‘Words are cheaper than bullets’: Britain’s psychological warfare in the Middle East, 1945–60

ABSTRACT

Psychological warfare, the use of propaganda to aid military operations, acquired prominence in British strategy in the early Cold War Middle East. This article argues planning made limited progress until the 1956 Suez crisis. Suez produced optimism about propaganda’s ability to address threats from Egypt, the USSR and the Yemen. In Oman, Aden and Cyprus, psychological warfare was practiced to demoralise enemies, bolster allies and counter smears about British conduct. Only mixed results ensued though, and doubts about the military’s involvement in propaganda lingered. Psychological warfare endured because it was a cheap option that might sometimes work, and could induce opponents to surrender rather than fight on.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Rory Cormac, Aaron Cripps, David French, Maria Hadjiathanasiou, Claudia Hillebrand, Gerry Hughes, Tom Maguire, David Morgan-Owen, Martin Thomas, Jim Vaughan, Jason Whitelegg, Mark Phythian and the anonymous reviewers for their assistance and advice in the preparation of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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2. Simpson, Science of Coercion, 6.

3. Taylor, British Propaganda in the Twentieth Century, 227.

4. Biddle, Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare; and Cormac, “Disruption and deniable interventionism,” 170–71.

5. The National Archives of the United Kingdom [TNA] DEFE 28/184: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Planning for Psychological Warfare. Organisation for Psychological Warfare in Overseas Commands,’ 3 March 1953; and attached: ‘Planning for Psychological Warfare. Organisation for psychological warfare in overseas commands.’

6. Darwin, “An Undeclared Empire,” 160.

7. Smith, Ending Empire in the Middle East, 3; and Cohen, Strategy and Politics in the Middle East, 31.

8. Cohen, “From ‘Cold’ to ‘Hot’ War,” 728.

9. Kent, Egypt and the Defence of the Middle East, xxxix.

10. On the Directorate and deception, see: Twigge and Scott, “Strategic Defence by Deception”; Aldrich, The Hidden Hand, 372, 441, 490, 504; Scott and Dylan, “Cover for Thor: Divine Deception Planning for Cold War Missiles”; Dylan, “Operation TIGRESS”; Dylan, “Super-Weapons and Subversion”; and Dylan, “SIS, Grigori Tokaev, and the London Controlling Section.”

11. Lucas and Morris, “A very British crusade,” 95; Smith, “Covert British Propaganda”; Wilford, “The Information Research Department”; Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda; and Vaughan, The Failure of American and British Propaganda.

12. Maguire, “Counter-Subversion in Early Cold War Britain.”

13. Taylor, “Through a Glass Darkly?” 225.

14. Carruthers, Winning Hearts and Minds.

15. Osborne, “The rooting out of Mau Mau.”

16. French, The British Way in Counter-insurgency.

17. Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 18.

18. For example, Shaw, “The Information Research Department,” 274.

19. Vaughan, The Failure of American and British Propaganda, 9–10.

20. French, The British Way in Counter-insurgency, 196.

21. Richard, “The rainbow in the dark,” 47.

22. Maguire, “British and American intelligence and anti-communist propaganda,” 62.

23. Strachan, The Politics of the British Army.

24. Cormac, “The Pinprick Approach,” 8, 26; and Cormac, “The Information Research Department,” 1075.

25. Thornhill, Road to Suez, 50.

26. Aldrich, The Hidden Hand, 504.

27. Linstrum, Ruling Minds, 179–180.

28. Gorst, “A Modern Major General,” 37; and Kyle, Suez, 238–40.

29. Porch, Counterinsurgency, 156.

30. Taylor, British Propaganda in the Twentieth Century, ix.

31. TNA CO 1027/178: Group Captain Magrath (Directorate of Forward Plans [DFP]) to C.Y. Carstairs, Colonial Office [CO], ‘Nature, Role and Objectives of Psywar’, 14 January 1959.

32. Ball, “British Defence Policy,” 539.

33. Lewis, Changing Direction.

34. Gwinnett, “Attlee, Bevin, and Political Warfare,” 430.

35. Cohen, Fighting World War Three, 161–69.

36. Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 83.

37. Gwinnett, “Attlee, Bevin, and Political Warfare,” 428–436.

38. Howard, Strategic Deception.

39. Dylan, “Super-Weapons and Subversion,” 705–706.

40. TNA DEFE 28/33: Wing Commander P.H.R. Saunders, London Controlling Section, to Wing Commander D.J.H. Lay, Joint Intelligence Committee Middle East, 12 December 1946.

41. Dylan, “Super-Weapons and Subversion,” 706–708.

42. TNA AIR 40/2551: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Mobilisation policy – Directorate of Forward Plans. Note by Mr. Drew,’ 5 June 1951.

43. TNA DEFE 28/1: ‘Directorate of Forward Plans,’ summary of duties, no date.

44. Linstrum, Ruling Minds, 177–8.

45. Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda. For Malaya’s influence, see: Hack, ‘The Malayan Emergency as counter-insurgency paradigm,’ Journal of Strategic Studies, xxxii (2009), 383–414.

46. JSCSC: Army Staff Course 1955, Psychological warfare precis. DS notes.

47. Aldrich, The Hidden Hand, 289, 372.

48. “DREW, John Alexander,” Who Was Who; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U172170, accessed 6 September 2017].

49. TNA DEFE 28/59: Ministry of Defence [MoD] to Middle East Land Forces [MELF], 26 April 1951.

50. “Brig G.M.O. Davy,” The Times, 20 June 1983, 12.

51. TNA FO 1110/509: J.C. Slessor (CAS) to 1st Sea Lord, CIGS, and Lt.-Gen. McLean, ‘Political propaganda,’ 6 April 1951.

52. Richard, “The Rainbow in the Dark,” 57–8.

53. TNA FO 1110/509: D.D. Brown (Foreign Office) [FO] to Major J.M. Walsh (War Office) [WO], 1 May 1952; J.H. Peck (FO) to R.W. Parkes, British Embassy Cairo, 17 May 1952.

54. Baylis and Macmillan, “The British Global Strategy Paper of 1952,” 216–18.

55. Cohen, Fighting World War Three, 298–308.

56. TNA DEFE 28/184: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Planning for Psychological Warfare. Organisation for Psychological Warfare in Overseas Commands,’ 3 March 1953.

57. Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 222–238.

58. TNA WO 32/17,840: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Planning for Psychological Warfare Organisation in the Middle East Theatre,’ 4 September 1953, attaching Annex to JPRC(ME)(53) – 1 (Final), ‘Planning for Psychological Warfare Organisation for the Middle East Theatre,’ Secretary of the British Defence Co-ordination Committee (Middle East), 15 August 1953.

59. TNA FO 1110/637: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Interdepartmental Working Party on Psychological Warfare. Psy-War Policy for Provision of Personnel and Facilities. Note by the Chairman,’ 27 November 1954.

60. TNA FO 1110/637: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Confidential Annex to COS(54)131st Meeting,’ 9 December 1954.

61. Collier, “Countering Communist and Nasserite Propaganda,” 64, 69.

62. Thornhill, Road to Suez, 78–9. The archives are still quiet on the military’s involvement in this.

63. Lucas, Divided We Stand, 133.

64. TNA WO 216/924: British Defence Co-ordination Committee (Middle East) [BDCC(ME)] to Chiefs of Staff, 20 June 1956; DEFE 28/11: Memorandum by Wing Commander A.H. Mawer, Secretary, Psychological Warfare Committee (Middle East), 21 January 1957.

65. Croft, Dorman, Rees and Uttley, Britain and Defence 1945–2000, 89–90.

66. TNA DEFE 28/184: J.A. Drew (DFP) to Lt. General Sir William Oliver, 8 January 1957.

67. TNA WO 342/2: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Interdepartmental Working Party on Psychological Warfare. Report on first U.K. Psychological Warfare Course. Note by the Chairman,’ 18 October 1956.

68. TNA FO 1110/982: Major J.T. Stanyer (WO) to H.A.H. Cortazzi (Information Research Department) [IRD], 29 April 1957; WO 32/15668: GSO 1 (MT3) to DMT, 22 January 1958.

69. Shaw, Eden, Suez and the Mass Media.

70. TNA FO 1110/876: ‘Cabinet. Egypt Committee. Political Warfare. Note by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,’ 13 August 1956.

71. TNA WO 288/38: Colonel H.C.R. Gillman to Chief of Staff, 1 September 1956.

72. TNA WO 288/38: ‘Minutes of a meeting held in the Ministry of Defence on 4 September 1956 to discuss Psychological Warfare operations in support of operation MUSKETEER.’

73. Richard, “The rainbow in the dark,” 60.

74. TNA AIR 20/10369: Allied C-in-C, Allied Forces Headquarters, to Chiefs of Staff, 13 November 1956.

75. Smith, “Power Transferred?”; Stockwell, “Suez 1956”; and Peden, “Suez and Britain’s Decline.”

76. French, “Duncan Sandys and the Projection of British Power,” 42–6.

77. McNamara, Britain, Nasser and the Balance of Power, 1.

78. Collier, “Countering Communist and Nasserite Propaganda,” 9, 92.

79. TNA DEFE 28/184: Captain N.C. Willmott to Group Captain Magrath, ‘Defence psy-war organisation, etc,’ 31 January 1957.

80. TNA FO 1110/981: J.O. Rennie, ‘Psychological warfare’, 1 February 1957.

81. TNA DEFE 28/184: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Propaganda and information. Memorandum by the Chiefs of Staff,’ 25 February 1957.

82. French, Army, Empire and Cold War, 148–71.

83. TNA DEFE 28/11: Colonel G.M.O. Davy (Deputy Director of Forward Plans (Middle East)) to J. Drew, 21 February 1957.

84. TNA DEFE 28/11: ‘Confidential annex to DCC(57) – 6th Meeting of 15 March 1957.’

85. TNA DEFE 28/11: ‘British Defence Co-ordination Committee. Joint Psychological Warfare Committee Middle East. Psychological Warfare in the Middle East Theatre. Note by the JPWC(ME),’ 5 April 1957.

86. TNA DEFE 28/11: ‘British Defence Co-ordination Committee. Joint Psychological Warfare Committee Middle East. Brief for Chairman for BDCC(ME) meeting with Minister of Defence,’ 24 April 1957.

87. Glubb, “A further review of the Middle East,” 324–335.

88. TNA FO 1110/981: P. Dean, 5 February 1957.

89. See note 80 above.

90. TNA DEFE 28/16: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Inter-departmental Working Party on Psychological Warfare,’ 13 August 1957; FO 1110/1102: Extract from C.O.S.(58) 1st Meeting, 2 January 1958.

91. TNA FO 1110/985: H.A.H. Cortazzi, 24 October 1957.

92. TNA FO 1110/1102: O.H. Morris (CO) to D.C. Hopson (IRD), 28 February 1958.

93. TNA DEFE 28/74: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Psychological Warfare Requirements in Limited War and Local Action. Note by the Director of Forward Plans,’ and attached report by Interdepartmental Working Party on Psychological Warfare, 7 May 1958; DEFE 28/16: Brigadier J.B. Ashworth (WO) to J.A. Drew, 6 July 1959.

94. TNA DEFE 28/74: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Psychological Warfare Requirements in Limited War and Local Action. Note by the Director of Forward Plans,’ and attached report by Interdepartmental Working Party on Psychological Warfare, 7 May 1958.

95. TNA DEFE 28/74: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Confidential Annex to COS(58)42nd Meeting,’ 15 May 1958; TNA FO 1110/1103: R. Murray to Sir P. Dean, 8 May 1958; Sir P. Dean, 9 May 1958; FO 1110/1102: ‘Chiefs of Staff Committee. Confidential Annex to C.O.S.(58)40th Meeting,’ 13 May 1958.

96. TNA DEFE 28/15: J.A. Drew to General McLeod, 23 July 1958.

97. TNA DEFE 28/15: Troopers to British Forces Arabian Peninsula [BFAP], 31 July 1958.

98. TNA DEFE 28/17: Major J.O. Parry (Psychological Warfare Centre) to DFP and Under Secretary of State for War, 25 August 1959; Brigadier L.G.S. Groundwater (WO) to Psychological Warfare Centre, 17 September 1959.

99. TNA DEFE 28/184: H.B. Verity (Secretary, Joint Planning Staff) to Group Captain Magrath, 19 October 1959.

100. TNA DEFE 28/164: Major R.J. Shackleton, (HQ Middle East Command) to Colonel Wild (DFP), 15 April 1961.

101. Jones and Ridout, A History of Modern Oman, 101.

102. Rabi, The Emergence of States in a Tribal Society, 97–98.

103. Peterson, Oman’s Insurgencies, 41–81.

104. TNA DEFE 28/15: Major Isaac to Colonel Davy, 31 December 1957, and attached ‘Psychological warfare plan.’

105. TNA WO 337/9: ‘Operations in Muscat and Oman, 1952–1959ʹ, report by the Historical Section, Army Department Library, Ministry of Defence, July 1964, 18.

106. TNA DEFE 28/15: Major Isaac to Group Captain Magrath, 3 June 1959.

107. TNA DEFE 28/13: DDFP(ME) to Deputy Director of Forward Plans (Psychological Warfare) [DDFP(PW)], 30 November 1957.

108. TNA DEFE 28/15: DDFP(ME) to DFP, 14 December 1957.

109. See note 104 above.

110. TNA WO 337/9: ‘Operations in Muscat and Oman, 1952–1959ʹ, 19.

111. See note 104 above.

112. TNA DEFE 28/15: Major Isaac to Group Captain Magrath, 21 July 1959.

113. TNA WO 337/9: ‘Operations in Muscat and Oman, 1952–1959ʹ, 23.

114. TNA DEFE 28/15: Major Isaac to HQ Land Forces Persian Gulf, 3 March 1958.

115. TNA DEFE 28/15: MELF to MoD, 19 February 1958.

116. TNA DEFE 28/15: Colonel Davy (DDFP(ME)) to Group Captain Magrath (DFP) 26 February 1958.

117. TNA DEFE 28/15: MoD to MELF, 19 March 1958.

118. TNA DEFE 28/15: Colonel Davy, ‘DDFP’s visit to Persian Gulf,’ no date.

119. See note 106 above.

120. TNA DEFE 28/15: British Residency Bahrain to MELF, 19 September 1958; Major Isaac to Group Captain Magrath, 3 June 1959.

121. Smiley, Arabian Assignment, 60.

122. Smiley, “Muscat and Oman,” 37–39.

123. Grob-Fitzgibbon, “Those Who Dared,” 547–48.

124. Peterson, Oman’s Insurgencies, 117–41.

125. See note 120 above.

126. de la Billiere, Looking for Trouble, 140.

127. TNA DEFE 28/14: Air Vice-Marshal M.L. Heath (BFAP) to Secretary, Chiefs of Staff Committee, ‘British Forces Arabian Peninsula. Psychological Warfare Resources,’ 7 July 1958.

128. TNA DEFE 28/14: Major R.J. Isaac to Group Captain Magrath, 30 September 1958.

129. Croft, Dorman, Rees and Uttley, Britain and Defence 1945–2000, 13.

130. Cohen, Strategy and Politics in the Middle East, 38.

131. Anderson and Branch, “Allies at the End of Empire,” 1–13.

132. Vaughan, Failure of American and British Propaganda, 103.

133. Hashimoto, “British Intelligence, Counter-Subversion, and ‘Informal Empire’.” 177, 182.

134. Mawby, “The British Brand of Anti-Imperialism,” 169–70.

135. On colonial policy in Aden, see: Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates 1955–67.

136. Mawby, “Britain’s Last Imperial Frontier,” 76–7.

137. Mawby, “The Clandestine Defence of Empire,” 111–12.

138. TNA DEFE 28/13: BDCC(ME) to Chiefs of Staff, “Soviet Arms Deliveries to the Yemen,” 1 July 1957.

139. TNA DEFE 28/13: Sir W. Luce to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 5 July 1957.

140. TNA DEFE 28/13: “Chiefs of Staff Committee. Confidential Annex to C.O.S.(57) 55th Meeting,” 9 July 1957.

141. TNA DEFE 28/13: DFP to DDFP(ME), 9 July 1957; Chiefs of Staff to BDCC(ME), 10 July 1957.

142. TNA DEFE 28/13: Colonel Davy to Group Captain Magrath, 29 July 1957.

143. TNA DEFE 28/13: J.A. Drew to J.O. Rennie (FO), 18 September 1957.

144. TNA DEFE 28/13: DFP to DDFP(ME), 24 October 1957.

145. TNA DEFE 28/13: Colonel Davy to Group Captain Magrath, 6 January 1958.

146. Mawby, “Britain’s Last Imperial Frontier,” 92–3.

147. See note 127 above.

148. TNA DEFE 28/74: Air Vice-Marshal M.L. Heath (BFAP) to Chief of the Defence Staff [CDS], 7 August 1958.

149. TNA DEFE 28/14: D.J.P. Lee (Secretary, Chiefs of Staff Committee) to BFAP, 2 March 1959.

150. TNA DEFE 28/14: Major E.N. Ross-Magenty (BFAP) to Group Captain Magrath, 14 August 1959.

151. Mawby, “Britain’s Last Imperial Frontier,” 95.

152. Holland, Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus.

153. French, Fighting EOKA.

154. Aldrich, GCHQ, 7, 155–156.

155. French, Fighting EOKA, 70, 78, 91.

156. Hadjiathanasiou, “The Stimulus of Rhetoric,” 53–8.

157. TNA FCO 141/3727: Deputy Governor to Administrative Secretary, 31 May 1958; “GLASS, Sir Leslie (Charles)”, Who Was Who, online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014; http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U164558, accessed 9 May 2017. On the content of British propaganda, see: Carruthers, Winning Hearts and Minds, 209–36.

158. Hadjiathanasiou, “The Stimulus of Rhetoric,” 90.

159. TNA FCO 141/3727: Colonel Davy to P. Storrs, 14 August 1957.

160. TNA FCO 141/3727: Colonel Davy to Brigadier P. Gleadell, 27 May 1958.

161. French, Fighting EOKA, 298.

162. TNA FCO 141/3727: Deputy Governor to Administrative Secretary, 31 May 1958.

163. TNA FCO 141/3727: Lt. Gen. Bower to Sir H. Foot, 28 May 1958.

164. French, Fighting EOKA, 207.

165. Carruthers, Winning Hearts and Minds, 237.

166. TNA FCO 141/3727: Sir H. Foot to Lt. Gen. Bower, 30 May 1958.

167. TNA DEFE 28/10: Colonel Davy to J. Drew, 14 August 1958.

168. TNA DEFE 28/10: Colonel Davy to Brigadier P. Gleadell, 26 September 1958.

169. TNA DEFE 28/10: BDCC(ME) to CDS, 9 October 1958; MIDEAST to WO, 13 October 1958.

170. TNA DEFE 28/10: MIDEAST to WO, 6 November 1958.

171. TNA DEFE 28/10: Squadron Leader A.F. Derry (MELF) to Group Captain Magrath, 12 November 1958.

172. TNA DEFE 28/10: Colonel Davy, ‘Report on Psychological Operations in Cyprus, 1958,’ 9 January 1959.

173. Vinen, National Service, 339–40.

174. French, Fighting EOKA, 208–213.

175. Drohan, “Rights at War,” 111, 113–132, 139.

176. Hadjiathanasiou, “The Stimulus of Rhetoric,” 255.

177. TNA DEFE 28/10: ‘Annex “A” to 102/24 G(Plans & Ops), ‘Special Investigations Group in Cyprus,’ 15 April 1959.

178. French, Fighting EOKA, 214, 235.

179. Hadjiathanasiou, “The Stimulus of Rhetoric,” 131.

180. JSCSC: Army Staff College Course 1955. Psychological Warfare.

181. TNA CO 1027/178: ‘Principles and Problems of Psychological Warfare in Limited War. Note by the Foreign Office,’ 25 August 1958, attached to note from R. Murray to P.R. Noakes, (Colonial Office) [CO], 1 September 1958.

182. See note 85 above.

183. TNA CO 1027/180: Sir H. Foot to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 9 November 1958.

184. TNA CO 1027/180: Secretary of State for the Colonies to Sir H. Foot, 17 November 1958; Sir H. Foot to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 19 November 1958.

185. TNA DEFE 28/10: Squadron Leader A.F. Derry (MELF) to Colonel H.N.H. Wild (DFP), and attached: Colonel Davy, ‘Psychological Operations – Present Situation Report,’ 18 November 1958.

186. TNA FCO 141/3727: Colonel Davy to Director of Operations, ‘Psychological Support – Clarification,’ 3 December 1958.

187. TNA CO 1027/180: L.C. Glass, ‘Practicalities for Psychological Warfare in Cyprus,’ and attached ‘Clandestine Propaganda’, 15 January 1959; TNA DEFE 28/10: Colonel G.M. Davy, ‘Report on Psychological Operations in Cyprus, 1958,’ 9 January 1959.

188. TNA DEFE 28/10: DDFP(ME) to DDFP(PW), 27 February 1959.

189. Cormac, Disrupt and Deny.

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Notes on contributors

Huw Bennett

Huw Bennett is Reader in International Relations at Cardiff University. His first book, Fighting the Mau Mau: the British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency was published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. He is now writing a book on the army in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.