Author: P9-J

The History of MI1(b) John Ferris points out in the bibliography to his invaluable work The British Army and Signals Intelligence1 “no historian has assessed the work of MI1(b) or MI1(e)” and that “while ample evidence survives on the latter organisation, the former may well remain forever in the shadows”. I found this very reassuring since I had found virtually nothing and must confess that the following article is, to a great extent based on the History of MI1(b) which can be found under reference HW7/35 C480318 in the National Archives. What I found particularly interesting is that I have…

“The Korean war although limited in geographical scope to a small Asian country and beginning as a struggle between armies of Koreans, the conflict eventually included combatants representing 20 different governments from six continents. Of the estimated casualties to military personnel more than half were non-Korean. The war rendered terrible destruction to the indigenous peoples yet still failed to resolve the political division of the country which remains a source of tension and danger to the present day. In its timing, its course and its outcome the Korean war served in many ways as a substitute for World War III”1…

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR CYPRUS, 1974 ARTICLE FOR RUSI JOURNAL John Hughes-Wilson© According to the UN there are still two long standing unfinished wars, both halted only temporarily by a ceasefire or armistice. One is Korea; the other is Cyprus. The Greek-Turkish war on Cyprus of July and August 1974 still remains a legally unresolved international conflict. In fact, in Cyprus it was only a UN sponsored ceasefire that officially ended the fighting. This has been the situation for the past 37 years.1 A well armed corps of around 30,0002 Turks still garrisons the North, where its…

By Peter Jefferies Between October 1974 and March 1975 I was the liaison officer for the Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (Northern Ireland) or RICLO for short. The RICLO’s main duty was to liaise with armed forces and police units in the Province to advise them on the most suitable product(s) to meet their air photographic requirements. This entailed being on the road for some 4,000 miles a month and took up the majority of the RICLO’s time. The other part of the job was to deal with complex and unusual tasks and to assemble the best resources to meet the requirement.…

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was Reichsfuhrer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). Serving as Reichsführer and, later, as Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich’s administration (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung), Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the persons most directly responsible for…

The ‘Testery’ and the contribution made by the Intelligence Corps The battle to ‘break’ Enigma was not the only one being fought in 1942. Much of the high level traffic believed to be from Hitler and the High Command was being sent by teleprinter. The teleprinter signals being transmitted by the Germans, and enciphered using Lorenz, were first heard in 1940 by a group of police wireless operators on the South Coast who were listening out for possible German spy transmissions from inside the UK. Originally traffic interception was concentrated at the Foreign Office Y Station operated by the Metropolitan…

by Paul Croxson Going round the Museum it is easy to miss the model of ‘Smoky Joes’. The story of how it came into being is well-worth reciting; a story that Joyce is always happy to tell. Unless you served with No. 12 Sqn Royal Signals or the name Brannenburg means something to you, it is sometimes easy to forget the role played by Austria in both World Wars. Following defeat of Nazi Germany, at the end of world War II in 1945, Austria was occupied by the then Allied armies and the country divided into the Russian, French, American…