Churchill and the Secret Service [Hardcover]

David Stafford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0879518502 | ISBN-13: 978-0879518509 | Edition: 1st

"Churchill and the Secret Service" offers a groundbreaking overview of the great statesman and the secret world of intelligence, clandestine operations, counterterrorism, and subversion with which he was actively involved. 25 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Although Winston Churchill was rarely at a loss for words, his richly detailed memoirs are remarkably silent on the subjects of espionage and clandestine affairs. Stafford, a former diplomat who has written extensively on intelligence affairs, has filled in great gaps in our knowledge of events, ranging from the Cuban insurrection in 1895 to the overthrow of the Musaddiq government in Iran in 1953. Churchill, always a man of the nineteenth century in outlook and prejudice, had a lifelong fascination with the "Great Game" as practiced in the borderlands of India and its variations around the world. His sometimes overly romantic view of espionage led to occasionally reckless and costly errors. However, Stafford feels Churchill's utilization of intelligence operations was generally a plus for Britain and the West. Stafford's narrative is concise, easy to follow (even for the general reader), and often exciting. Lovers of spy novels should get particular enjoyment from the fine examination of the genuine article. Jay Freeman

From Kirkus Reviews

Former diplomat Stafford compellingly tells the fateful story of Winston Churchill's lifelong obsession with intelligence and secret warfare, which had both trivial and large-scale consequences for the British from the Boer War through the 1950s. From the outset of his colorful multiple career as an imperial officer, journalist, man of letters, and statesman, Churchill evinced a romantic fascination with the arcana of secret intelligence work. Stafford, an intelligence historian (The Silent Game, not reviewed), traces this fixation to a brief 1895 stint in Cuba, where Churchill covered the rebellion against Spain for a British newspaper. At once idealizing and fearing the rebels, Churchill saw for the first time the effects of a popular insurrection fought by guerrillas: The rebels, who had perfect intelligence of Spanish locations and operations, often fought with an insurmountable advantage over the unwieldy government forces. Churchill had similar reactions to other guerrilla tactics he observed or experienced, whether in Ireland in the troubles of 191621 or by anticommunist forces against the Bolshevik regime in the early 1920s; guerrillas, cloaked in secrecy and backed by popular support, were able to win wars against numerically superior conventional opponents through superior intelligence and covert activities. During WW I he founded the first signals intelligence organization, and after the collapse of the tsarist regime he became deeply involved in the ultimately disastrous anticommunist activities of master spy Sidney Reilly. It was as a wartime prime minister, however, that Churchill's concern with spying had the most concrete effect: He forged an important intelligence alliance with the US, oversaw Britain's ``Ultra'' operation, which brilliantly intercepted the communications of the Nazi command, and founded the Special Operations Executive, which ran daring operations in Nazi-occupied Europe, gave aid to resistance movements across Europe, and ultimately engendered Britain's modern intelligence apparatus. A first-rate and, what is more remarkable, an original contribution to Churchilliana, of sure interest to students of Churchill, modern history, or military intelligence. (25 b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879518502
• ISBN-13: 978-0879518509
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston
  • #74 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking work on Churchill, November 22, 1999

By 

J. Collins (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Churchill and the Secret Service (Hardcover)

"Churchill and Secret Service" documents the life long connection between him and secret intelligence. The author traces this back to Churchill's experience as a journalist in the Cuban revolt against Spain. His romantic nature, combined with the undisputed effectiveness of the guerillas, instilled in him a faith in guerilla warfare and its requirement of good intelligence. The book continues through Churchill's association with "room 40" during WWI, and his continued receipt of intelligence reports during the years "in the wilderness". Naturally the bulk of the work concerns itself with the Second World War, the creation of SOE and the secret armies. The author delves into the "special relationship" between the UK and US and reveals in detail the serious conflicts between SIS/SOE and the OSS-an area that often does not receive much attention by historians. Churchill's second term as prime minister,and subsequent retirement conclude the work. What it shows is that Churchill, probably more than any other political leader, understood the value and the dangers of secret intelligence, and knew how to employ it (most of the time). His experience provides excellent lessons to those who collect or use strategic/operational intelligence,"intelligence was not an end in itself and did not belong to those who produced it." Would that our current intelligence structure followed this advice...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stafford does his homework !, May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Churchill and the Secret Service (Hardcover)

This is an excellent work from an author that thoroughly researches every detail of the subject before it is put to print. As all of Staffords work, the factual basis is unquestionable. Anyone that reads this work will have a deep understanding of the time period and the personalities involved.

7 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A flawed account of a morally corrupt great man, September 4, 2000

By 

K.Mukerjee (Cochin,India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Churchill and the Secret Service (Paperback)

As Stafford says that Churchill appreciated the value of good intelligence and how it could influence the outcome of any struggle .But on the whole I must express my profound disagreement on some of the information contained in this book. The LUSITANIA episode: Fortuitously-Magdeburg incident 26th August 1914- the Room no.40 of the British Admiralty cracked German Navy's tactical codes .Bulk of naval traffic related to the movements of U-boats and German High Seas Fleet it was able to read .Churchill as the First Lord of Admiralty was privy to this fact .What now follows is difficult to digest for a rational mind .If one were to believe the author the movement of U-20(which sank the American ship)was detected and all ships in the immediate vicinity warned of its presence.Message received by LUSITANIA but ship's captain instead of changing course continued with the voyage thus courting disaster. In other words author has implied the American ship was commanded by a mad man who sent her to the watery grave, a chain of reasoning difficult to follow.It looks as though Stafford wanted to defend the British leader from accusations of his detractors who have claimed the latter staged the incident to bring America on a collision course with Germany. It is very hard to accept Churchill's innocence in certain matters because I know him as a shrewd practitioner of Realpolitik .Desmond Morton ( an influential figure in the Whitehall corridors of power and later SIS officer )connived with Churchill to forge Zinoviev's letter which damaged Labour Party's electoral prospects in the early 20's. Coming to the Second World War, soon after the captitulation of France there came invasion hysteria . Now it must be said when it came to invading Britain the Nazi dictator was strangely reluctant . Early July 1940 Hitler disclosed his intention of invading Soviet Union to Schmundt his chief-adjutant and Von Brauchitsch the Army Commander-in-Chief .Churchill via ULTRA decrypts knew that much of German troop deployments along Channel coast was sham. Yet he kept up the invasion bogey because this was bringing public support. Later in January 1941U.S.Presidential envoy Harry Hopkins visit to war-torn Britain was stage-managed to draw American support for Britains' war effort. Author has demolished claims that Churchill sacrificed Coventry (heavily bombed by Luftwaffe on 14 November 1940) for protecting ULTRA. The target was identified very late but the argument that it was not brought to PM's attention sounds skeptical. Instead Crete was sacrificed .However I am of the view that Britsh Commonwealth forces could have defended the island without blowing ULTRA.The battle for Crete hinged upon the possession of Maleme airfield . A spotter aircraft could have been sent to show it had detected the approach of German aerial armada carrying elite paratroops instead of denuding Maleme defences for masking ULTRA.The exercise is cleverly contrived attempt to cover up British Middle East Command's lack of resolve in defending Crete.I endorse Stafford's view that British leader was not knowing Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor.However it is difficult to accept the naivete of US political establishment in this matter . Suffice to say the US intelligence had broken codes used by Tokyo to exchange information with Consul -General Kita in Honolulu.String of messages showing Japan taking unusual interest in Pearl Harbor were intercepted . One such message intercepted divided the place into five areas asked for exact location of Pacific Fleet warships and carriers . Washington correctly guessed this could be a grid system for a bombing attack.Had Roosevelt and his men been shrewd ,vigilant, the ensuing tragedy could have been averted The author has misinterpreted the train of events that led to the German intervention in the Balkans April-May 1941. It was Mussolini who dragged Hitler into the Balkan mess .On 28 October 1940 Italian troopsinvaded Greece . Invaders were soon bogged down which gave British the pretext to land troops in that country .Besides RAF bombers started operating from bases in Crete.They had the range to strike Ploesti in Rumania from where Wehrmacht drew bulk of its oil..British deployment also menaced the southern flank of German armies slated to take part in Barbarossa :invasion of Soviet Union .Germany intervened to neutralise the flank threat . Churchill's role in fomenting guerilla warfare in Nazi-occupied Europe forms underlying theme of this book. British leader's brush with partisans in the far reaches of the Empire during heydays of his youth made him advocate this mode of fighting. It must be said , however , in the final analysis the role of the guerillas in the victory over Nazi Germany appears minimal.Owing to reasons of geography guerilla warfare never struck roots in Europe,much of the continent lay inert under the Nazi jackboot.Exceptions being Greece , Yugoslavia where mountainous terrain favoured large -scale guerilla operations .Finally a few things I like about this book: Churchill during prewar years exaggerated the capabilities of Luftwaffe,failed to appreciate the role tanks would play in the coming war ,underestimated the threat posed by Japan . Information such as that he bought Spain's neutrality in the war through bribes , came very close to compromising ULTRA during the speech marking German invasion of Soviet Union , approved a plan to assassinate Hitler , 'Operation Foxley', came close to carrying it out. Upon reading this book I gained the impression that Stafford has condoned the British leader's misdemeanours ,author no doubt is a Churchill apologist. To me Churchill was the most reactionary politician thrown up by the Western World. He stroved to ensure the Britains' domination of the post war world .He resisted Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy not because they were fascist regimes rather to their interference with Britains' imperial interests. Neverthless a remarkable man ,patriot who presided his country's fortune at a critical time of her existence .To his credit it must also be said Churchill realised, unlike other leaders of the Conservative party, the threat posed by Nazi Germany could only be contained by entering into a defence alliance with the Soviet union .In June1940 he took the decisive step in his career by deciding to continue the war against Germany.