The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
In 1939 Winston Churchill was the driving force behind what he called the ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’, which would eventually employ thousands around the world in a number of special units. It is always good inte
- Author
- Giles Milton
- Publisher
- John Murray
- Price
- £20
- ISBN
- 14447798952
- Published
- 2016
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Giles Milton
Winston Churchill drove the creation of Britain’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, an organisation that would marshal thousands of specialists for sabotage and covert operations. Intelligence identified the most valuable Nazi targets—power stations, ammunition stores, fuel depots—and the ministry set about destroying them.
Colonel Colin Gubbins, an expert in guerrilla warfare, led the department. He recruited innovators such as engineer Cecil Clarke, designer of deadly explosive devices including the “dirty bomb” used in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.
Bill Sykes and William Fairbairn brought experience from policing the back streets of Hong Kong and Shanghai, where they had devised silent killing techniques and infiltrated the Triads. They went on to train Commandos and SOE agents in the Scottish Highlands; the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife is still issued to Royal Marines Commandos.
Women working at SOE headquarters in Baker Street also played crucial roles, contributing to operations like the destruction of the Norwegian heavy-water plant, which prevented the Nazis from developing an atomic weapon.
ISBN 14447798952. John Murray. £20