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MIS-X was a section of the
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...
that operated during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It aided U.S. servicemen held as
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
and those evading capture in enemy territory. The section, which was modeled after the British
MI9
MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a highly secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: (1) assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (P ...
, was disbanded at the war's end.
The organization was divided into five sections: interrogation, correspondence, prisoner of war locations, training and briefing, and technical. It was commanded by Colonel Catesby ap C. Jones. To avoid revealing the purpose of the organization, it was referred to by its
Post Office Box 1142, rather than its location at Fort Hunt.
[Froom, Phil]
Evasion and Escape Devices: Produced by MI9, MIS-X and SOE in World War II
2015. Pages 29-33.
MIS-X was based in
Fort Hunt
Fort Hunt is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The area is named after Fort Hunt, which was built on the bank of the Potomac River in 1897 to defend Washington, D.C. from naval attack and is now a public p ...
, Virginia. Secret equipment such as small compasses, maps, and radios were smuggled into
German prisoner of war camps; to avoid compromising legitimate aid organizations like the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
, MIS-X invented its own aid organizations and created aid packages from these, in which secret items were hidden.
A radio code was devised to send messages via
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
broadcasts; this was based on
Morse code
Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...
: a one-syllable word was a dot, a two syllable word a dash. Such messages were preceded by a bell tone. A method of hiding a message in innocuous-looking outgoing letters to the United States was devised: all incoming letters were screened for such messages before delivery. These were signaled by having the date in numbers rather than letters. American officers who were privy to the secret and codes debriefed incoming prisoners and sent any useful information back to the United States.
See also
*
MI9
MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a highly secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: (1) assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (P ...
, the British equivalent of MIS-X
References
* Shoemaker, Lloyd R. (1990). ''The Escape Factory : the Story of MIS-X'' New York: St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN, 978-0312038267.
Bibliography
* Allied Forces
MIS-X Activities in Southwest Pacific Area APO 500: General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area, 1945.
* Allied Forces
Evasion in Korea and Southeast Manchuria lace of publication not identified
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread (yarn), thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, suc ...
MIS-X, SWPA, 1945.
* Allied Forces
Evasion in North China lace of publication not identified
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread (yarn), thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, suc ...
MIS-X, SWPA, 1945.
* Day, Philip J., David C. Taylor, David Winter, Nils Cowan, and J. V. Martin
Escape factory London: Sky Vision, 2009. Summary: This documentary reveals the true story behind MIS-X, a secret agency set up during World War II, assigned to supply 'escape aids' to American POWs in Europe. But why was MIS-X nearly erased from the pages of history?
* I. C. B. Dear, and M. R. D. Foot
MIS-X Oxford University Press, 2001. The Oxford Companion to World War II. Abstract: the US equivalent of the British escape and evasion organization MI9. In China, where it was set up in.
* Ottis, Sherri Greene
Silent Heroes: Downed Airmen and the French Underground 2009. Abstract: In the early years of World War II it was an amazing feat for an allied airman shot down over occupied Europe to make it back to Britain. By 1943 they had a 50 percent chance of evading capture. An estimated 12,000 French civilians helped make this possible.
* Shoemaker, Lloyd R
The Escape Factory: The Story of MIS-X New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1992.
* United States
An Evasion Story from China MIS-X Section, U.S. Army Forces, Pacific, 1945.
* United States
The Secrets of P.O. Box 1142: An Interpretive Concept for Fort Hunt Visitor Contact Station lexandria, VA? ational Park Service 2009. Abstract: "The men and women who served at P.O. Box 1142 worked on programs MIS-Y and OP-16-Z, interrogation of high ranking prisoners of war; MIS-X, escape and evasion aid to captured American servicemen; and MIRS, analysis of captured documents. Their efforts gained intelligence on enemy research in rocketry, the atomic bomb, the jet engine, U-boats, microwaves and infrared technology"
* Van Cleve, Thomas C
Activities of Two Agencies of the CPM Branch, MIS, G-2, NDGS: the Interrogation Section, Fort Hunt, Virginia; Tracy, California and the MIS-X Section Fort Hunt, Virginia (Covering the Period from 1 August 1942 to 1 August 1945) 1945. Summary: Contains a history of the origin and activation of the Interrogation Branch, Interrogation Centers, techniques of interrogation, selection of interrogees, process and interrogation reports, and equipment used.
* Vance, Jonathan Franklin William
Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War and Internment Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2000. Summary: The entries in this encyclopedia are intended to be self-contained, but cross-references to other, related entries have been provided wherever possible. Of the thousands of published sources on captivity in wartime, only the most significant and most likely to be easily obtainable were selected.
* Wichtrich, A. R
MIS-X Top Secret England: Raleigh, N.C., 1997.
* Winfrey, Robley E
Robley E. Winfrey Collection, 1939-1945 1939. Summary: A collection of escape and survival materials including papers, maps, compasses and other types of materials used by allied forces of the intelligence group "MIS-X" during World War II. Notes: The Iowa State College Bulletin, vol. xli, no. 1, June 3, 1942. On cover: Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Official publication, vol. xxx, no. 3, June 17, 1931.
* Wood, Lindsey, Michael J. Galgano, Gabrielle M. Lanier, and Steven W Guerrier
Fort Hunt's P.O. Box 1142 2016. Summary: Fort Hunt is a World War Two prisoner of war camp in Alexandria, Virginia. It housed more than 3,000 Axis prisoners and several war related programs, MIRS, MIS-Y and MIS-X. The World War Two POW experience is a missing part of the story, and Fort Hunt can help illuminate an important part of the United States' war effort and responsibility. Fort Hunt was a secret location, and its activities included gathering and deciphering German written materials, interrogating Axis, mainly German, prisoners of war, as well as creating and distributing Escape and Evasion packages to air and ground forces in Europe. Today, Fort Hunt is a recreational park owned by the National Park service and the George Washington Memorial parkway. This camp remained secret until recently, when George Washington Memorial parkway employees began investigating its history. Since then, there has been an effort to preserve and present its most recent history to the public. This project began at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, combing through the documents of Fort Hunt's past during World War Two, gathering information on its establishment and programs in hopes to bring attention to this important site. This project includes recommendations on how to present Fort Hunt's World War Two story to its visitors, with photographs of what the park looks like today. I would like to thank my thesis director, Dr. Michael Galgano, and both of my readers and committee members, Dr. Gabrielle Lanier and Dr. Steven Guerrier, for their assistance in this project.
Classified information in the United States
United States intelligence operations