With the latest James Bond blockbuster out next year, MHM assistant editor Calum Henderson explores the life of the man who created him: Ian Fleming, whose wartime adventures rivalled those of 007 himself.
In the summer of 1940, British codebreakers at Bletchley Park had a problem. They had enjoyed great success in deciphering the messages of the German air force, army, and intelligence services. But the vital naval codes continued to elude them.
A plan was devised by the Naval Intelligence Department (NID) of the Admiralty. British agents disguised as German airmen would intentionally ditch a captured Heinkel bomber in the North Sea, near where the Nazis were running a rescue service for their own crews.
Once ‘rescued’, these agents would commandeer the German ship, and obtain what the Admiralty was convinced were on board: the Enigma codebooks that could change the course of the war.
