Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/618

 My Adventures as a Spy

Bv Lt.-Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell

��The author of this article is a famous British officer. Having joined the i^th Hussars at the age of nineteen, he served in India and South Africa, became dis- tinguished in the Matabele campaign in 1896-7, atid won fame in the Boer War for his brilliant defense of Maf eking in spite of famine, sickness a7id the lack of troops. None of his varied experiences are more interesting, however, than his exploits as a spy. Many of these episodes are related in his latest book (''My Adventures As a Spy," J. B. Lippincott Co.), from which this article is taken. — Editor.

��IT has been difficult to write in peace- time on the deUcate subject of spies and spying, but now that the war is in progress and the methods of those much abused gentry have been disclosed, there is no harm in going more fully into the question, and to relate some of my own personal experiences.

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As a first step it is well to disabuse one's mind of the idea that every spy is necessarily the base and despicable fellow he is generally held to be. He is often both clever and brave. Let us for the moment change the terms "spy" to "investigator" or "military agent." For war purposes these agents may be di- vided into:

1. Strategical and diplomatic agents, who study the political and military con- ditions in peace time of all other coun- tries which might eventually be in op- position to their own in war. These also create political disaffection and organize outbreaks, in order to create confusion and draw off troops in time of war.

2. Tactical, military, or naval agents, who look into minor details of armament and terrain in peace-time. These also make tactical preparations on the spot, such as material for extra bridges, gun

��emplacements, interruption of communi- cations, etc.

3. Field spies. Those who act as scouts in disguise to reconnoiter positions and to report moves of the enemy in the field of war. Amongst these are residen- tial spies and officer agents. There are also traitor spies. For these, I allow, I have not a good word. They are men who sell their countries' secrets for money.

Tactical Agents

In addition to finding out mili- tary details about a country, such as its preparedness in men, supplies, efficiency, and so on, spies have to study the tactical features of hills and plains, roads and railways, rivers and woods, and even the probable battlefields and their artil- lery positions, and so on. The Germans in the present war have been using the

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huge guns whose shells, owing to their i^lack, smoky explosions, have been nick- named "Black Marias" or "Jack John- sons." These guns require strong con-

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