I have a book 'They Came to Spy' by Stanley Firmin. It is undated but
was probably published in 1950.

Firmin, a British Journalist, claimed that Buchs 'who was never in the
limelight' was actually the Nazi Spy Master, answerable to only one
man: Hitler.

I have searched for the said Spymaster, using a variety of spellings
for his name and his presumed German rank of Oberst.

But nothing!

Could it be that Mr Firmin is the only person in the world to have sussed him out?

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 20 Mar 2004 21:36 PST

Well ... I expected Answerfinder, Leli, Politicalguru & Scriptor to
have jumped straight into this which is 'right up their street'.

And NOTHING from either Bowler or Fp-GA!

I am amazed!

I bet that they've all gone skiiing and that there's been too much of
the apres-ski stuff (before and after).

Am I right?

Dear Bryan,

Since you asked me to post an answer, I gladly do so. Well, since I
have no helpful information on Karl Buchs for you to offer, I'm
feeling a bit bad about this, so I decided that I should at least
offer you a nice link that may prove helpful should you do research
concerning the question if, where and when particular German soldiers
(all branches of all armed forces) died during World War II:

Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge: Gräbersuche
http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche/content_suche.asp

This free database is updated permanently, and whenever they discover
rusty dog tags somewhere in the Ukraine or anywhere else, the new
information is added. It's very comprehensive: Not only did I find my
two granduncles, but also Fieldmarshal Rommel and other names I looked
for just for fun.

Hope this will be a useful research tool for you!
Best regards,
Scriptor

Hi, Scriptor

Again very many thanks for your efforts.

I had previously convinced myself that Mr Firmin was romancin' and it
was nice to have the fruits of your searches, too.

Also, thanks for the link to the free database.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Bryan

Bryan, 

Nix, as we say around here :-(

Well, not on my way to Switzerland ...

According to
http://www.copac.ac.uk/copac/
this book by Firmin was published in 1946 "with a foreword by G. P. Thomson".

Firmin was the "Daily Telegraph Correspondent to Scotland Yard":
http://s1.amazon.co.uk/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y03Y4591657Y9461299/202-6406190-1107841

"Karl Buchs"? Sorry, no idea ...

Regards,
Freddy

Hi, PG & Freddy

My thanks to you both.

Regarding the publication date, various stabs have been made and
whilst 2 of the 5 COPAC references show 1946, 2 others show 1947.

However, many booksellers have opted for 1950 and this seems possible
because Firmin claimed to have waited 5 years (from the end of the
war?) before he could publish.

I'm betting that he wanted to make sure that there was no real Oberst
Buch who could pop up to challenge his stories.

Regards

Bryan

Well, Bryan, I have the odd feeling that Herr Buchs only existed in
Stanley Firmin's imagination.
I tried everything: Various ranks (Oberst, Oberstleutnant,
Generaloberst...), different spellings ... I searched the database of
German soldiers killed in action, just in case - but his name did not
show up there. I did not expect it to, since such people always
survive, just like Gehlen.
If Karl Buchs was a professional officer (the rank indicates that he
belonged to Heer or Luftwaffe), then he would have been entitled to
receive a penison from the Federal Republic of Germany later. I don't
know what authority was competent concerning officers' pensions, but
if Buchs existed, there should be an index card with his name catching
dust in some archive. However, I doubt it...

Scriptor

Hi, Scriptor

Many thanks for all the trouble you have taken.

Please post an answer!

Warmest regards

Bryan

Bryan,
I wish I had been ski-ing, but I think that if I fitted skis onto my
wheelchair, it would act more like a toboggan.
I did have a look; all I could come up with was Major Herbert Buchs
who gave evidence at the Nuremberg trials.
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-16/tgmwc-16-150-02.shtml
Perhaps he had another middle name of Karl?
answerfinder-ga

Hi, Answerfinder

Very many thanks for looking.

Like you, I found the Buchs who testified at Nuremberg. 

I was sorry to hear that you require a wheelchair. I had no idea but
then why should I?

All the Very Best

Bryan

Apparently someone in his family is hiding in Switzerland:

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22colonel+buchs%22

Bowler-ga

Hi, Again, Bowler

And very many thanks.

It's amazing how many of the war-time spymasters finished up in Switzerland.

I guess that they all liked cuckoo clocks.

PB