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Radio War: The Secret Espionage War of the Radio Security Service 1938-1946
The Voluntary Interceptors forged crucial lines of wartime intelligence through focused wireless surveillance.
During the Second World War German intelligence had deployed wireless teams throughout occupied Europe. Agents had even been deployed to mainland Britain to spy on British military activity. Monitoring and reporting of their wireless transmissions fell to a small, secretive and largely unknown unit manned almost exclusively by volunteers. The Voluntary Interceptors (VI) as they became known would spend hours every day at home monitoring the short wavelengths for often faint and difficult to copy signals transmitted by these German secret intelligence services. This unit was to become known as the Radio Security Service (RSS) and was at the core of the signals intelligence production effort at Bletchley and the insights into German military tactical and strategic planning. Without interceptors like the RSS, Bletchley would not have existed. Their story has never truly been written and Radio War focuses on the secret world of wireless espionage and includes first-hand accounts from the surviving veterans of the unit. Its existence was only made public 35 years after WWII ended, shortly after Bletchley Park’s secrets were exposed. Patrick Reilly, the Assistant to Head of MI6 Stewart Menzies, was to say of the RSS.… ‘a team of brilliance unparalleled anywhere in the intelligence machine.’
Table of Contents
Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 Scrubs; 2 Committee; 3 Volunteers; 4 Stations; 5 Adversary; 6 Overseas; 7 Pedigree; Appendix VI Poems; Appendix Notes on the Detection of Illicit Wireless 1940; Appendix RSS Timeline; Appendix RSS Roll Call; Bibliography; Index.
During the Second World War German intelligence had deployed wireless teams throughout occupied Europe. Agents had even been deployed to mainland Britain to spy on British military activity. Monitoring and reporting of their wireless transmissions fell to a small, secretive and largely unknown unit manned almost exclusively by volunteers. The Voluntary Interceptors (VI) as they became known would spend hours every day at home monitoring the short wavelengths for often faint and difficult to copy signals transmitted by these German secret intelligence services. This unit was to become known as the Radio Security Service (RSS) and was at the core of the signals intelligence production effort at Bletchley and the insights into German military tactical and strategic planning. Without interceptors like the RSS, Bletchley would not have existed. Their story has never truly been written and Radio War focuses on the secret world of wireless espionage and includes first-hand accounts from the surviving veterans of the unit. Its existence was only made public 35 years after WWII ended, shortly after Bletchley Park’s secrets were exposed. Patrick Reilly, the Assistant to Head of MI6 Stewart Menzies, was to say of the RSS.… ‘a team of brilliance unparalleled anywhere in the intelligence machine.’
Table of Contents
Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 Scrubs; 2 Committee; 3 Volunteers; 4 Stations; 5 Adversary; 6 Overseas; 7 Pedigree; Appendix VI Poems; Appendix Notes on the Detection of Illicit Wireless 1940; Appendix RSS Timeline; Appendix RSS Roll Call; Bibliography; Index.
- GenresWorld War II
192 pages, Hardcover
Published February 11, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 26, 2020
A really interesting read, but the book would benefit from the attention of a good editor. Information seemed to be repeated; abbreviations were sometimes not defined in the list at the beginning of the book.
I would recommend this work to anyone interested in the subject, but just beware that the writing style is sometimes a distraction.
I would recommend this work to anyone interested in the subject, but just beware that the writing style is sometimes a distraction.
October 5, 2023
Highly detailed history
This book provides a highly detailed account of the organizations providing wireless radio interception services during WWII for Great Britain. It discusses very thoroughly the use of Amateur Radio Operators as means of collecting information on wireless transmissions by Germany and by clandestine agents operating in Britain.
This book provides a highly detailed account of the organizations providing wireless radio interception services during WWII for Great Britain. It discusses very thoroughly the use of Amateur Radio Operators as means of collecting information on wireless transmissions by Germany and by clandestine agents operating in Britain.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews