Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "Rommel’s "Dash to the Wire" | Operation Crusader Part 10" video.
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Crusader was the first instance where the British discovered just how much electronic intel the Krauts were generating from B'dienst intercepts -- even when they couldn't quite break British codes.
Later, Auck would gut Rommel's B'dienst team while it was 'protected' by the Italians.
First -- really the first -- battle of tel el isa. ( Which is NOT the the same as the typical search engine result. That's actually the SECOND battle of tel el isa, and there is a Second battle of tel el isa, which is actually the THIRD battle.)
The truly first battle of tel el isa decided WWII. It caused a REVOLUTION in British, American and Soviet signals security. Naturally, every player involved lied for decades afterwards about this battle... made it drop down into the memory hole.
It cost the Auck his position, and brought in Monty. He took the fall for his loose talking subordinates. It was during this period that Monty swept out the old and brought in a winning team.
The top man in Rommel's B'dienst team was mortally wounded during the First battle of tel el isa. The British did everything in their power to save him. But, no luck.
This young captain was THE miracle man for Rommel, and is the true source of Rommel's desert magic. After his loss, the DAK/ PAA was never the same.
Account after account misses this critical event... 'cause every major power keeps lying about it.
Crusader almost had the same effect... but the British didn't capture the 'magic' captain. ( He was a genius, BTW. In British or American service he would've been a Lt. Col. ... or better. )
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@Stuart... of course the Americans were not involved with Crusader in any way.
IIRC, it was the British that -- through feed-back -- informed the Americans that their stuff had been not broken -- but stolen right out of the embassy safe. The moment the Axis attempted to exploit the American gaff the British were hot on the trail. Many of the transmissions were in plain text to London, in the first place. So now even the British were cracking the Americans.
One can always back into any encypherment scheme if you have plain text, encoded text and enough to work from. in the case of the British and the Americans, they had so much traffic -- of each other -- that they were soon cracking every scheme each other could come up with.
It was at this point that Echelon was 'born.' London and Washington decided that it was impossible to fake each other out -- and to what purpose? So they got married, instead. This marriage has lasted down to the present day, and has been re-named over the decades. It's also referred to as Five Eyes and many another spook name.
The Americans were the groom, the British were the bride. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, rounded out the 'Five.' Also in during WWII: China and Holland. The Dutch drove the Japanese absolutely crazy with their negotiating style. ( Royal Dutch Shell properties within the Dutch East Indies [Indonesia] and Brunei. It was based entirely upon goading from both the British and the Americans.
A tid-bit for you, Stuart: the Americans were intercepting Axis tank-to-tank radio traffic from North Africa -- from Rhode Island! Yes, the signals bounced off the Ionosphere and could be picked-up plain as day by an ultra secret set-up. These signals were then sent all the way back to London, encrypted, on the down low. These very same signals could NOT be picked up in Africa. The Germans never picked up on the fact that their signals were skipping all the way across the Atlantic.
These intercepts let Monty know with astounding detail the ebb of the PAA and its DAK. This set-up was kept secret for decades after the war. So don't look for it to be detailed in the average history. It did get a Big Write Up in the New York Times. The base was actually seriously considered as an ideal site for the brand new United Nations and its headquarters. Manhattan won out. More hookers.
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