Figure 1.-- |
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Electronic inteligence was not the only method of intelligence gathering. The Soviets operated the most sucessful spy networks, in both Allied and Axis countries. The existence of Communist Party organizations proved a great asset. The Red Army although not highly respected by the Wehrmcht, proved very adept as desguising their major offensives.
The major German spy achievement may have been before the War in encouraging Stalin's purge of the Red Amy. German intelligence during the War was nothing short of a disaster. The Soviets manage to surprise the Germans with a series of offensives beginning with offensive before Moscow. Information on almost all of the German offensives leaked out, although neith ther the Soviets or the Allies took advantage of this. Of course the German intelligence operation was the fact that the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, was actively working against the NAZIS. The greatest Allied achievement may have been in misleading the the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings. Allied opperatives also provided valuavle information about the German rocket program. The major surprise German operation of the War was the Ardennes offensicve which Allied intelligence failed to pick up on (December 1944). The Japanese collected information on Pearl Harbor before the War, but have few intellgence successes during the War. They did obtain information on Singapore defenses. And the Ivhi-Go offensive in China was based on information they acquired about the planned strategic bombing campaign. The results, however, were negated when the Americans seized the Mariana Islands in the Central Pcific.
The United States did not have a spy agency before World War II broke out While the Army and Navy had code breaking units. In fact, Secretary Stimpson was noted for an early remark he made at President Hoover's Secretary of State, "Gentlemen do not read other's mail." The story of how America developed a secret operations service is nothing short of shocking, Amazingly it began with the British who set up a covert operation to sway public opinion and disrupt Axis operatiins in the the United States. When the British asked for assistance from the Federal Bureau of Unvestigation, Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover told them that the President would need to approve this. President Roosevelt did not hesitate. This was the beginnng of Anglo-American intelligence cooperation. One action was to advise the British Government that President Prrocevelt was sending over a personal mission in the person of William Donnovan, a long time acquauntence, although a committed Republican. The British gave him Red Carpet treatmentment and showed him things even Ambassador Kennedy and few Brits did not know about. He was shown Hitler's invasion orders (Füher Directive 16). Donovan knew instantly that the British had broken German codes, although he was not told of Ultra at the time. Donovan returned a firm proponent of aiding Britain and with an interest in secret operations. The British began training Americans in secret operations in Canada. Rossevelt asked Donovan to head the "office of information". This became the beginning of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). American inteligence operations were developed by Donovan and the OSS. American operatives in Vichy North Africa collected a great deal of useful information in preparation for the Torch landings. American operatives also made contact with Admiral Canaris in both Turkey and Spain. Security operations in the United States and the Western Hempshere were conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The OSS after the War was by order of President Truman converted into the CIA.
The British secret service during World War II was the Secret Service Bureau founded in 1909. The Bureau was a joint effort of the Admiralty and the War Office to coordinate the gathering and interpretation of intelligence.
Britain at the time had not fought a major since the Crimean War (1854-56). Tension were, however. rising in Europe because of increasingly aggresive behavior of Imperial Germany and most ominously for Britain, the German construction of a modern highsea fleet. The Bureau did not play a major role in World War I and had few successes to report. In the inter-War era the operations and funding were reduced and control turned over to the Foreign Office. With the rise of NAZI Germany, the Government began to devote more attention to secret operations.
British intelligence was directed by Colonel Stewart Menzies. Menzies struck of a frienship with "Wild Bill" Donovan before he was appointed to head the American inteligence agency--the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). MI6 effectively rolled up the German operatives early in the War. They turned some of them and executed others. British opperatives also provided valuable information about the German rocket program. MI6 data on the German rocket program helped to significantly limits its impact. The greatest Allied achievement was in misleading the the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings. As the landings were launched from England, this was primarily but not entirely a British achievement. The Ressistance movements in occupied countries provided a great deal of valuable information. Here the French Resistance waz particulrly important in preparing for D-Day. The British obtained some valuable information frome tapeing high ranking German POWs.
The major German spy achievement may have been before the War in encouraging Stalin's purge of the Red Amy. German intelligence during the War was nothing short of a disaster. The Soviets manage to surprise the Germans with a series of offensives beginning with offensive before Moscow. The Soviet offensive before Mosow was in fact the turning point of the War. The German failure to pick up on Soviet preprations was in part because of effective Soviet camafloge techniques. It also was both a failure of German inyelligence and the mindset crated by Hitler in the Wehrmacht.
Information on almost all of the German offensives leaked out, although neith ther the Sovirts or the Allies took advantage of this. Of course the German intelligence operation was the fact that the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, was actively working against the NAZIs. The major surprise German operation of the War was the Ardennes offensive which Allied intelligence failed to pick up on (December 1944). While German intelligence was a general failure, the German were very sucessful in tracking down resistance cells trying to send information back to London or get down flyers back to England.
There were two Italian intelligence services during World War II. The first was the military's intelligence agency--the Servizio Informazione Militari (SIM). The second was the Fascist Party's intelligence service--the Opera Volantario per la Regressione Dell’ Autifasismo (OVRA) The difference between the two is similar to that of the Abwehr and the SD in NAZI Germany. Italy under Mussolini desired to build a Meditteranean empire. The first step was to secure Libya which was done by the Army. Another major objective was obtain control over Italian-populated areas of the Adriatic which meant Yugoslav territory. Yugosalavia had a powerful enough military that the Italiahns did not dare attack. Rather they worked to promote domestic disscenion among the ethnic minorities. The Italians provided financing and training to Croatian nationalists. We are not sure what specific agencies were involved, but believe it was primarily OVRA. The Italians also supported Arab nationalists in the Middle East to weaken the British and French position. After the Italians seized Albania (1939), OVRA formed an independent battalion in Tetovo--the Ljuboten batalion. Ethnic Albanians in the Tetovo region wwere recruited. The Battalion was financed by the Tetovo municipal governent under the authority of Dzafer Sulejmani, the president of the Tetovo district, who cooperated with the Italians. The Batallion was employed in the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia to combat resistance forces and help create a Greater Albania. After the Italian surrender (September 1943), the Germans incorporated the Batalion in their forces, but it was decimated by the partisans a few months later. OVRA was involved in identifying anti-Fascists among the Italian communities abroad. Before World War II, Mussolini was viewed favorably in some quarters as a anti-Bolshevik. Italians diplomats and OVRA agents attempted to get the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to take action against Italian anti-Fascists in Canada. [Iacovetta, Perin, and Principe, pp. 58-59.] Canadian authorities rejected requests to deport the anti-Fascists to Itaky, but did not act to stop OVRA's attempts to harass the disidents.
Japan beginning with the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) engaged in a series of scuccessful wars which built an empire in east Asia. They event humiliated Russia (1904-05). The role of the inteligence services is rarely discussed in historical accounts. The role of intelligence in World War II is much more widely discussed, but usually from the Allied side. The Japanese collected information on Pearl Harbor before the War. The resulting attack (Decembr 1941)which is usually depicted as amajor success. In fact it was a cataclysmic intelligence failure. The goal of the attack was to destroy the American Pacific Fleet's carriers. In fact not one was present. The Japanse did sink the eight battleships they found at Pearl, but sestroyed only three. And as the Pacific War would later show, these battleships were largely obsolete. And in exchange for this phyric victory, Japan found itself at war with the United States. Their major intelligence success occurred early in the War, obtaining information on the defenses of Singapore. The fall of the British bastion was one of the great shocks of the War (April 1942). After Singapore, however, Japanese intelligence played little role in the War. And the Ichi-Go offensive in China was based on information they acquired about the planned strategic bombing campaign. The results, however, were negated when the Americans seized the Mariana Islands in the Central Pacific (June 1944). It was the American intelligence services that played a major role in the War, breaking the Japanese naval codes. Even after the Coral Sea (April 1942), thecJapanese intelligence services failed to conclude that the naval codes had been broken. This made possible the American victory at Midway (June 1942), a vicyory from whih the Japnese Navy never recovered. Throught the War, the inteligence services were never able to correctly assess tstatus of American naval forces.
The Soviet Union operated perhaps the most sucessful spy networks. The intelligence abnd state security functions were merged in the Soviet state. And the primary focus before the War was on domestic threats to the refime. This led to the Great Purges and an emenge Gulag, mostly populated with entirely innocent individuals. As part of the Grat Purges, Stalin severly weakened Sovier security by purging the military. When war began, the Red Army and Air Force was left without competent commanders at all levels. The greatest intelligence failure of the War, was the Soviet Uniins failure to prepare for the NAZI invasion--Operation Barbarossa (June 1941). This was not, however, a failure of the intelligence servives. Stalin had ampel warning. He even berated military and intelligence functionaries who attempted to warn him. The Soviets operated the most effective spy netwirks in Germany as well as in Allied countries. he existence of Communist Party organizations and individuals sympathetic to the Soviet Union proved a great asset in recruiting agents. The Red Army although not highly respected by the Wehrmcht, proved very adept as desguising their major offensives during the War. Spy rings in the United States obtained information from the Manhattan Project that helped build a Soviet atomic bomb after the War. We have been able to find little information on Soviet code breaking operations.
Iacovetta, Franca, Roberto Perin, and Angelo Principe. Enemies Within.
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