The entry of Japan on the side of the Axis forces in 1941 led to a significant expansion of the Army and consequently the Australian Intelligence Corps. Australia itself was directly threatened and its people suffered numerous attacks by Japanese aircraft and sporadic naval bombardments. The damage done to the Army's intelligence effort by the economic effects of the inter-war years came home to roost. A realistic assessment showed that the pre-war struggle to maintain information databases on Australia, its dependencies and surrounding areas had produced mainly superficial information. The depth of information required by mid-20th Century high intensity land operations was not there. Immediately a monumental effort was begun by the Allies to secure Australia as a base area in preparation for an impending drive to recapture lost areas and to defeat the Japanese.



Australian intelligence personnel had a significant impact on the Allied effort to defeat the Japanese. Their early estimates of enemy courses of action were remarkably accurate. Australian intelligence predicted the disastrous consequences of dispatching troops to Malaya and Netherlands East Indies (modern day Indonesia). They accurately predicted the path of the Japanese move against Port Moresby over the Owen Stanley Ranges in New Guinea. Unfortunately, circumstances were against field commanders and many Australian and Allied personnel, both military and civilian were to suffer before the tide was turned.



Nevertheless, it is remarkable how quick the Allies were to exploit two of the most unheralded intelligence coups of the war against Japan. Australian intelligence personnel were directly involved in the capture and exploitation of two sets of documents which became pivotal to the future intelligence effort. The capture and translation of the Japanese Officer List enabled the Allies to develop a detailed understanding of the command structure of the entire Japanese Army. Australian Order of Battle analysts, working on translations of this and other documents became the acknowledged international experts on the order of battle of the Japanese Army. The other really significant operation occurred in 1943 when the Japanese 20th Division's tactical codes were captured and subsequently translated. This action was described as the 'seminal moment' in the history of the Allied signals intelligence organisation in the South West Pacific Area, known as Central Bureau.



In 1942, the Corps was boosted by the formation of the Field Security Wing and the raising of specialist units for field censorship, air photographic interpretation and the establishment of a full time intelligence training school. In the context of Allied cooperation, the Army commander, General Blamey (a former intelligence officer of the 1st Australian Division at Gallipoli in World War 1) suggested the formation of a combined intelligence organisation to bring together the naval, land and air intelligence services of the Allies involved in the fight against Japan in Australia's region. The merit of the suggestion was immediately acted on and the various intelligence assets operating in Australia were merged under the umbrella of the Allied Intelligence Bureau, the head of which was to be an Australian Army officer. The charter of the Allied Intelligence Bureau was to obtain and report information of the enemy, to hinder the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale, and to lend aid and assistance to local efforts to the same end in Japanese territory. Captain Peter Figgis was awarded the Military Cross for his command of a party which operated in areas held by Japanese forces. The presence of this party became known to the Japanese whose reconnaissance planes and land parties searched continuously in an endeavour to locate it. With total disregard for this threat, Captain Figgis continued to report enemy movements until he was ordered to withdraw inland so as to evade capture, and be available to resume his assigned role when opportunity offered. His party evaded capture and were eventually extracted to continue the fight in other operations.

The Corps grew to a previously unimaginable size as the campaigns against the Japanese ensued. By the end of War, Corps personnel were serving in:

• force, brigade, division, corps and army level intelligence sections
• the various echelons of Land Headquarters
• Lines of Communication intelligence sections
• Central Bureau (signals intelligence)
• Allied Translator and Interpreter Service
• Allied Geographic Section
• Combined Operations Intelligence Centre
• Far Eastern Liaison Office (a psychological operations unit controlled by the Director of Military Intelligence)
• the Security Service
• Army air photographic interpretation units
• the 1st Australia Field Censorship Company (a unit unique in concept and execution to Australia)
• the special operations elements of the Allied Intelligence Bureau
• prisoner of war and alien internment camps
• seconded to Allied intelligence headquarters and units as far afield as India and the Philippines.

Australian Intelligence Corps Association

__________________
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Hello Robert,

You may wish to look for a connection with the Allied Intelligence Bureau, which was under joint Australian and American command, I spent some time following orders from them, most likely there are few of us still around to remember.

__________________
All the Best
Jack

The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency of World War II. The AIB was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines in order to collect intelligence and conduct guerrilla warfare against Japanese forces in the South West Pacific. The AIB was formed in June 1942 to coordinate the existing Allied propaganda and guerilla organisations. The first controller of the AIB was Colonel C.G. Roberts. At its peak the AIB contained men from ten individual services and controlled or coordinated 8 separate organisations.
The role of the AIB was to Obtain information about the enemy, "to weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local effort to he same end in enemy territories."

Allied Intelligence Bureau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The last two links are to a site with quite a bit of info,

Full text of "Allied Intelligence Bureau"
http://www.ozatwar.com/sigint/aib.htm
http://www.ozatwar.com/sigint/sigint.htm

__________________
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Thank you Robert,

You're "Johny on the spot" resourcefulness never ceases to amaze me.

__________________
All the Best
Jack

Thanks Jack. I do have quite a bit of info from all over LOL.

__________________
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman