Intelligencers

Product Description

Intelligence about the enemy is a fundamental part of any war or battle knowledge of the enemys strength dispositions & intentions are essential for success. This book reveals that for 250 years the British Army resolutely failed to prepare for war by refusing to establish a nucleus of soldiers in peace trained to obtain intelligence in war.rnrn Although there were Scoutmasters & secret spy organisations such as Walsinghams in the 15th Century in no major conflict from the Civil War of 1642 including the Peninsula the Crimea Burma Egypt & South Africa & in the multitude of small wars that gained Britain an empire was there any staff branch or unit specifically pre-established to gain intelligence or frustrate the enemy from obtaining intelligence.rnrn Yet the story of British military endeavour over 250 years is a remarkable story of individuals bravery achievement & success. We read of the Scoutmaster whose role was to gather intelligence on the Kings enemies & of Walsinghams secret organisation at the time of Elizabeth I. During the long years of war against France culminating in the Napoleonic Wars spymasters developed on an ad hoc basis. In the Nineteenth Century despite the power & reach of Empire no central intelligence organisation existed. Enterprising young officers worked wonders but failures such as those in the Boer War cost the Nation dearly. It took the reverses in the Great War to create an Intelligence Corps. But even that was disbanded post-war.