Operation Ruthless
Encyclopedia
Operation Ruthless was the name of a deception operation devised by Ian Fleming
in the British
Admiralty
during World War II
, in an attempt to gain access to German Naval Enigma codebooks.
had considerable success in decoding the Enigma-enciphered
traffic of the German air force, army and intelligence and counter-espionage service (Abwehr), but had made little progress with German naval messages. The methods of communicating the choice and starting positions, of Enigma's rotors, the indicator, were much more complex for naval messages. In late summer 1940 Dilly Knox
, the veteran World War I
codebreaker, Frank Birch
, head of Bletchley Park's German Naval Department, and the two leading codebreakers, Alan Turing
and Peter Twinn
knew that getting hold of the German Navy Enigma documentation was their best chance of making progress in breaking the code.
The Royal Navy's
Operational Intelligence Centre (OIC) was a leading user of Ultra
intelligence from Bletchley Park's decrypts. Lieutenant Commander
Ian Fleming of the Admiralty's
Naval Intelligence Division, who later wrote the James Bond
novels, was the personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey
. Fleming liaised with the naval department at Bletchley Park, visiting about twice a month, and was well aware of this problem.
The plan was that the German bomber
would follow on behind the aircraft from a returning night bombing raid. When crossing the middle of the English Channel
, it would cut one engine and lose height with smoke pouring from a 'candle' in the tail, send out a SOS
distress signal and then ditch in the sea. The crew would then take to a rubber dinghy
, having ensured that the bomber sank before the Germans could identify it, and wait to be rescued by a German naval vessel. When on board the 'survivors' would then kill the German crew, and hijack the ship, thus obtaining the Enigma documentation.
Fleming had pencilled in his own name as a crew member of the crew but, as someone who knew about Bletchley Park, he could not be placed at risk of being captured. A German Heinkel
was prepared with an aircrew of German-speaking Englishmen. The operation was planned for the early part of WHICH? month because it was known that the code sheets were changed at the start of each month.
to await the next suitable bombing raid, but aerial reconnaissance
and W/T (Wireless telegraphy
) monitoring failed to find any suitable German vessels, and the operation was called off. That this was a major disappointment to the codebreakers can be judged by what Frank Birch
wrote in a letter dated 20 October 1940.
An alternative account of why the operation did not take place, was given by his niece, Lucy Fleming, in The Bond Correspondence on BBC Radio 4
on 24 May 2008. In this programme she stated that an official at the RAF pointed out that a downed Heinkel bomber would sink rather than float. The plan required the bomber to sink so as to avoid its identification by the Germans - the "survivors" were to take to a rubber dinghy to await rescue.
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in an attempt to gain access to German Naval Enigma codebooks.
Background
With the help of their Polish allies, British codebreakers at Bletchley ParkBletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
had considerable success in decoding the Enigma-enciphered
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
traffic of the German air force, army and intelligence and counter-espionage service (Abwehr), but had made little progress with German naval messages. The methods of communicating the choice and starting positions, of Enigma's rotors, the indicator, were much more complex for naval messages. In late summer 1940 Dilly Knox
Dilly Knox
Alfred Dillwyn 'Dilly' Knox CMG was a classics scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and a British codebreaker...
, the veteran World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
codebreaker, Frank Birch
Francis Birch (cryptographer)
Francis Lyall Birch was a British cryptographer. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. He was awarded an OBE in 1919 and CMG in 1945....
, head of Bletchley Park's German Naval Department, and the two leading codebreakers, Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
and Peter Twinn
Peter Twinn
Peter Frank George Twinn was a British mathematician, World War II codebreaker and entomologist.-Education and codebreaking:...
knew that getting hold of the German Navy Enigma documentation was their best chance of making progress in breaking the code.
The Royal Navy's
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Operational Intelligence Centre (OIC) was a leading user of Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
intelligence from Bletchley Park's decrypts. Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Ian Fleming of the Admiralty's
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
Naval Intelligence Division, who later wrote the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novels, was the personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey
John Henry Godfrey
Admiral John Henry Godfrey CB was an officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy, specializing in navigation....
. Fleming liaised with the naval department at Bletchley Park, visiting about twice a month, and was well aware of this problem.
The plan
In September, Fleming wrote a note to Godfrey which read:I suggest we obtain the loot by the following means:
1. Obtain from Air Ministry an air-worthy German bomber.
2. Pick a tough crew of five, including a pilot, W/T operator and word-perfect German speaker. Dress them in German Air Force uniform, add blood and bandages to suit.
3. Crash plane in the Channel after making S.O.S. to rescue service in P/L.
4. Once aboard rescue boat, shoot German crew, dump overboard, bring rescue boat back to English port.
In order to increase the chances of capturing an R. or M. with, its richer booty, the crash might be staged in mid-Channel. The Germans would presumably employ one of this type for the longer and more hazardous journey.
F. 12.9-40.
The plan was that the German bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
would follow on behind the aircraft from a returning night bombing raid. When crossing the middle of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, it would cut one engine and lose height with smoke pouring from a 'candle' in the tail, send out a SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
distress signal and then ditch in the sea. The crew would then take to a rubber dinghy
Inflatable boat
An inflatable boat is a lightweight boat constructed with its sides and bow made of flexible tubes containing pressurised gas. For smaller boats, the floor and hull beneath it is often flexible. On boats longer than , the floor often consists of three to five rigid plywood or aluminium sheets fixed...
, having ensured that the bomber sank before the Germans could identify it, and wait to be rescued by a German naval vessel. When on board the 'survivors' would then kill the German crew, and hijack the ship, thus obtaining the Enigma documentation.
Fleming had pencilled in his own name as a crew member of the crew but, as someone who knew about Bletchley Park, he could not be placed at risk of being captured. A German Heinkel
Heinkel
Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight.-History:...
was prepared with an aircrew of German-speaking Englishmen. The operation was planned for the early part of WHICH? month because it was known that the code sheets were changed at the start of each month.
Outcome
Fleming took his team to DoverDover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
to await the next suitable bombing raid, but aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
and W/T (Wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy is a historical term used today to apply to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices, particularly those used during the first three decades of radio before the term radio came into use....
) monitoring failed to find any suitable German vessels, and the operation was called off. That this was a major disappointment to the codebreakers can be judged by what Frank Birch
Francis Birch (cryptographer)
Francis Lyall Birch was a British cryptographer. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. He was awarded an OBE in 1919 and CMG in 1945....
wrote in a letter dated 20 October 1940.
TuringAlan TuringAlan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
and TwinnPeter TwinnPeter Frank George Twinn was a British mathematician, World War II codebreaker and entomologist.-Education and codebreaking:...
came to me like undertakers cheated of a nice corpse two days ago, all in a stew about the cancellation of operation Ruthless. The burden of their song was the importance of a pinch.
An alternative account of why the operation did not take place, was given by his niece, Lucy Fleming, in The Bond Correspondence on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
on 24 May 2008. In this programme she stated that an official at the RAF pointed out that a downed Heinkel bomber would sink rather than float. The plan required the bomber to sink so as to avoid its identification by the Germans - the "survivors" were to take to a rubber dinghy to await rescue.
Additional reading
- Budiansky, Stephen. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II, Penguin Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-14-028105-3, 448 pgs.
- Hoare, Oliver. Code Breaking in World War II, Public Record Office, 2002, ISBN 1-903365-40-6, 20 pgs.
- James Bond Creator's Preposterous Plan to Outwit Nazis Revealed