Since completing my first novel, Espionage, I’ve wanted to go back and write about Julian Olivier’s spy work during the Great War. I was nervous to jump into a new time period, but the more I researched, the more interested I became in WWI. Like WWII, WWI spanned a wide range of experiences, and I hope I’ve given readers a glimpse of them in this novel.
By the May 1915 Artois offensive, only a portion of the French Army had received the new Adrian helmet, so I’ve chosen to depict Julian, Maximo, and their unit in kepis. All events shown or referred to on the battlefield are based on fact, as was the declining morale of the French Army in 1917. Oddly enough, most sources report that Germany didn’t find out about the mutinies until they were long quelled. Though every soldier who fought would have had a slightly different view on the war, opinions shown or expressed by Julian, Warren, Emile, and Willi were created to mirror the fears, frustrations, and hopes of real soldiers of the Great War.
The story of a German embassy worker falling asleep on the subway and losing his briefcase to the U.S. Secret Service is true, but the newspaper article was created for this novel. The incidents of sabotage, including a proposed invasion of Canada, really were considered during the war, but some of them came from a source other than the briefcase.
The Lothair League and its members are all fictional, but there were German saboteurs trying to disrupt Allied production and German spies trying to stir up labor unrest. The Renault factory in Boulogne-Billancourt existed during the war, but during my research, I didn’t come across any examples of attempted or successful sabotage there. German agents were in Marseilles during the war, and they gathered information on shipping for U-boats, but Lohr wasn’t involved. Lohr’s postwar plot to disturb the peace settlement is wholly fiction.
Sauer wasn’t real, but his background as head of Krupp’s industrial espionage department is based on Krupp’s sometimes questionable business practices in the prewar years. General information about the Krupp Factory complex, its products, and the Essen testing range are based on history. Some details, such as the building near the testing range and the chemical weapons held there, are based on conjecture, plausibility, and the needs of the story rather than on research. Information about Mr. and Mrs. Faber is true. The Paris Gun did exist and really did hit Paris. Mention of its development is adjusted to fit the plot.
The story of French officers telling their men to take off their rain coats because they were khaki rather than blue comes from Poilu by Louis Barthas.
The story of fixing a plane’s radiator with soap comes from the writings of James McCudden (Flying Fury: Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps), one of Britain’s most successful WWI aces.
Wages for factory workers and soldiers changed during the war and the inflation that accompanied it. The figures Evette and Julian discuss during their first meeting are admittedly from a few months later than early autumn 1915 but are included to show the discrepancy in pay between the groups.
During this era, a white feather was often given to men not in uniform to suggest they were cowards.
I have come across examples of counterintelligence officials walking dogs in the hope that the dog would identify an arrested spy’s friends. In my research, however, these examples came from WWII rather than WWI and were planned by the Gestapo rather than British Intelligence.
The fictional Kallweit family had perhaps an easier war experience than the average German family during the war but a more difficult experience than was normal for members of their class.
Kaiser Wilhelm’s paternal grandfather, Wilhelm I, won military victories over Denmark, Austria, and France, and successfully unified Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm’s maternal grandmother was Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
The story of a Canadian soldier being crucified by the Germans is unconfirmed, but different versions of the event appeared in newspapers all over the world in 1915. Fact or fiction, it was used as propaganda throughout the war.
As with all my projects, I received vital help from others. Thanks goes to my test readers: Melanie Grant for letting me know I was on the right track with the history; Linda White, who always pushes me to write my best; Brad Grant for pointing out several significant ways to improve the plot and the characters; and author Rebecca Belliston for boosting my confidence in the story and pointing out several things that needed to be corrected. An extra-special thanks goes to Lilo Huhle-Poelzl for reviewing the manuscript with an eye for catching errors about everyday life in Germany. And to Ron Machado for doing the same thing with a pilot’s eye. Naturally, any mistakes about German culture or WWI-era aviation are mine. Thank you to Sacha for her help with Claire’s Southern use of the double modal. If I got it right, it is thanks to her. If I got it wrong, it’s my fault. And thank you to members of my writing group and fellow Covenant authors Kathi Oram Peterson and Jeanette Miller for their help and insight.
Thanks also goes to my long-suffering editor, Sam, and the rest of the team at Covenant. And to my mapmaker, Briana Shawcroft.
I would like to express love and appreciation for my family. This book took longer than usual to complete, and my husband and children were patient as I worked to finish it during a busy time for our family. I am also extremely grateful to my Father in Heaven for the mix of blessings and challenges He has given me throughout my life. To paraphrase some of my characters, life isn’t perfect, but it is good.
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Readers who wish to know more about Julian and Evette’s children may want to read my WWII trilogy: Espionage, Sworn Enemy, and Deadly Alliance.