MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949

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In 1909, responding to bestsellers such as Spies of the Kaiser, prime minister Asquith sanctioned the formation of a secret service bureau. C", who ran the service from 1909 to his sudden death in 1923, set the tone with his penchant for gadgets, code names and invisible inks (semen is best). Cumming referred to espionage as a "capital sport", and expected his agents to learn the "tradecraft" of espionage while on their missions instead of before being dispatched on their missions.

Readers seeking a story of ‘Daring Do’, ‘Cloak and Dagger’ and ‘Spies and Counter Spies’ might also find it worthy of their attention. The city of Oxford has been a popular location for fictional murders for nearly a century, the ancient university and its beautiful buildings also lending themselves to wonderful screen adaptations. By 1992 influence abroad had been lost in the Middle East, most of Africa and large swathes of Asia, and even in Europe Britain seemed exiled and isolated.To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. The book includes organisational charts to illustrate MI6’s internal structure and its wartime network of overseas stations. During these war years, MI6 also formed ties with the United States-harbingers of a relationship that would become vital to both countries' security as the century progressed.

The focus on collecting intelligence on German aircraft production led MI6 to be confused about the wider strategic question of what were the aims of German foreign policy. The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed " Ultra" by the British, was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort.This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy.

Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of espionage, the two world wars, modern British government and the conduct of international relations in the first half of the twentieth century. The reports exchanged between the two parties included critical information such as advance warnings of the ' Afrikakorps' departure for Libya, insights into the readiness of Vichy French units to either fight against the Allies or switch sides during Operation Torch, and early warnings regarding both Operation Barbarossa and Operation Edelweiss, the German Caucasus campaign. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, providing diplomatic cover for agents abroad. Somerset Maugham was recruited to infiltrate Bolshevik Russia, ineffectually, and later pioneered the noir spy story in Ashenden.The only option was to accept a British offer to sail to Scotland on the British cruiser HMS Devonshire.

However, I strongly believe this will be an authoritative and definitive source for scholars of intelligence and the canvas of realism for spy fiction aficionados who wish to gain an understanding of MI6's actual history compared with the entertaining mythologies of James Bond etc. What could be taken from this book and added to is by going into more depth about some of the operations that would make for interesting reads. Nigel West's examination of MI6 concentrates to a large extent on second world war missions and activities but then moves forward in time.You do get some people like that on the American side but they don’t have that languid air of effortless superiority which certainly epitomises Bond and, by default, our perception of the Secret Service. The report concluded that allowing the Sudetenland to be annexed would allow Britain to finally discover "what really legitimate grievances Germany has and what surgical operations are necessary to recify them". A very interesting book that gives an excellent background to the British Secret Intelligence Service's early years. In January 1939, MI6 played a major role in the "Dutch War Scare" when it reported to London that Germany was about to invade the Netherlands with the aim of using the Dutch airfields to launch a strategical bombing campaign that would achieve a "knock out blow" by destroying London along with the rest of Britain's cities. This proximity to key locations and military installations allowed them to provide valuable insights to the British intelligence services.