US Mlitary Attache in Egypt inadvertantly advising Rommel of British Plans

Has anybody seen the details of these intercepts being passed on to Rommel by Colonel Bonney Fellers?

Bonner Fellers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1941, then-Colonel Fellers was Military Attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. He was assigned to monitor and report on British military operations in North Africa and the Middle East. As the representative of a very important friendly power, he was given full access to British activities and information. Fellers reported everything he learned to the U.S. His reports were especially prized by Army commander in chief General George Marshall.
Fellers' messages were sent by radio, encrypted in the "Black Code" of the U.S. State Department. The details of this code were stolen from the U.S. Embassy in Italy by Italian spies in September 1941; it was also broken by German cryptanalysts, who read "Black Code" messages.[1]
Fellers' radiograms were intercepted and decrypted by the Germans. They were a treasure trove of valuable information to the Axis. The information was not only extensive and timely, it was also guaranteed authentic: the British would not be lying to their American friends.


And here,
Intercepted Communications for Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

and here,
The Good Source « The Crusader Project

 

I have, since that last link is my site

Not more than the one I have translated and transcribed though, I am afraid.

All the best

Andreas

 

I have, since that last link is my site

Not more than the one I have translated and transcribed though, I am afraid.

All the best

Andreas

Good one Andreas, I wondered where I had seen the site name before.

 

Spidge

One correction though, they weren't passed on by Colonel Bonner Fellers, but intercepted.

I now have a few more of his reports, but am not sure which ones were intercepted.

All the best

Andreas

 

Hi Andreas,

Bad wording. Never meant to insinuate that he was doing anything on purpose.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Didn't think you did Geoff.

All the best

Andreas

 

Andreas/Geoff

In some views this idiot should have been shot - but it was felt that this was too harsh for plain old stupidity and he was sent back

to Washington as a hero - he had many British soldiers killed by his and Washington's failure to think of what they were doing - but held them

later as the Ultra was held back from them for some time in case of even more leaks which would have given Bletchley a black eye…

Cheers

 

Tom

That's not a fair assessment.The man acted under orders, using a code that his superiors should have considered compromised latest after the declaration of war between Italy and the US, and changed. It wasn't his fault, or his choice even to do so. The blame lies with the bureaucrats in DC (surprise!).

All the best

Andreas

 

Andreas

What's fair in war ? fact is that he should have had more sense than to carry on even after a few words of advice from people who knew much more than he did but it is fair to say that the real fault lay in Washington…

Cheers

 

Great story Guys.

Rommel was always said to be intuitive but with this level of intelligence he should have been considered as a Clairvoyante.

And 50/60 years later we relied on the same 'Intelligence' Dept. to send us to war with Iraq. :ph34r: B)

Nick

 

No officer can be judged or condemned solely on the basis of one mistake; men often make good on their second chance, and so it was in Fellers' case. He was later sent to the SWPA, where he served as chief of MacArthur's planning section under Major General Stephen Chamberlain, chief of operations. Fellers did an excellent job, too; he was largely reponsible for the decision to bypass the Jap fortress of Wewak and land at Hollandia instead, an operation that saved lives and greatly speeded up the Allied advance along the New Guinea coast.

 

TTH

Friend of mine was a Colonel- one year he had his commanding Officer write his annual report - which stated that NO MAN should follow this officer -

even under curiosity…..Monty didn't give too many a second chance as they were in charge of men's lives…

Cheers