Sidney Forrester Mashbir (12 September 1891 – 13 June 1973) was a senior officer in the United States Army who was primarily involved in military intelligence. Born in New York, he served in the Arizona Army National Guard during the Mexican-American Border War. Mashbir then held several posts in intelligence positions, taking credit for catching the first German spy in the United States, before departing for on a four-year assignment as a language officer to Japan in 1920. He resigned from the army in 1923 in an attempt to execute his own master plan devised to extract intelligence from Japan in event of a war. His plan failed as a result of the Great Kantō earthquake in September 1923 and he was left bankrupt; he consequently returned to the US as an engineering businessman. In 1937, Mashbir returned to Japan in a second attempt to activate his plan on behalf of the Office of Naval Intelligence; it again failed, and Mashbir was dis-enrolled from the reserves in 1939. However, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mashbir was re-enrolled in January 1942 to lead the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section of Southwest Pacific Area, where he quickly rose to the rank of colonel. He later served as the executive officer for the Army Adjutant General's Office before retiring in 1951.
Early life Sidney Mashbir was born in Manhattan, New York, on 12 September 1891, but moved to Safford, Arizona, in 1899. Sidney's father was Professor Eliazar S. Mashbir, a Russian immigrant who was well-educated and became the first Russian-speaking attorney to practice law in New York City. Sidney's mother, Frieda Freudenthal was also well-educated, and in 1906 became the postmistress of Safford, which included the area of Solomonville. Mashbir attended public schools in Safford and Tucson, later studying engineering at the University of Arizona for six months each year until 1911, whilst simultaneously maintaining a career as an engineering draughtsman, primarily for the engineering department of Tucson, and railroad companies. He married his first wife Blanche Beckwith on 12 September 1913, with whom he had his first son, Forrester Mashbir; the couple separated during the mid/late-1920s.
Military career
Early service Mashbir joined the Arizona National Guard at a young age, and served as the bugler of Company B in 1904. He later became the first lieutenant and adjutant of the University Battalion whilst studying at the University of Arizona. In 1912, he served as a lieutenant in Company K of the National Guard encampment, which based at Fort Huachuca. The senior instructor at the time was Captain Louis Joseph Van Schaick. In early 1916, Mashbir received his first official intelligence assignment, when he was assigned as the assistant intelligence officer of the Ajo-Yuma district of Arizona as a part of the first Arizona Infantry under General Frederick Funston. The unit was at the time was involved in the Mexican-American Border War. Mashbir's duties included mapping roads, trails and waterholes in northern Sonora. Additionally he would scout Mexican towns with Papago Indian scouts, reporting on the strength and equipment of Mexican garrisons and installing primitive wiretaps on Mexican communication lines. Mashbir was also responsible for investigating Japan's physical presence in Mexico at the time. In late 1916, Mashbir applied for a commission in the Regular Army and was accepted with General Funston's support despite the army's policy that married men not be accepted. After attending the Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth, he joined the 22nd Infantry Regiment, which was stationed at Governors Island, New York, but was soon detailed for counterespionage duty and was recommended to join a new counterintelligence service that was being formed. On 10 September 1917 Mashbir was detailed as assistant to the department intelligence officer at Governors Island. He enrolled in the Military Intelligence Division G-2 Reserves, where he was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel. During this time he wrote the Provisional Rules for Counter Espionage, Eastern Department, which would become a model for future counterintelligence manuals until World War II, as well as a 52-page book titled Ten Lessons in Bayonet Fighting published by George Banta Publishing Company at the end of 1917. Mashbir is also credited with investigations as a coast defense intelligence officer at Fort Hamilton, which uncovered the first German spy to be apprehended in the United States, Paul Otto Kuhn.
Between the wars
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