State Secrets, Tyler Kent, Winston Churchill, Roosevelt, President, Naval Person, Gray Code, MI5, Joseph P Kennedy, Anna Wolkoff, Captain Ramsay, espionage, 1940, Fifth Column, Maxwell Knight, spies, Right Club, Oswald Mosley, Lord Haw-Haw, buy book online, new publications, non fiction

Glossary

Various words, phrases, abbreviations and acronyms used in the book are briefly described.

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Nat

Detail

Black Propaganda

Radio propaganda whose content purported to show that it was being broadcast by dissidents within the targeted country. Typically, it was beamed in by short wave. See NBBS.

DR 18B

Br

Defence Regulation 18B. Enacted 22 August 1939 in anticipation of war with Germany.

DR 18B (1A)

Br

Further legislation, enacted 22 May 1940, that allowed the internment of any members of the BUF, past or present.

Fifth Column

This phrase was coined in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. The commander of the Fascist forces demanded the surrender of Madrid, claiming that he had Four Columns of troops ready to march and a FIFTH COLUMN inside the city ready to rise and fight.

Gray Code

US

A U.S. Diplomatic Code Book introduced in 1918. It was one of several named after the colour of their cover. It was a low grade code that had been designed to save transmission costs. It was known to have been cracked by 'the enemy' but it still had its uses.

In Camera Trial

'In secret' trials were permitted during wartime under Britain's emergency regulations.

Internment Camp

Camps established to accommodate alien and political detainees.

MI5

BR

The British Security Service. The Counter-Intelligence agency that was established in 1908 to counteract a new German Intelligence Service that had been set up 'to deal with England'. During WWI, it was succesful in identifying several German spies operating in Britain. After the war, SPECIAL BRANCH handled many aspects of State Security, using private sub-contractors for undercover work. Responsibility for monitoring Communist political bodies was transferred from Special Branch to MI5 in 1931. MI5 started monitoring the activities of British Fascist and other extreme right-wing groups in 1934.

MI6

BR

The Secret Service established in 1908.

NAZI

The German National Socialist League.

NBBS

New British Broadcasting Station. A German short wave radio station broadcasting BLACK PROPAGANDA. It started in February 1940 with WILLIAM JOYCE writing much of its early material.

Official Secrets Act

Old Bailey, The

BR

London's Central Criminal Court.

PJ

'Perish Judah' - the slogan of several anti-Jewish groups in Britain.

Russian Tea Rooms

BR

A small cafe run by Admiral Wolkoff and his wife at 50 Harrington Road, near the South Kensington Underground Station where a group of middle-aged women met for a bite to eat and a bit of gossip.

White Propaganda

Propaganda broadcast on advertised channels. 'LORD HAW-HAW' became the most notorious broadcaster of NAZI propaganda.