British Intelligence In Wwii

[jimbotosome]

Is there a forum on the feats of British intelligence, counter intelligence and espionage? Its seems to me that the Brits made a sport out of intelligence in WWII. When you hear some of exploits of the clever Brits against the notoriously earnest Germans, you have to laugh. Real life Q's that worked at Bletchley Park had to have inspired Ian Flemming.

[spidge]

Originally posted by jimbotosome@Aug 28 2005, 03:14 AM
Is there a forum on the feats of British intelligence, counter intelligence and espionage? Its seems to me that the Brits made a sport out of intelligence in WWII. When you hear some of exploits of the clever Brits against the notoriously earnest Germans, you have to laugh. Real life Q's that worked at Bletchley Park had to have inspired Ian Flemming.

Quoted post

Good topic Jim.

While I am not one for James Bond, I do like to watch movies with these themes from WW2.

These were another group of people whose deeds were not as obvious to people on the outside. There were many mistakes made, which is the norm in any conflict however they saved countless lives.

Most times the field agents knew their chances of survival after a drop into occupied territory were 1 or 2 in 10 but still took the jobs assigned to them.

As the "Brits" activities in code breaking influenced many outcomes, the breaking of the code for the Midway invasion possibly changed the course of the war in the pacific.

There would be countless other "Wins & Losses" to be added here.

[morse1001]

Real life Q's that worked at Bletchley Park had to have inspired Ian Flemming.

Blectchley was only there for Code breaking. Fleming worked for Naval Intelligence it would be the euqipment people who worked for SOE, with their various "funny" weapons; that would have influenced Fleming.

But Intellignce is a very big air to cover, as mentioned bletchly was only one part.

[jimbotosome]

Perhaps there is no better illustration of the role of intelligence than of Midway. The breaking of the code for Midway also included Coral Sea where it was first suspected to be cracked. This meant 3 less carriers in the Midway attack and 5 less carriers all around which broke the Japanese advantage.

An interesting note about the battle of Midway. In reading Doolittle's book, what I found out was that it was the Doolittle raid off the USS Hornet had a tremendous effect on Japan. The Japanese killed 250,000 Chinese trying to find these pilots for interrogation. They believed and taught that their homeland was protected by the “divine wind” and was untouchable. They were totally dumbfounded as to where this attack originated from. This pulled much of the Pacific fighter defense back to the island instead of being able to maraud other Pacific targets, they had to know protect their own. They could not figure out where land based bombers could have come from so they had to assume it was Midway Island where the US had their closest airfield. When the newspaper reportetd tried to get Roosevelt to give them the details of the mission in where it had originated from, he said they came from a new "secret base" in “Shangri-La” (which is a mythical land in John Hilton’s classic novel “Lost Horizon”). The Japanese were mystified because they didn’t realize it was from a carrier, since the attack was from land based bombers. Eventually the truth became known but after the Midway disaster. As a result of Roosevelt’s retort, the next aircraft carrier commissioned was called the “Shangri-La” and was christened by Doolittle's wife.

[spidge]

Originally posted by jimbotosome@Aug 29 2005, 11:50 AM
Perhaps there is no better illustration of the role of intelligence than of Midway. The breaking of the code for Midway also included Coral Sea where it was first suspected to be cracked. This meant 3 less carriers in the Midway attack and 5 less carriers all around which broke the Japanese advantage.

As I said in my post, the positive identification of "RF" as Midway altered the course of the war in the Pacific.

Similarly, the Battle of the Coral sea saved Australia from eventual invasion.

[morse1001]

As I said in my post, the positive identification of "RF" as Midway altered the course of the war in the Pacific.

Actually it was "AF" for Midway

[spidge]

Originally posted by morse1001@Aug 29 2005, 02:06 PM

Actually it was "AF" for Midway

Quoted post

Of course it was. I should edit more often even on little posts

Thanks Morse.

[angie999]

Moderator's comment:

I can't say that there is a forum particularly dedicated to intelligence, SOE, OSS, etc. Perhaps there should be and I will raise it with Lee. However, I don't think this topic belongs here in UK Home Front, so I am moving it to "General" for want of something better.

[seven4eight]

Am I correct in saying that no german spy operated in england during the war without getting caught (and executed) ?

[Dac]

Originally posted by seven4eight@Aug 31 2005, 04:02 PM
Am I correct in saying that no german spy operated in england during the war without getting caught (and executed) ?

Quoted post

AFAIK the British XX-Committee either turned all German agents or executed those unwilling to co-operate.