Ops (B) was a Second World War deception planning department within the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Set up in the United Kingdom in April 1943, the section was in charge of operational deception planning for the Western Front. Their major contribution was to the Operations Cockade and Bodyguard, the latter being the cover plan for their Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Originally established under Colonel Jervis-Read the department suffered from a lack of power or resources. In December 1943, Jervis-Read was replaced by Colonel Noel Wild, a member of the middle eastern 'A' Force deception department, and expanded dramatically. Wild split the department into Operations and Intelligence sections. Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh retained charge of the latter, and Wild placed Jervis-Read in command of the former. Fleetwood-Hesketh immediately expanded his staff, bringing in his brother, an MI5 liaison and a secretary. The operations section was not expanded till May, with three American officers and Sam Hood (another 'A' Force alumni) joining the department.
In July, Wild won a power struggle over who was in charge of deception planning in France, and Ops (B) had a much more involved role. He sent Jervis-Read to France at the head of a "Forward" section, accompanied by the American officers Barnes and Moody. By the end of October 1944, all of the American members of the department had returned home leaving an entirely British staff.[1]
John Jervis-Read[]
Brigadier John Vaughan Bruce Jervis-Read OBE B.A. was the original head of Ops (B).[2] Jervis-Read joined the Royal Engineers from university, as a 2nd Lieutenant, in 1933.[3] By March 1942, when he was appointed head of the deception section, he held the rank of Colonel. Jervis-Read's main task was the planning of Operation Cockade. The operation was not a success, in part due to the complexity of the operation and also because of the limited resources at Jervis-Read's disposal. General Frederick E. Morgan (at that time the most senior officer at SHAEF, the Supreme Commanding having yet to be appointed) viewed Dudley Clarke's A Force as a "private army" which he would not have duplicated under his command.[4]
In December 1943 Jervis-Read was replaced by Colonel Noel Wild, who reorganised Ops (B). Jervis-Read was made head of the Operations section as his deputy. Following the Allied invasion of France he became Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff to SHAEF. In 1945 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire, the citation recognised his work with Ops (B) and in France.[5] Jervis-Read retired from the army in 1963, having attained the rank of Brigadier and awarded an OBE.[2]
Noel Wild[]
Colonel Noel Wild was Dudley Clarke's deputy in Cairo from April 1942.[6] Toward the end of 1943, when Ops (B) was scheduled for expansion to assist with Operation Bodyguard (a deception cover plan for the D-Day landings), Clarke secretly suggested Wild for the department's head. In December of that year Wild was sent to London, he believed on leave, where he was assessed for suitability and then appointed to the role.[7]
Under Wild, Ops (B) was expanded and divided into two sections; Operations and Intelligence. It received greater power, including control of the information flowing to double agents, and Wild used this to help with planning for Operation Fortitude, the major segment of the Bodyguard plan.[7][8] This situation did not last long; another 'A' Force alumni, David Strangeways was brought over to head up R Force, the operational deception unit of the 21st Army Group. Strangeways and Wild clashed on a personal and professional level until, eventually, Strangeways rewrote large portions of the Fortitude South plan, and pushed Ops (B) into a more supporting role.[9]
In July 1944, Wild wrestled control of operational deception planning from Strangeways and others. He responded by sending a portion of the department (Jervis-Read plus the American officers Barnes and Moody) to France as the Forward section. He remained in the UK with the rest of the staff as the Read section.[1]
Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh[]
Lieutenant Colonel Roger Fleetwood Hesketh TD, DL, OBE (28 July 1902 – 14 November 1987) was the son of Major Charles Hesketh Fleetwood-Hesketh. Like his father, Roger was educated and Eton and Oxford University before becoming a barrister and later a soldier.[10]
Hesketh, then at the rank of Major, joined Ops (B) alongside Jervis-Read, as the department's only intelligence officer. John Bevan, in setting up the unit, felt that it would only require operational capabilities and that intelligence would remain with his own London Controlling Section.[11]
However, with the arrival of Wild, Hesketh was handed control of an expanded intelligence section, which included his brother, Cuthbert, a civilian secretary and an MI5 liaison officer.[12]
Other members[]
Prior to Wild's arrival, Ops (B) had a very small staff – consisting of Jervis-Read, Hesketh and two American officers. From January 1944, Wild expanded the staff to include liaisons with MI5, additional American officers and experienced deception staff from 'A' Force in Cairo.
Operations[]
Name | Country | Joined | Left | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lieutenant Colonel Percy Lash | US | April 1943 | January 1944 | US Army planners, temporarily assigned to the department under Jervis-Read. Both returned to Ops (A) (the traditional planning department of SHAEF) following Wild's arrival.[7] |
Major Melvin Brown | US | April 1943 | January 1944 | |
Lieutenant Colonel Frederic W. Barnes | US | May 1944 | September 1944 | Joined the operations section in May.[7] When Wild sent Jervis-Read to France in July, as the department's Forward section, Barnes along with Moody travelled with him. Returned to the US in September before being posted to the Pacific where he took part in further deception work.[1][13] |
Major Alfred (Al) J. Moody | US | May 1944 | September 1944 | West Point educated (he graduated top of his class in 1941), Moody joined along with the other American officers in May 1944 and travelled with Jervis-Read to France in July.[1][7] His later career was similar to that of Barnes; returning to the US in September before a posting to the Pacific.[13] |
Captain John ("Jack") B. Corbett | US | May 1944 | October 1944 | The third American officer to join the Department in May 1944.[7] He left in October, and was also posted to the Pacific theatre (although much later than Moody and Barnes).[13] In February 1945, he joined D Division where he remained for the rest of the war.[14] In 1947, still in the army, he visited London on a fact finding mission to review British deception efforts since the war.[15] |
Major S. B. D. "Sam" Hood | UK | May 1944 | Hood was a former 'A' Force member, having joined in May 1943 to help co-ordinate radio deception.[16] In December he replaced David Strangeways as the head of 'A' Force Tac HQ (West) in Italy, when the latter was posted to the UK.[17] He joined Ops (B) at the end of May 1944, remaining in the UK with Wild during the July reshuffle.[1][7] |
Intelligence[]
Name | Country | Joined | Left | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Major Christopher Harmer | UK | January 1944 | March 1944 | MI5 liaison; a former officer for the agency and case officer for the double agent "Brutus".[18] Suggested the selection of George S. Patton as commander of the notional First United States Army Group, as part of the Operation Fortitude deception.[19] He left on April 7 to command 104 SCI Unit; a detachment established to handle new double agents on the continent. In this role he had dealings with Ops (B), although Wild refused to use such agents in deception activities.[20] After the war Harmer returned to practice as a solicitor.[21] |
Phyllis White | UK | January 1944 | Civilian secretary, drafted from MI5.[18] | |
Captain Cuthbert Fleetwood-Hesketh | UK | January 1944 | Roger Fleetwood Hesketh's brother, a taciturn individual brought in from the War Office because he spoke German. In the end he acted as the department's main courier between the various deception planning agencies (and 21st Army HQ).[18] Following the end of the War in Europe he helped debrief German intelligence officers, to evaluate how well deception had worked.[22] |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Holt (2004), pg. 634
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 London Gazette (1963)
- ↑ London Gazette (1933)
- ↑ Crowdy (2011), pg. 220
- ↑ Order of The British Empire (1945)
- ↑ Mure (1980), pg. 90
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Holt (2004), pg. 528
- ↑ Crowdy (2011), pg. 230
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 530
- ↑ Mosley (2003), Vol 1. pg. 369
- ↑ Levine (2011), pg. 182
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 478
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Holt (2004), pg. 669
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 680
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 800
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 369
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 394
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Holt (2004), pg. 529
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 541
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 632–634
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 793
- ↑ Holt (2004), pg. 711
Bibliography[]
- Crowdy, Terry (20 December 2011). Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-135-4.
- Holt, Thaddeus (2004). The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. Scribner. ISBN 0743250427.
- Levine, Joshua (2011). Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII that Saved D-Day. London: Collins. ISBN 0007313535.
- Mosley, Charles, ed (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, Clan Chiefs, Scottish Feudal Barons. 1 (107th ed.). Wilmington: Burke's Peerage & Gentry. ISBN 9780971196629.
- Mure, David (1980). Master of Deception: Tangled Webs in London and the Middle East. W. Kimber. ISBN 0718302575.
London Gazette[]
- "No. 33908". 3 February 1933. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33908/page/
- "No. 42989". 10 May 1963. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/42989/page/
War record[]
- "Recommendation for Award: Order of The British Empire". The National Archives. 19 April 1945. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details/D7388823.
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The original article can be found at List of Ops (B) staff and the edit history here.