Room 40 and German intrigues in Morocco: re-assessing the operational impact of diplomatic cryptanalysis during World War I

Abstract

During World War I, Germany sought to provoke numerous insurrections throughout the British and French Empires. Examining the influence of signals intelligence within one of these colonial settings provides an opportunity to measure the operational importance of wartime cryptanalysis. Through a careful analysis of the original intercepts, this article reconstructs the responses of Room 40, the Admiralty’s cryptology department, to Germany’s Moroccan intrigues and highlights the development of intelligence practices. It argues that strategies to deploy diplomatic intelligence emerged gradually, but that Germany’s enduring support for Moroccan dissidents suggests diplomatic cryptanalysis only secured modest results within an operational context.

Acknowledgements

I should first like to thank the original markers of the MA thesis that this article was based on, William Philpott and Richard Ned Lebow. Thanks must also go to Anthony Kauders, Siobhan Talbott and Matthew Seligmann for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this research. Special thanks to Jim Beach for feedback and guidance throughout the various stages of this project, and Philip Morgan for showing a tremendous patience and willingness to read and comment on several forms of this article.

Notes

1. The National Archives (TNA) ADM 223/773, Memo on “Political” Branch of Room 40 by George Young, 3, 4.

2. TNA ADM 1/23899, Lecture by Sir James Ewing on the work of Room 40 in the WWI (1927), 16; Beesly, Room 40; Andrew, Secret Service, 139–94; and Kahn, The Code-Breakers, 266–97.

3. The exception to this is Hoy, 40 O.B., discussed below.

4. James, The Eyes of the Navy, 34.

5. Gannon, Inside Room, 40, 180, 181.

6. Wyllie and McKinley, Code Breakers, 132–9. A similar account can be found in Stafford, The Silent Game, 74–7.

7. West, “Fiction, Faction and Intelligence”; Scott and Jackson, “The Study of Intelligence,” 145; and Scott, “Secret Intelligence,” 326.

8. Memo on “Political” Branch of Room 40 by George Young, 4.

9. For an overview of the traditional historical narrative see Christenson, “Review of Inside Room 40,” 282–8.

10. Freeman, “MI1(b),” 223, 217; Boghardt, The Zimmermann Telegram, 180, 90, 242, 80–90; Larsen, “Mediation Mission,” 697–701. Jason Hines has already demonstrated the limitations of Room 40’s naval signals in an operational context: “Sins of Omission,” 1117–54.

11. O’Halpin, “British Intelligence in Ireland,” 57–60; Ferris, “Whitehall’s Black Chamber,” 55, 56; Ferris, Selected Essays, 99–102; and Larsen, “Mediation Mission,” 701.

12. Fisher, “An Eagle Whose Wings Are Not Always Easy to Clip,” 156.

13. Burke, “Pan Islam and Moroccan Resistance,” 106.

14. Ibid., 107.

15. Alexander, Europe’s Uncertain Path, 290, 291.

16. “Lyautey’s Triumph,” The Times, December 29, 1915, p.6.

17. TNA HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.724, October 23, 1915; For German covert operations and Zimmermann’s involvement see Boghardt, Zimmermann Telegram, 29.

18. TNA HW 7/28, Madrid-Berlin No.305, November 30, 1917; and Fisher, “Keeping ‘the Old Flag Flying’,” 730–3.

19. Dean, “France and Morocco During the Great War,” 734–9.

20. Pennell, Morocco Since 1830, 181.

21. Burke, “Moroccan Resistance,” 444–7.

22. Ibid., 444; Alvarez, “World War I: Unarmed Neutrality”; and Ponce, “Spanish Neutrality,” 57–60.

23. TNA WO 106/6191, Organisation of Intelligence in Spain since August 1914, April 4, 1917; Vickers, Finding Thoroton, 82.

24. Howe, Lyautey of Morocco, 325; and TNA FO 372/691 No.89229, “Moorish Decoration for Major C.J. Thoroton,” July 5, 1915.

25. TNA ADM 137/2206: Mediterranean War Records Vol. 42, Reports of proceedings, Gibraltar, August 1917–November 1918; and Stafford, The Silent Game, 73–7.

26. “Sultan Muley Abdel Hafid,” The Times, April 24, 1925, p.11; Harris, Morocco that Was, 116–8; and Berenson, Heroes of Empire, 257.

27. Bidwell, Morocco under Colonial Rule, 64, 65; and Burke, “Moroccan Resistance,” 114.

28. Bidwell, Morocco under Colonial Rule, 65.

29. TNA ADM 223/654 and ADM 223/655, NID Message Logs.

30. TNA FO 371/2050 No.78891, “Ex-Sultan’s Movements,” December 4, 1914.

31. TNA FO 371/2414 No.109152, “Ex-Sultan Moulay Hafid,” August 9, 1915; and TNA FO 566/1164, “Country: Morocco Series: War,” August 6, 1915.

32. Hat codes, which contained the most sensitive information, were broken during the course of 1916. Memo on “Political” Branch of Room 40 by George Young, 3, 4.

33. FO 371/2414 No.172278, “Mulai Hafid: His Distress at Alleged Suspicions of British Government,” November 16, 1915.

34. TNA HW 7/31, Berlin-Madrid No.114, March 5, 1916.

35. TNA FO 371/2712 No.79831, “Ex-Sultan of Morocco,” April 28, 1916.

36. FO 371/2712 No.92988, “Activities of Muley Hafid,” May 16, 1916.

37. HW 7/31, Berlin-Madrid No.509, June 15, 1916.

38. HW 7/31, Madrid-Berlin No.343, June 7, 1916; and TNA ADM 223/646, NID Message Logs No.323, September 9, 1916.

39. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.724, October 27, 1915.

40. Whereas French intelligence had already set a precedent for coordinating collaborative responses, see TNA 369/741 No. 83988, “Pan-Islamic Agent, Bebdton,” December 18, 1914.

41. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.547, June 30, 1916.

42. James, Eyes of the Navy, 90.

43. Larsen, “Mediation Mission,” 695–701.

44. HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.1926, December 14, 1915.

45. HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.188, August 1, 1916 and Madrid-Berlin No.217, August 14, 1916.

46. See note 44 above.

47. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.779, August 22, 1916.

48. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.725, October 27, 1915.

49. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.827, December 17, 1915.

50. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.547, June 30, 1916.

51. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.779, August 22, 1916; HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.246, August 24, 1916; ADM 223/646, NID Message Logs No.889, September 20, 1916, No.915 25 September 1916.

52. HW 7/29, Berlin-Madrid No.826, September 4, 1916.

53. HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.343, October 7, 1916; and TNA ADM 223/647, NID Message Logs No.370, October 6, 1916.

54. ADM 223/647, NID Message Logs No.1046, October 27, 1916.

55. TNA ADM 223/649, NID Message Logs No.1284, December 15, 1916 and No.512, January 6, 1917.

56. HW 7/29, A handwritten note on the report from Captain Kelly, the naval attaché in Paris, to the Admiralty, November 25, 1916.

57. HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.261, January 30, 1917; TNA ADM 223/651, NID Message Logs, No.106, February 7, 1917; and HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.328, February 6, 1917.

58. HW 7/29, Madrid-Berlin No.27, January 9, 1917 and Berlin-Madrid No.674, July 11, 1917; and ADM 223/651, NID Message Logs No.155, February 10, 1917.

59. Freeman, “MI1(b),” 214.

60. Churchill College Archive Centre (CCAC), British Naval Intelligence Papers, MLBE 5/1 The Papers of Commander Lloyd Hirst; James, Eyes of the Navy, 204; and Beesly, Room 40, 191–200.

61. Burke, “Moroccan Resistance,” 446; and Bartels, Fighting the French, 105.

62. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif, 114.

63. Harris, Morocco that Was, 179, 180.

64. “Raisuli,” The Times, December 27, 1906; and Pennell, Morocco Since 1830, 170–1.

65. Chandler, “Spain and Her Moroccan Protectorate,” 309.

66. Cambridge University Library Manuscripts, Hardinge Papers, volume 25: Sir Arthur Hardinge to Charles Hardinge, September 19, 1916, f.199; TNA CAB 24/28/28, Weekly report on Spain XI, Intelligence Bureau, October 4, 1917; TNA FO 371/2970 No.166083, “Recent Fighting in French Zone,” August 24, 1917; and Ponce, “Spanish Neutrality,” 55–7.

67. FO 371/2970 No.176118, “Spanish Zone in Morocco,” September 10, 1917; and TNA CAB 24/17/11, Weekly report on Spain III, Intelligence Bureau, June 20, 1917.

68. Hertog and Kruizinga, “Introduction,” 8.

69. Bennett, The Zinoviev Letter, 45, 46; and Pincher, “Reflections,” 149–55.

70. TNA HW 7/30, Berlin-Madrid No.551, July 1, 1916.

71. TNA ADM 223/652, NID Message Logs No.180, March 4, 1917; and HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.601, August 18, 1917.

72. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.601, August 18, 1917.

73. TNA FO 371/2969 No.21873, “Raisuli and Spanish Authorities,” January 27, 1917 and No.116086, “Raisuli: Proposal of Spanish Government to Appoint him Grand Vizier,” June 11, 1917.

74. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.623, September 8, 1917.

75. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.4522, December 6, 1917.

76. CACC, The Papers of Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, DRAX 5/3 World War I Intelligence Reports, ‘Admiralty Intelligence Reports on the International Situation and General Intelligence’ No.221.

77. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.200, March 10, 1917, Madrid-Berlin No.258, March 29, 1917.

78. HW 7/28, Madrid-Berlin No.231, March 20, 1917; and HW 7/30, Berlin-Madrid No.358, April 1, 1917.

79. ADM 223/652, NID Message Logs No.358, March 31, 1917; and HW 7/30, Berlin-Madrid No.397, April 10, 1917.

80. Hoy, 40 O.B., 179, 180.

81. “The French Zone,” The Times, December 27, 1915; “French Anxiety,” The Times, December 28, 1915; and “Lyautey’s Triumph,” The Times, December 29, 1915.

82. “Raisuli and the Germans,” The Times, April 4, 1918; and “Raisuli’s Son a German Protégé,” The Times, April 5, 1918.

83. “German Proposals to Raisuli,” The Times, April 8, 1918.

84. “A German Zone in Morocco I,” The Times, April 31, 1918; and “A German Zone in Morocco II,” The Times, May 1, 1918.

85. CCAC, The Papers of Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, HALL 3/4, “chapter 6, ‘A little ‘information’ for the enemy.”

86. Chester et al., The Zinoviev Letter, 95–8; Andrew, Secret Service, 437; Bennett, The Zinoviev Letter, 45, 46; Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 150; and Boghardt, Zimmermann Telegram, 238.

87. TNA FO 371/3252 No.86403, “Tribal Unrest and Enemy Agents,” May 15, 1918.

88. TNA FO 371/3251 No.61256, “Enemy Activities at Larache,” April 6, 1918. British diplomats in Tangier repeatedly lambasted the futility and boredom of their Moroccan postings: Fisher, “The Strange Life of W.J. Garnett,” 208.

89. Lancashire Record Office, Jack Garnett Papers, DDQ/44/1, Hardinge to Garnett, June 3, 1909; Fisher, “Keeping ‘the Old Flag flying’,” 719–46.

90. Times Newspapers Ltd Archive (TNL), Walter Harris Papers, WBH/2, Unsigned note, January 29, 1919; Hardinge Papers, volume 34: Sir Arthur Hardinge to Charles Hardinge, October 16, 1917, f.364; Fisher, “An Eagle Whose Wings are not Always Easy to Clip,” 156–9.

91. TNL, Geoffrey Dawson Papers, TT/ED/GGD/1, Harris to Dawson, September 18, 1916 and December 31, 1917; TNL, Henry William Stead Papers, TT/ED/HWS/1, “Raisuli and Tangier,” July 12, 1917; and Harris, France, Spain and the Rif, 58.

92. Harris Papers, WBH/2, Telegrams and Messages from Harris.

93. Stead Papers, Undated telegram Harris to Stead.

94. Stead Papers, Harris to Stead, October 14, 1917.

95. TNL, Basil Long Papers, TT/FE/BKL/1, Long to Harris, April 23, 1918; Dawson Papers, Harris to Dawson 22–28 April 1918. Cozens-Hardy and Harris’ partnership continued until 1919 for the War Trade Intelligence Department: Fisher, “The British Community in Morocco,” 738.

96. FO 371/3251 No.79446, “Surreptitious Activities of the Germans at Larache,” May 4, 1918.

97. Ponce, “Spanish Neutrality,” 62.

98. Harris also appeared to be unaware of intrigues with Muley Hafid, which further questions whether the reports were a product of an independent inquiry. Harris, Morocco that Was, 158.

99. His biographer relied upon his three fictional accounts of what transpired in Morocco: Green, Mason, 142–3.

100. TNA FO 371/2714 No.262856, “Mr A.E.W. Mason’s Visit to General Lyautey,” December 28, 1916.

101. Which was in any case concluded by the end of 1916: Green, Mason, 144–7.

102. TNA FO 369/941 No.148973, “Consular Staff Morocco,” July 28, 1917; and No.190804, “Assistance for Vice-Consul Atkinson at Tetuan,” October 4, 1917; and Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/47/125, Garnett to Cozens-Hardy, January 18, 1918.

103. This was based on sketchy evidence provided by casual informants and collected by Lewis Forde. Forde offered very little in terms of definitive proof of covert activities or that the Germans were connected to the activities being monitored. Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/45/46–7, Macleod to Garnett, April 24–26, 1917; and DDQ 9/45/51, Macleod to Garnett, April 30, 1917. In reply to this evidence, Sir Arthur Hardinge stated that unless Garnett was ‘able to [provide] very positive evidence indeed to work upon’, the matter would not be taken up with the Spanish: Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/45/90, Lorain to Garnett, July 4, 1917. See also Fisher, British Diplomacy, 150, 151.

104. Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/47/75, Garnett to Cozens-Hardy, November 17, 1917; and DDQ 9/47/107, Garnett to Cozens-Hardy, December 18, 1917.

105. FO 369/941 No.171401, “Future Consular Arrangements and Commercial Prospects in Morocco,” September 1, 1917; and FO 369/941 No.227458, “Creation of a Consular Post at Port of Melilla,” November 29, 1917.

106. TNA FO 369/1006 No. 9432, “Appointment of a British Vice Consul at Melilla,” January 16, 1918.

107. FO 371/3251 No.61256, “Enemy Activities at Larache,” April 6, 1918.

108. Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/45/108, Selous to Garnett, July 25, 1917.

109. Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/47/16, Garnett to Cozens-Hardy, October 7, 1917.

110. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.460, April 13, 1918.

111. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.212, April 18, 1918.

112. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.1719, May 5, 1918.

113. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.1868, May 20, 1918.

114. FO 371/3251 No.106441, “Application from Spanish Government for Safe Conduct for Four Germans,” June 14, 1918.

115. TNA FO 372/1144 No.141706, “Moorish Decoration for Mr Harris,” August 16, 1918.

116. FO 371/3252 No.48938, “Tribal situation in Spanish Zone,” March 16, 1918, No.113748, “Tribal Unrest (French Zone),” June 27, 1918.

117. HW 7/30, Madrid-Berlin No.2431, June 29, 1918.

118. HW 7/30, Berlin-Madrid No.30676, August 31, 1918.

119. FO 371/3252 No.123876, “Abdul Malek, Reports Defeat of Two Forces by French,” July 15, 1918.

120. FO 371/3251 No.23978, “Germans at Larache,” February 7, 1918.

121. FO 371/3252 No.48938, “Tribal Situation in Spanish Zone,” March 16, 1918.

122. Garnett Papers, DDQ 9/49/65 Cozens-Hardy to Garnett, November 10, 1917.

123. TNA FO 371/3839 No.149556, “Du Bataille du Maroc,” November 7, 1919.

124. FO 371/3839 No.167775, “French Protectorate during the War,” December 5, 1919. Walter Harris similarly contended that General Lyautey’s industrious and persistent military endeavour held Morocco together: France, Spain and the Rif, 193.

125. “Germany’s Moroccan War,” The Times, October 22, 1918; TNA FO 371/3840 No.21132, “Raisuli,” February 7, 1919, and No.36100, “Military Situation: French Zone,” March 6, 1919; and Bartels, Fighting the French, 113–94.

126. TNA FO 371/3841 No.134007, “Fighting in Spanish Zone,” September 26, 1919; and FO 371/3840 No.105733, “Military Operations: Spanish Zone,” July 22, 1919.

127. Chandler, “Spain and Her Moroccan Protectorate,” 311–2.

128. Terhorst, The Riff Kabyles, 9–22; and Thomas, “Crisis Management in Colonial States,” 703, 704.

129. TNA FO 371/3253 No.120729, “Situation in Morocco, Report by Col. Thoroton on Gravity of Situation, and Possible Measures for Its Amelioration,” July 10, 1918.

130. Cline, “Nationalism in Morocco,” 18.

131. Ferris, “Before ‘Room 40’,” 431; and Ferris, “The Road to Bletchley Park,” 53.

132. SIGINT’s considerable impact on the Second World War was largely thanks to Churchill’s appreciation of it’s role in international relations and of the need to coordinate the intelligence process: Andrew, “Churchill and Intelligence,” 187.

133. Wells, “Studies in British Naval Intelligence,” 99.