Intelligence and the War against Japan: Britain, America and the Politics of Secret Service
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 1st Edition, 4/13/2000
EAN 9780521641869, ISBN10: 0521641861
Hardcover, 526 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
Language: English
Intelligence and the War against Japan offers a comprehensive scholarly history of the development of the British secret service and its relations with its American intelligence counterparts during the war against Japan. Richard J. Aldrich makes extensive use of recently declassified files in order to examine the politics of secret service during the Far Eastern War, analysing the development of organizations such as Bletchley Park, the Special Operations Executive and the Office of Strategic Services in Asia. He argues that, from the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Allies focused increasingly on each other's future ambitions, rather than the common enemy. Central to this theme are Churchill, Roosevelt and their rivalry over the future of empire in Asia. Richard J. Aldrich's cogent, fluent analysis of the role of intelligence in Far Eastern developments is a thorough and penetrating account of this latter-day 'Great Game'.
1. Introduction
intelligence and empire
Part I. Before Pearl Harbor, 1937–41
2. Wing Commander Wigglesworth flies east
the lamentable state of intelligence, 1937–9
3. Insecurity and the fall of Singapore
4. Surprise despite warning
intelligence and the fall of Singapore
5. Conspiracy or confusion? Churchill, Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor
6. 'Imperial Security Services'
the emergence of OSS and SOE
Part II. India and Spheres of Influence, 1941–4
7. 'Do-gooders' and 'bad men'
Churchill, Roosevelt and rivalry over empire
8. American intelligence and the British Raj
OSS and OWI in India, 1941–4
9. Strange allies
British intelligence and security in India, 1941–4
Part III. Mountbatten's South East Asia Command, 1943–5
10. Secret service and Mountbatten's South East Asia Command
11. Special operations in South East Asia
12. The British Secret Intelligence Service (M16) in the Far East
13. Centre and region
the politics of signals intelligence
Part IV. Rivalry or Rivalries? China, 1942–5
14. American struggles in China
OSS and Naval Group
15. Britain and her allies in China
Part V. The End of the War in Asia, 1945–6
16. Anti-colonialism, anti-communism and plans for post-war Asia
17. Resisting the resistance
Thailand, Malaya and Burma
18. Special operations in liberated areas
Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies, 1944–6
19. Hong Kong and the future of China
20. Conclusion
the hidden hand and the fancy foot.