Use of Intelligence in World War II - Essay Example

Use of Intelligence in World War II Use of Intelligence in World War II The Second World War was the most extensive war that history documents spanning six years (Inaba, 2008). The war started in 1939 and ended in 1945 involving vast global nations that later formed Allies and Axis, two antagonizing military alliances (Caruana & Rockoff, 2007). Intelligence played a significant role towards the success of the attacks that the antagonizing alliances launched against each other. Intelligence implies the gathering, analysis and application of knowledge to offer guidance and direction to a military alliance.

The research herein presents the use and significance of intelligence during the Second World War. Similar to the Allies, the Germans’ success attributes to their communications intelligence (Guglielmo, 2008). The nation established listening posts in Spain and traded cipher information with Italy, Japan, Hungary, and Finland. Germany broke ciphers of all the nations with an exception to the Soviet Union. The American military attaché in Cairo was their lieutenant general Erwin Rommel’s reliable source of information in North Africa.

The reports and code-breaking intelligence helped the German navy to know the exact locations of British ships prior to their 1940 Norway invasion (Blewett, 2000). Besides, Germans had the knowledge of intercepting sensitive communications. The nation’s radio intelligence post in the Netherlands monitored and timely descrambled the radiotelephone conversation between Franklin Roosevelt, American President, and Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister. Intercepting plain text messages and radio communications offered the Germans operational and tactical successes (Stewart, 2015).

Tactical intelligence involves acquiring prior information about a particular battle, strengths, the location of enemy supply depots and whether there exist possibilities of crossing a given river or not (Gilles, 2004). References Blewett, D. K. (2000). Battle of wits: The complete story of codebreaking in world war II. Library Journal, 125(15), 92. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/196863983?accountid=45049 Caruana, L., & Rockoff, H. (2007). An elephant in the garden: The allies, spain, and oil in world war II.

European Review of Economic History, 11(2), 159-187. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/207371558?accountid=45049 Gilles, V. N. (2004). The soviet strategic offensive in manchuria, 1945: "august storm"/Soviet operational and tactical combat in manchuria, 1945: "august storm". Air & Space Power Journal, 18(3), 115-116. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/217768510?accountid=45049 Guglielmo, M. (2008). The contribution of economists to military intelligence during world war II.

The Journal of Economic History, 68(1), 109-150. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050708000041 Inaba, C. (2008). Japanese Intelligence Operations in Scandinavia during World War II. Scandinavian Journal Of History, 33(2), 122-138. doi:10.1080/03468750802078872 Stewart, A. (2015). The Battle for Britain. History Today, 65(6), 19-26.