Behind the Battle

This remains a much needed book. It offers a succinct and authoritative survey of military intelligence available to Britain and her allies during the Second World War.

When war began, Britain was as ill-prepared in intelligence as in armaments. Scientists had discovered the principle of radar in the mid-1930s but everything else had to be learned from scratch in the heat of emergency. Early signs of improvement came in mid-1941, when Ultra targeted naval vessels and bomber aircraft so succ...