Kill the Kaiser! - The secret attempt to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm II | John Hughes Wilson

[@davemacnicol8404]

"is there not a brave person in this room who will rid me of this incorrigible Kaiser??" or something like that.

[@franzliszt3195]

I must say, this is one of, no, the most interesting thing I've seen on WFA, and I've seen many. Didn't this story get picked up by the newspaper when you discovered it?

[@shoofly529]

It was Churchill who gave the order; he would never let being the head of ammo production get in his way of issuing orders. ;)

[@davemacnicol8404]

could it have just been made at the squadron level? That wouldve been the best. Talk about tactical latitude.

[@daispy101]

As to who authorized and why, was there perhaps an assumption that if the Kaiser was going to be in a vaguely forward location, would it not be likely that most of the high command officers would likely be there for dinner or meetings with the Kaiser? If the British King had gone that close to the front, wouldn't British commanders have met with him to present the war situation? George V might not have been terribly interested but we know the Kaiser was seen to be very interested/obsessive about being involved and wouldn't it make a tempting target for a surgical strike? So the target isn't Kaiser Bill, but those around him?

[@Mr.Thermistor7228]

that was fascinating as are every single one of these talk and i have watched probably a dozen by now. how can i get into the live meeting and ask a question? do i have to be a member of the WFA to be able to get on? im extremeley fascinated by these talks and the subject matters of them. ps. the joke in the very beggining about not speaking publicly more than a man can last with a girl privately had me dying laughing that was a brilliant joke. this speakers humor is something else i enjoyed it

[@WesternFrontAssoc]

Thanks for this. The webinars that we have published are undertaken 'live' and members and non-members alike can join. We have however paused on doing more of these until the Autumn of this year as a lot of our members are now attending meetings at branch events 'live'. If you would like to check out our website you can see future webinars and also branch events that are taking place. Although the vast majority of the branch events are in the UK, we do have branches in Canada, Australia, USA etc. Hope this helps. Please contact the WFA's office if you need more info. Thanks.

[@yukikaze3436]

The Book " the Kaiser and his court" has the Kaiser at Trelon from the morning of 27 May 1918 to 1030 1 June 1918. You have a picture of the Kaiser at Vilna he was there 29 July 1917 according to above book

[@remy1234ish]

Fascinating. As to a trail of knowledge, it seems to me a likely scenario is that French intelligence developed info from agents in the area and some analyst in the Deuxieme Bureau said "aha!" and thought to tip one of his contacts with British Intelligence...who passed it up the line to a decision maker--whoever that was. It would be interesting to see between whom in the 2 intelligence services tactical intelligence passes(or who had personal relations). That might provide a "trailhead" so to speak. Wish I had the access to sources to give it a try myself. Hope someone else tries to run it down. Imho, it has to have a personal relationship in the "trenches" of tactical intelligence to get all this started. (Side note:. Could an army front commander or RAF commander take this decision on as part of their operational duties without passing it up the line? That might explain the lack of a paper trail. You know:. "Kaiser's train is there, lads, let's get him" sort of thing?

[@davemacnicol8404]

That's what I said. Squadron level stuff. It's perfect. If they got him, wars over and RFC is famous. If not, we'll just another day right

[@MadMax-bq6pg]

Wow! What an amazing account. Who ordered? I have no secret knowledge. A security service (ie MI 6) would have some way of getting someone to a forward position with instructions. Would the PM have been able to do the same? Possibly but probably not as easily. You did mention that 25 Sqn were special operations, did you not? Who in the squadron had just come back from leave? Or some “amazingly boring” meeting in ? Where trust exists, trust can be abused. Someone a squadron leader trusts turns up and says special op. Nothing of my instructions (which come from The Highest Level) are to be written down etc I am no scholar or researcher, but maybe there are clues in some French memoirs. Loved the presentation, kind regards from Oz 🇦🇺

[@barbararice6650]

Legitimate target, pity they didn't get him 👈😑

[@doncooper6801]

The King was not part of the chain of command.