British Security Intelligence in Occupied Persia, 1942-1944

What is it about?

The curiously neglected narrative of security intelligence in occupied Persia (Iran) reveals that where the German intelligence services failed catastrophically, British security measures triumphed spectacularly. However, from 1943 onwards, after Stalingrad and Kursk, the focus of the Allied intelligence services abruptly shifted from the war against Nazism to the prospect of postwar realignment and the struggle against Stalinism. Equally abruptly, the German services switched their operational priorities from subversion of the Persian polity to sabotage initiatives targeting the Lend-Lease supply route across Persia, the oil infrastructure of southwestern Persia, and Allied shipping in the Persian Gulf, all of which failed. By the end of the war, all German operatives on Persian soil had been captured, interrogated, and interned by British security. The initially amateur but ultimately professional ‘ratcatchers’ of the Defence Security Office in Tehran also performed various routine but vital security functions throughout the region, not least the establishment and maintenance of a large registry numbering 61,000 personalities. Success came to the DSO partly because of the excellent communicative liaison sustained between the Tehran office and MI5 headquarters; important relationships were also created and nurtured with the Soviet security forces and the Americans.

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Why is it important?

Based on a paper presented at '1944: Seventy Years On', an international conference held at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 14-17 April 2014