Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!ernie.berkeley.edu!tedrick From: tedrick@ernie.berkeley.edu.BERKELEY.EDU (Tom Tedrick) Newsgroups: net.crypt,net.politics Subject: Re: Enigma and the Eastern Front again Message-ID: <11900@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Mon, 17-Feb-86 19:38:56 EST Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11900 Posted: Mon Feb 17 19:38:56 1986 Date-Received: Fri, 21-Feb-86 04:08:56 EST References: <11809@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <650@well.UUCP> <11877@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: tedrick@ernie.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Tom Tedrick) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 167 Xref: watmath net.crypt:549 net.politics:13501 More references regarding the role of ULTRA in the Eastern Campaign: (Also someone doubted that there was a campaign of psychological warfare aimed at Hitler, so I include references to that as well) From "A Man Called Intrepid", by William Stevenson (Ballentine paperback first printed 1977) Pages 217-235 (on the delay in Hitler's invasion of Russia caused by British tricks in the Balkans) Refering to Hitler, and the psychological warfare aimed at him, Churchill is quoted: "we calculated that his superstitious mind could be unbalanced ..." Stevenson: " ... what Churchill called 'the single outstanding intelligence coup of any war.' This was to create the diversion that delayed BARBAROSSA, trapped the German armies, and brought them to defeat." "what Churchill wanted was some upset in Hitler's timetable to delay his contemplated attack on Russia. In this way, it was thought that Hitler would face defeat." "ULTRA's recovery of Hitler's fateful Directive 21: Operation Barbarossa was submitted for analysis." "Churchill had meanwhile been following the redeployment of Panzer divisions. The movement orders for supply units and dive-bomber squadrons convinced him that Hitler would move in May 1941." "They knew Hitler planned to invade Russia. They had the text of what Hitler called 'the greatest deception plan in the history of war' to disguise his preparations. But they could not convince Stalin. Was this because Hitler's deception plan was working? It seemed so. In that case it was necessary to save Stalin from his own folly." "Churchill threw himself into this task unreservedly ... His prime concern was to win time for the Russians to recover from the first surprise attack. The place to do it was the Balkans." [it goes on to describe in some detail how Hitler was working to manipulate the Balkan countries, so as to secure his southern flank before invading Russia.] "The German plans had been known through ULTRA for some time ... [all the British could do was ] warn Stalin and make whatever moves they could in the Balkans." "Hitler was preparing a complete strategic surprise. ... If the Russians were to be taken this way, then, Churchill argued, let the Nazi blitzkrieg bog down in the same Russian snows that defeated Napoleon. As it turned out, Donovan's intervention succeeded. Hitler was forced to postpone the attack until the very anniversary of Napoleon's own catastrophic invasion- to the very day and hour- an ill omen that nobody, least of all Hitler, should have ignored." "If the Nazis met resistance in the Balkans, a long drawn-out guerrilla war would bleed Germany. The possibilities were examined by British secret intelligence ..." " [refering to Bulgaria] ... In result, they hesitated before implementing their proposed intervention on Germany's side ..." "The success of Donovan's mission could be followed step by step by Churchill, reading the exchanges between the German High Command and German diplomats, between German intelligence and Hitler. Most of this material came through Bletchley ..." " ... Donovan ... found [Yugoslavia] ... preparing to join the Axis ..." "Churchill, reading the blow-by-blow reports of Nazi leaders, including Hitler himself ..." "There was one group in Yugoslavia capable of resistance: Tito's communists. ... [Tito] had returned from the Soviet Union a year earlier, [ ... disguised ... ], and carrying a British passport issued in Canada. How this came about is still classified information." "British intelligence put pressure on the Yugoslav Air Force Chief ..." " [Hitler issued an ultimatum to Yugoslavia on March 22] ... [Yugoslav] officers mounted a ... revolt. The officers rebellion overthrew the Prince-Regent." "[Donovan gave a nationwide speech March 25] ... The speech was guaranteed to throw Hitler into an angry fit. The Fuhrer was known to blunder when his tantrums were unpremeditated, and not staged for effect. ... The speech reached Hitler and, as intended, threw him into a dangerous and this time uncalculated rage. A week later [April 6] ... , German bombers began to raze Belgrade. ... The devastation was a consequence of [British/American] intelligence operations ..." "On April 7, ... German troops ... crossed the frontier ... Thereafter all happened as Roosevelt and Churchill had forseen. ULTRA signals revealed how NAZI forces closed in upon Yugoslavia. ..." "The resistance of Yugoslavia, unexpected by the Germans, diverted Nazi forces and prolonged their advance through Greece. They had meant to use their divisions in Bulgaria against Turkey as a preliminary move before the attack on Russia. [operation BARBAROSSA was delayed 6 weeks and in Yugoslavia the result was] a four-year quagmire of guerrilla warfare." "Churchill was emphatic that the fatal delay in Hitler's invasion of Russia resulted from this ... [ie from] what would be called later 'destabilizing' a foreign country." [it goes on to discuss how the British expedition in Greece was designed to provoke] "... Hitler's angry and ill-considered plunge into the Balkan quagmire." " 'Churchill's decision to reinforce Greece was not the romantic gamble of an amateur', Stephenson said ..." "FDR signalled Churchill 'You have done ... very useful work in Greece [due to] ... the necessity for an enormous German concentration and resulting enormous German losses in men and material ... You have fought a wholly justifiable action." "There was no sign that Stalin yet understood that he had been given only a brief reprieve. On the contrary [he] ... continued to disbelieve the warnings." "Hitler ... achieved both [tactical] ... and strategic surprise ... on ... June 22, 1941, his warplanes caught 1400 Russian aircraft dozing on the ground. ... German troops [advanced] ... 400 miles in four weeks. What saved the Russians was the fact that the first strike failed to reach its distant goal before the onset of winter." "Tito later wrote 'Hitler's Command was forced to postpone the attack on Russia by 38 days ... every 9th Yugoslav lost his life in the aftermath." " [Goebbels] blamed the Balkans bloodbath on 'the notorius Colonel Donovan who later created the infamous OSS spy ring. He brought disaster to Yugoslavia in order to pull other countries like Greece into the war. ... The most vile cannard of our enemies is that the Fuhrer is losing the Second World War because of personal rage and spite, delaying the attack on Russia to wreak vengeance on a small and harmless neighbor ..." "Stephenson was bringing into an operation a fake astrologer to help irritate Hitler still more ... his superstition might as well be fed by fortunetellers and rumor mills. The Nazis would soon be locked in a titanic struggle with the Soviets, and new weapons of psychological and political warfare were being forged to demoralize the enemy or provoke him into still further folly."