Abwehr
No Chief of the Abwehr Took office Left office Time in office Defence branch
1 Gempp , Friedrich Colonel Friedrich Gempp ( 1873-1947 ) 1 January 1921 June 1927 6 years , 5 months Reichsheer
2 Schwantes , Günther Major Günther Schwantes ( 1881-1942 ) June 1927 February 1929 1 year , 8 months Reichsheer
3 Bredow , Ferdinand Lieutenant colonel Ferdinand von Bredow ( 1884-1934 ) February 1929 2 June 1932 3 years , 4 months Reichsheer
4 Patzig , Conrad Rear admiral Conrad Patzig ( 1888-1975 ) 6 June 1932 1 January 1935 2 years , 209 days Kriegsmarine
5 Canaris , Wilhelm Admiral Wilhelm Canaris ( 1887-1945 ) 1 January 1935 12 February 1944 9 years , 42 days Kriegsmarine
6 Hansen , Georg Colonel Georg Hansen ( 1904-1944 ) 13 February 1944 1 June 1944 109 days German Army
7 Schellenberg , Walter SS- Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg ( 1910-1952 ) 1 June 1944 4 May 1945 337 days Schutzstaffel
8 Skorzeny , Otto SS- Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny ( 1908-1975 ) 5 May 1945 8 May 1945 3 days Schutzstaffel
Chiefs
The Abwehr () was the German military intelligence service for the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht from 1920 to 1945. Despite the fact that the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the Germans altogether from establishing an intelligence organization of their own, they formed an espionage group in 1920 within the Ministry of Defense, calling it the Abwehr. The initial purpose of the Abwehr was defense against foreign espionage - an organizational role which later evolved considerably. Under General Kurt von Schleicher the individual military services' intelligence units were combined and, in 1929, centralized under his Ministry of Defense, forming the foundation for the more commonly understood manifestation of the Abwehr. Each Abwehr station throughout Germany was based on army districts and more offices were opened in amenable neutral countries and in the occupied territories as the greater Reich expanded. The Ministry of Defense was renamed the Ministry of War in 1935 and then replaced by Adolf Hitler altogether with the new OKW. The OKW was part of the Führer's personal working staff from June 1938 and the Abwehr became its intelligence agency under Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Its headquarters was located at 76/78 Tirpitzufer, Berlin, adjacent to the offices of the OKW.