Intelligence and the War against Japan offers a comprehensive scholarly history of the development of the British secret service and its relations with its American intelligence counterparts during the war against Japan. Richard J. Aldrich makes extensive use of recently declassified files in order to examine the politics of secret service during the Far Eastern War, analysing the development of organizations such as Bletchley Park, the Special Operations Executive and the Office of Strategic Services in Asia. He argues that, from the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Allies focused increasingly on each other's future ambitions, rather than the common enemy. Central to this theme are Churchill, Roosevelt and their rivalry over the future of empire in Asia. Richard J. Aldrich's cogent, fluent analysis of the role of intelligence in Far Eastern developments is a thorough and penetrating account of this latter-day 'Great Game'.
1. Introduction: intelligence and empire; Part I. Before Pearl Harbor, 1937-41: 2. Wing Commander Wigglesworth flies east: the lamentable state of intelligence, 1937-9; 3. Insecurity and the fall of Singapore; 4. Surprise despite warning: intelligence and the fall of Singapore; 5. Conspiracy or confusion? Churchill, Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor; 6. 'Imperial Security Services': the emergence of OSS and SOE; Part II. India and Spheres of Influence, 1941-4: 7. 'Do-gooders' and 'bad men': Churchill, Roosevelt and rivalry over empire; 8. American intelligence and the British Raj: OSS and OWI in India, 1941-4; 9. Strange allies: British intelligence and security in India, 1941-4; Part III. Mountbatten's South East Asia Command, 1943-5: 10. Secret service and Mountbatten's South East Asia Command; 11. Special operations in South East Asia; 12. The British Secret Intelligence Service (M16) in the Far East; 13. Centre and region: the politics of signals intelligence; Part IV. Rivalry or Rivalries? China, 1942-5: 14. American struggles in China: OSS and Naval Group; 15. Britain and her allies in China; Part V. The End of the War in Asia, 1945-6: 16. Anti-colonialism, anti-communism and plans for post-war Asia; 17. Resisting the resistance: Thailand, Malaya and Burma; 18. Special operations in liberated areas: Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies, 1944-6; 19. Hong Kong and the future of China; 20. Conclusion: the hidden hand and the fancy foot.
