pesos for me, dead or alive. I heard of this offer in good season and left Sonora in so much of a hurry that my trunks are down there yet- unless some Mexican has borrowed them. Also I have a nice new grave in the jungle near Guayma, Sonora, which I am not yet ready to occupy."
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, US Senate, 66th Congress, 1919
I have not been able to locate Colonel Herman's congressional testimony- that we might see directly what he said. If anyone has links to that, it would prove useful. So in short, I have done some more digging, and have not found definitive proof either way of direct German leadership of Mexican forces in the skirmish. If someone has access to the documents that I cannot get online, that would be great!
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