The Guy Liddell Diaries, Volume 2, 1942-1945 (review)

This second volume brings to a conclusion the publication of the diaries of Guy Liddell, MI5's chief of espionage in the Second World War. Their background and overall importance were covered in the review of the first volume (Journal of Military History 70 [July 2005]: 861–62]), and need not be repeated here. Together the two volumes form one of the essential published documents of the period.

Overall, the entries in this second volume have a more expansive, occasionally even discursive, feeling to them than did those in the first; no doubt reflecting the relative easing of tension as the tide turned against the Axis and victory became more and more certain. Like the entries in the first volume, they are replete with what can only be called juicy tidbits from the secret war. There are humorous moments, such as the dinner at which the participants enjoyed cigars which the Abwehr had given to one of the British double agents, and another rather drunken dinner to celebrate Liddell's CBE. There are references to absurd ideas from other agencies, such as an SOE project to drop pornographic leaflets to Japanese soldiers, and a Yugoslav project to have a treacherous fellow-countryman "eaten alive by rats in order to make him talk." There are continued problems with Section V of MI6 and with the security elements of SOE and of the Foreign Office—which, though inept, would not allow MI5 to assist them, leading to some Schadenfreude over the famous Cicero case. There are concerns over Hagenah and others in Palestine and over constant leakages to the Germans through Swedish channels—including a too-talkative American military attaché. Liddell discusses such little-known matters as the reading of the Spanish ambassador's dispatches, the reading of Comintern traffic, the fact that Italian military intelligence had been reading the Vatican's cable traffic, and the fact that the Swedes were bugging the British Embassy in Stockholm. There are new details, often amusing, about some of the well-known double agents run back to the Germans.

In short, both volumes of this edition of Liddell's diaries are essential additions to any shelf of Second World War intelligence books. But researchers must bear in mind that the full original diary runs to some 850,000 words, and that the exigencies of publication would permit the inclusion of only something over one-third of that total in these two published volumes. The editor made every effort to retain anything that is new, that sheds light on existing cases, or that is entirely of a counterintelligence nature, and to omit only material that is available elsewhere. Nevertheless, researchers studying specific topics will still need to consult the originals; a task that will be eased when the publishers and the editor bring out a promised searchable electronic version of the full text, on CD-ROM and on line at guyliddelldiaries.com.