MI9, the British Military Intelligence Section 9, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office. During World War II it was charged with aiding resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory and recovering Allied troops who found themselves behind enemy lines (for example, aircrew who had been shot down and soldiers stranded after the Battle of Dunkirk). It also communicated with British prisoners of war and sent them advice and equipment.
MI9 officially came into being on the 23rd December 1939 led by an ex-infantry major, Norman Crockatt. In December 1941 MI9a became a separate department, MI19. At first MI9 was located in Room 424 of the Metropole Hotel, Northumberland Avenue, London.[1] It received little financial support and was under staffed due to the power struggles and personality clashes with MI6 (whose assistant-head was Colonel Sir Claude Dansey, known as ACSS) and other outfits such as SOE and PWE. With limited space at the Metropole, a floor was also taken at the requisitioned Great Central Hotel, opposite Marylebone station where WWII evaders were questioned about their journey home. Later MI9 moved to Wilton Park, Beaconsfield.[2]
The name MI9 was used in BBC television's former fictional series M.I. High.
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'A' Force was a special services unit created in 1940 by the British commander-in-chief for the Middle East, General Sir Archibald Wavell. Its role was to organise by every available means the deception of the enemy high command and the mission of its 'N' section, to train soldiers in the arts of escape and evasion, providing them with any help they might need. From September of 1941 until the end of the war it was led by Lieutenant Colonel "Tony" Simonds. It preceded MI9 in the Middle East theatre of war but was essentially subsumed by the latter upon the establishment of MI9's Middle East section in Cairo by Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier) Dudley Clarke.
MI9 manufactured various escape aids that they sent to prisoner of war (POW) camps. Many of them were based on the ideas of Christopher Hutton. Hutton proved so popular that he built himself a secret underground bunker in the middle of a field where he could work in peace.
Hutton made compasses that were hidden inside pens or tunic buttons. He used left-hand threads so that, if the Germans discovered them and the searcher tried to screw them open, they would just tighten. He printed maps on silk, so they would not rustle, and disguised them as handkerchiefs, hiding them inside canned goods. For aircrew he designed special boots with detachable leggings, that could quickly be converted to look like civilian shoes, and hollow heels, that contained packets of dried food. Some of the spare uniforms that were sent to prisoners could be easily converted into civilian suits. Officer prisoners inside Colditz Castle requested and received a complete floor plan of the castle.
Hutton also designed an escaper's knife: a strong blade, a screwdriver, three saws, a lockpick, a forcing tool and a wire cutter.
MI9 used the advice of master stage-magician Jasper Maskelyne to design hiding places for escape aids: tools disguised in a cricket bat, a saw blade inside a comb, maps in the backs of books and on playing cards and inside gramophone records, board-game sets that concealed money.
Forged German identity cards, ration coupons and travel warrants were also smuggled into POW camps by MI9.
MI9 sent the tools in parcels in the name of various, usually nonexistent, charity organizations. They did not use Red Cross parcels lest they violate the Geneva Convention and to avoid the guards restricting access to them. MI9 relied upon their parcels either not being searched by the Germans or ensuring that the prisoners (warned by a message) could remove the contraband before they were searched. In time the German guards learned to expect and find the escape aids. Pat Reid describes in his book the story of a package of records that was sent to Colditz prisoners in the Second World War. One soldier took his out of the package and tripped. It smashed on the floor to reveal money and forged identity cards. Unfortunately, everyone else took to smashing their records hoping that they would find some escape items inside, destroying their actual records with nothing to be found inside.
MI9 tricks are still in use today. Author and former SAS soldier Andy McNab describes several in his fictional book "Firewall".
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