![]() Josef Jakobs chose not to become a British spy. Unsurprisingly, the majority opted for the first option, but not all did. The German spies were given a simple choice: work for British intelligence or face execution. Yet the real genius in this was in its application. The fact that Ultra could reveal much about them – and that there were around only 120 of them – meant that the task was considerably easier than first feared. Operating out of Wormwood Scrubs, a prewar prison in west London, MI5 officers were able to locate all German spies in the UK. Back at home, the security service MI5 was responsible for locating and identifying all German agents. Much like the military, British intelligence had to fight on all fronts during the war. ![]() That its codes were broken therefore gave Allied military commanders an undoubtable advantage but, like any source of intelligence, it was not perfect. The frequency with which the Enigma machine was used meant that the Germans relied upon it as a fast, secure and important means of communication. At Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, British intelligence was able to develop a means of intercepting, deciphering, translating and assessing the contents of messages within hours of their transmission. The Enigma machine, and the Ultra intelligence derived from it, would be the greatest coup of the war. It was secured by the Poles, who managed to supply British intelligence with a means of breaking the coding used by the Germans. One of the first intelligence triumphs occurred before the first shot was fired. In 1939, there can be little doubt that each of the major powers saw the value of intelligence in the war effort, yet none could have anticipated just how central it would become. ![]()
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