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Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force, generally referred to as 'A' Force, was the name of a deception department during the
Second World War 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. It was set up in March 1941 and based in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
under Brigadier Dudley Clarke. General
Archibald Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded i ...
, the commander of forces in North Africa at the outbreak of war, initiated the use of deception as part of
Operation Compass Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...
, in December 1940. After the success of Compass, Wavell sent for Clarke, with whom he had earlier worked in Palestine. Clarke was charged with forming the first deception department, in secret with limited resources.


Background

On 10 June 1940,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
declared war on the Allied nations. The British
Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...
, based in Egypt under General
Archibald Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded i ...
, fought a defensive war against Italian forces until Autumn, when it initiated more offensive manoeuvres. In November Wavell planned an offensive,
Operation Compass Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...
, against Italian troops at
Sidi Barrani Sidi Barrani ( ar, سيدي براني  ) is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about east of the Egypt–Libya border, and around from Tobruk, Libya. Named after Sidi es-Saadi el Barrani, a Senussi sheikh who was a head of ...
. As part of the operation he tried to deceive the enemy about the strength of British forces; via disinformation and visual deception. Compass, executed on 9 December, was a tactical success; something Wavell attributed to the accompanying deception. On 13 December he informed Allied high command of his intention to form a department to manage deception, and requested Dudley Clarke be sent to Cairo to help. Clarke arrived in Egypt on 18 December and at first worked alone and in secret, under the official title "Intelligence Officer (special duties) to the Commander in Chief". He had neither staff nor official mandate, and worked from a "converted bathroom" at the British Army headquarters, Cairo. His cover role was to establish a regional department for MI9, the somewhat less secret organisation tasked with helping Allied servicemen in escape and evasion tactics. Far from being a token cover, Clarke ran MI9's Middle East department, in tandem with his deception work, until .


'A' Force

By 1941, Clarke began to work with others, specialists in specific deception arts. Major Victor Jones was an engineer with the
14th/20th King's Hussars The 14th/20th King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was created by the amalgamation of the 14th King's Hussars and the 20th Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated with the Royal Hussa ...
who had organised several tactical deceptions using dummy tanks. Mark Ogilvie-Grant was a Captain in the
Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...
, Clarke recruited him to help with the spreading of disinformation. In Clarke began fabricating the existence of a British
paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Wor ...
regiment in the region, Operation Abeam, based on intelligence recovered the previous December. An Italian officer's journal had somehow been acquired, in it the officer expressed fear of an airborne assault. It would be two years before Allied paratroopers were deployed to North Africa, but Clarke planned to enhance these fears by creating a fictional "Special Air Service Brigade". Major Jones created a fleet of dummy gliders and Clarke organised fake radio traffic and information leaks. He even dressed two soldiers in "1 SAS" uniforms and set them to wander around Cairo, Port Said and Alexandria hinting at missions in
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
or
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
. By March, Clarke had another scheme in the works; a deception cover for Operation Cordite (the
6th Infantry Division 6th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *6th Division (Australia) *6th Division (Austria) * 6th (United Kingdom) Division *Finnish 6th Division (Winter War) * Finnish 6th Division (Continuation War) *6th Division (Reichswehr) * 6th Division ...
invasion of
Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...
). His work interviewing locals about the Greek island could not be associated with the 6th so he adopted the guise of 'A' Force. The name was intentionally vague, designed to add to the mythology of his fictional airborne unit. Although at first only a cover name, the department would soon become real and take control of all deception in the region. On Clarke requisitioned , Cairo – opposite and below a
brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...
– and in April received official mandate for his department. "Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force" moved into their new offices on and Clarke began to recruit his staff.


Struggles

With 'A' Force well established Clarke felt able to leave Cairo and pursue contacts outside of Egypt. He travelled to Turkey with the dual aim of establishing an MI9 presence in the country, and developing routes for 'A' Force to pass deceptive information to the enemy. Whilst abroad 'A' Force nominally fell under the control of Victor Jones. In Clarke's absence, what he later regarded as a power struggle emerged at
Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...
. In October, a recently promoted and rising-star Colonel
Ralph Bagnold Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, OBE, FRS, (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was an English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. In 1932, he staged the first recorded East-to-West crossing of the Libyan Desert. His work in the fi ...
was appointed "Chief Deception Officer" for the region. Bagnold and his staff took over tactical deception, leaving 'A' Force to handle strategic planning. Upon his return to Cairo, Clarke was annoyed both at the perceived power grab and the publicity around Bagnold's promotion (Clarke having previously invested effort in keeping deception low profile). Over the next few months, however, Bagnold's department began to take control of most of the theatre's deception planning, leaving 'A' Force responsible for training and advisory capacity (although Jones retained a lot of control over physical deception).


El Alamein and Cascade


Barclay


Legacy

'A' Force was an important step forward for Allied deception. Clarke's report in September 1941 was directly responsible for the creation of the London Controlling Section, Ops. (B) and the new focus on deceptive warfare through till the end of the war.


Structure and personnel

'A' Force was officially an organisation under Middle Eastern Command (Cairo). As well as overseeing deception within the North African theatre it also represented MI9 (escape and evasion) in the region, as a cover role, which accounted for a good portion of its staff. The organisation expanded quickly from its founding, and by the end of the war had quite a large staff, some of the key individuals included;


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Allied Military Deception in World War II North African campaign Military deception during World War II