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| WWII Today Discussion about WW2 related topics from 1945 to today |
September 4th, 2006, 05:35 PM
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Quote:
Files reveal leaked D-Day plans
Formerly secret MI5 files have revealed that the plans for the D-Day landings in 1944 were leaked to one of Britain's brightest military strategists.
Sir Basil Liddell Hart had all the details three months before the invasion took place.
Some of the once-classified files have now been given to the National Archives in Kew, west London.
They suggest the situation may have endangered the assault, which was a major turning point in World War II.
MORE ON D-DAY
Sir Basil, who was decorated for bravery in World War I, began publishing his military theories during the 1920s and is also credited with greatly influencing the development of armoured warfare.
He was close to many top generals throughout World War II.
Plans circulated
MI5's files reveal that not only were the details given to Sir Basil, but that he also began boasting about them around London.
He even prepared a critique of the plan, entitled Some Reflections on the Problems of Invading the Continent, which he circulated among leading politicians and military figures.
When Prime Minister Winston Churchill was informed he was outraged and demanded that Sir Basil be prosecuted.
Sir Basil, however, insisted that he had worked out the plan for himself and that as a military expert he was entitled to be consulted on such matters.
Despite Churchill's anger, no legal action was ever taken, although Sir Basil was placed under surveillance and his telephone calls and letters were intercepted.
One MI5 report complained at the time that he was an "unconscious ally" of Josef Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief who regularly quoted him in his radio broadcasts.
However, there was no suggestion that Sir Basil was involved in any subversive activity.
'Very considerable risk'
Howard Davies, from the National Archives, said the leak had created a situation which was taken seriously by the nation's intelligence services.
"I think the files being released show there was a very considerable risk," he said.
"We now know for the first time that the fact that Basil Liddell Hart was a well-known military tactian would have lent weight to any information he did, whether deliberately or accidentally, pass on.
"MI5 were understandably very concerned that he knew these plans."
MI5 narrowed down the most likely source of the leak to General Sir Tim Pile who was in command of anti-aircraft defences, but could not find enough proof to take further action.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/5311460.stm
Published: 2006/09/04 08:47:57 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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 Regards, Richard  
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September 4th, 2006, 11:35 PM
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didnt know that thanks
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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler
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September 5th, 2006, 03:52 PM
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IŽd be more worried tha if thereŽs one leak there definitely are a couple of more. I guess we can be thankful it wasnŽt the nazis as one of them! But then again Hitler would have thought it was a plot....
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September 5th, 2006, 04:17 PM
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Yes! in fact a Nazi agent intercepted an message from Rosevelt to Stalin stating that D-Day would come in France but Hitler dismissed this as a hoax by the allies.
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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler
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September 5th, 2006, 04:19 PM
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alright another medal!
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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler
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September 5th, 2006, 05:44 PM
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It makes you think what the Germans would of thought of it, if they got hold of the information would they bite or throw it in the bin. The bigger question would be if AH would have believed it.
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September 5th, 2006, 07:54 PM
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K..I was watching a show on the history channel. And it was about..the German Intellegence, knowing about D-Day, by listening to radio broadcast from the UK, to the "resistance". and if a certain sentance was said, followed by another one, that would mean to start there missions as d-day is only a couple of days away. Forgive me, for not recalling the show or facts correctly. But I just thought I'd mention it.
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September 5th, 2006, 11:56 PM
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this is all quite interesting stuff, the germans had right to believe this was a hoax, because they had been presented with a great lot of them...but they seemed to know it was coming because they set up all the defenses on the beaches...
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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill
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September 6th, 2006, 06:57 PM
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I think that this was a little bit of a storm in a teacup....
Liddell Hart, although he moved in influential circles, was a little 'passe' by this later stage of WWII. It's not made clear how precise this leaked information was ( after all, 3 months before the invasion with the Country crammed with US military and weapons, a lot of people knew that invasion was imminent ).
Interestingly, with their experiences in WW1 still clear in their minds, both L-H and Churchill feared a 'first day on the Somme'-type slaughter on the D-Day beaches.
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