The Operational Intelligence Centre (OIC) was the nerve centre of the British Admiralty in World War II, dedicated to the collection, analysis and dissemination of information from every possible source that could throw light upon the plans and deployment of German naval and maritime forces throughout the War.
This highly readable account tells the story of how the results of Enigma decoding at Bletchley Park and other intelligence was used in the titanic struggle against the U-boat menace. In the OIC operations room beneath the Admiralty, teams sifted through a combination of radar direction tracking information, secret reports of U-boat departures from the French ports, code-breaking from Bletchley, as well as information from the Americans and Canadians, often contradictory, to anticipate and counter the U-boat threat; and Sir Charles Rodger Noel Winn, in charge of U-boat tracking, who was said to be able to almost read the mind of Admiral Dönitz., the U-Boat commander-in-chief.
Through the author’s experiences of this intelligence world his riveting story adds a new dimension to those dramatic episodes such as the hunt for the Bismarck, the tragedy of Convoy PQ17, and the long war against the U-boats in the wastes of the North Atlantic, and other naval events that were critical to the outcome of the War.
‘This is the best book so far, and likely to remain so, about British intelligence in World War II.’ THE GUARDIAN
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VERY SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE The Story of the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre 1939-1945
£3.99
The Operational Research Centre at the Admiralty was where the raw intelligence gleaned from breaking the Enigma codes at Bletchley Park was assessed and disseminated. In this classic account of the OIC’s work, historian Patrick Beesly reveals previously unknown details of the secret work that helped win the war.
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