Imagine a world in which thousands of Americans, including many "in high places," openly express support for Nazi Germany. Pro-Nazi French? A pro-Nazi political movement in Britain? Does this sound like some demented work of fiction? Well, It isn't. Let me put it this way, whatever else you may have read about World War II, if you haven't read A Man Called Intrepid, there may be a serious gap in your understanding of the events and circumstances leading up to America's complete and "open" involvement in the war. In dealing with the history of World War II, most books tend to paint a rather monochromatic picture: the guys in the white hats versus the guys in the black hats. Hitler starts a war in Europe, Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, America enters war and the next thing you know, we have VE and VJ Day. There is, however, a little more to it than that. In January 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President of the United States and Adolph Hitler took the reins of Germany as Chancellor. Both men were facing a daunting agenda: to get their respective countries out of a deep abyss of financial depression. While they may have shared similar tasks, their methods and ideologies were rather different. England's Winston Churchill was "politically dead," in Harold Nicolson's words. "He is just a great round white face... incredibly aged... His spirits have also declined and he sighs that he has lost his old fighting power." Like America, Britain was in a depression and for the next seven years the British government would do whatever was necessary to avoid a confrontation with this aggressive and unfriendly tyrant in Germany. Unfortunately, Hitler's plan for a "Unified Europe" included the Nazi flag flying over Buckingham Palace. Churchill tried to warn the British government of the dangers ahead, but very few politicians had any interest — indeed, he was jeered and ridiculed for warning of Germany's rearming. Soon, however, events would develop which would indicate that perhaps Winston's warnings were well founded. In 1936 Germany occupied the Rhineland and the Rome-Berlin Axis was established. Hitler was on the move. At the outbreak of World War One, in August 1914, a bright young man named William Stephenson joined the Royal Canadian Engineers (Army) and shortly thereafter found himself in England, ready to become embroiled in the "Great War." By September 1916, he was serving in France as a fighter pilot for the Royal Flying Corps. Stephenson's war record was outstanding and he was highly decorated — though in later life he never again wore a uniform nor publicly displayed his medals. After attending Oxford University, he became an entrepreneur dealing in every aspect of high technology — especially electronic communications. It was through his technical business dealings (and therefore circle of friends) that he became acquainted with Winston Churchill. German scientific technology in the 1920s was highly advanced and industrial secrets were carefully guarded. Because of this desire for secrecy, the company Cipher Machines in Berlin developed a device called "Enigma." Their brochure described it as "a secret writing mechanism to frustrate inquisitive competitors." The device was not a great commercial success until ten years later when it was rediscovered by the Nazi government. They had a great and sinister need for secrecy. Churchill decided by the mid-1930s to establish a covert organization for the purpose of keeping a close eye on the activities of the Germans — especially their coded radio transmissions. William Stephenson had business dealings all over Europe (including Germany and Eastern Europe) and was therefore in a position to obtain one of these secret encoding (Enigma) machines for Churchill. Of course, the machine alone is of no use without the codes — but that is another long story. Under the guise of a businessman, Stephenson traveled around Europe as Churchill's eyes and ears. Word leaked out that the Germans were working on a new and incredibly powerful "atomic" weapon, so Stephenson was sent to Norway to investigate the German's source of "heavy water." In a short time, Stephenson became Churchill's closest and most valued advisor on matters of technical espionage. The worth of William Stephenson went far beyond that of "advisor." A brilliant man and, most importantly, an achiever — he knew how to push buttons and pull the right strings — and quietly brought back positive results. A young British Naval Intelligence Officer, by the name of Ian Fleming, would later use some of his knowledge of Stephenson's exploits in writing the James Bond, 007 intrigues. 1938: Germany annexes Austria and marches into Czech Sudentenland. 1939: Hitler invades Poland and Prime Minister Chamberlain appoints Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty. Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt had an excellent rapport; they frequently exchanged confidential correspondence signed "POTUS" (President of the United States) and "Naval Person." When Churchill formed a coalition government and became Prime Minister in May 1940, the situation had become so grim that he realized for Britain to survive, he had to have massive American assistance — and quickly. Stephenson had already met with Roosevelt to discuss a plan of co-operation between the FBI and British secret intelligence and they hit it off well from the start. Roosevelt trusted Stephenson, Churchill trusted Stephenson. Their trust was well placed indeed. In June 1940, Stephenson was sent to New York to establish the British Security Coordination office (BSC) — an innocuous cover name for British Intelligence. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, was not overly happy with this, but had been told by the President to cooperate and keep quiet. Additional British Intelligence / FBI joint operations were established in Canada and Bermuda. These remained active and of vital importance through the end of the war. One of the main points of the book, is to drive home the grim and desperate situation of Britain in the days before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Hitler "very foolishly" declared war on the United States. Many, perhaps most, Americans were of the isolationist school — thinking that "this business with Hitler" was a European matter and did not / should not involve the United States. The Germans established offices in the USA to promote "German Relations" and recruit support for the Nazi cause. Remember, at this time "Hitler" was not a dirty word and the Germans were quite adept at telling the story from their point of view. US Ambassador to Britain, Joseph Kennedy, advised Roosevelt against "holding the bag in a war in which the allies expect to be beaten." Charles Lindbergh traveled around the United States telling Americans that we had no business becoming involved in a European affair. The "America First" political party came into being and advocated friendly relations with Hitler because he was going to beat the British and all other opposition. Winston Churchill thought otherwise. Adolph Hitler's plans of conquest were far greater than many people realize: first continental Europe, then Britain, South America, Mexico and finally, "the last enemy" the United States. If the Nazi blueprint for England had gone according to plan, the outcome of this "European War" might have been very different. When, at last, the Japanese drove us headlong into World War II, Churchill summed up this thoughts on America: "The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate." A Man Called Intrepid — The Secret War. © 1976 by William Stevenson. ISBN 0-345-27254-4-250. Paperback by Ballantine Books, Random House. Back to Cry Havoc #14 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1996 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com