German Influence in Egyptian Revolution

In terms of utilizing German military advisors, Egypt perhaps occupies a unique place in the historical literature. One the one hand, practically every Allied country hired Germans technicians, military specialists, and in some cases war criminals for intelligence purposes. Few countries, however, would directly utilize some of the manpower against a Jewish population like that created in Israel.

These German military specialists were publically lecturing Egyptian troops, drawing comparison between the Reichswehr after WWI and the modernization efforts of the Egyptians, and privately criticizing rampant corruption. Wilhelm Fahrmbacher, Oskar Munzel, and Wilhelm Voss were all known to have lived and worked in Egypt. "There is no evidence that the Germans initiated the coup," but the press speculated the young officers who did the actual planning consulted the German advisers as to tactics. General Naguib later publicly praised the German advisory group at some embarrassment to the West German officials, who claimed they could do little about the "privately hired technicians.” The French, however, felt the Germans were "bound to use their positions to build up German influence in the Middle East."