T-Force
Encyclopedia
T-Force was an elite British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 force which operated during the final stages of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Originally used to secure and exploit targets that could provide valuable intelligence of scientific and military value, they were later tasked with seizing Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 scientists and businessmen in the aftermath of VE Day. One of its operations was Operation Eclipse, under Tony Hibbert
Tony Hibbert (soldier)
Tony Hibbert MC is a former British Army officer who fought in World War II.He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1938, fighting with the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of France and being evacuated from Dunkirk. He then joined No. 2 Commando in October 1940, later renamed 11th...

, to seize Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. The operations of the T-Force were among the largest "exploitation operations" carried out by the allies.

Creation

The Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...

 (SHAEF) under General Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

 issued a directive to create T-Forces soon after the Normandy Landings. T-Forces were ordered to "identify, secure, guard and exploit valuable and special information, including documents, equipment and persons of value to the Allied armies". T-Force units were attached to the three army groups on the western front
Western Front (World War II)
The Western Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and West Germany. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale ground combat operations...

; the Sixth United States Army Group, 21st Army Group and 12th Army Group. The targets of the T-Force were selected and recommended by the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS). T-Force units were lightly armed and highly mobile.

The Ian Fleming Connection

The success of 30 Assault Unit, a unit that had been created by Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

 whilst working in Royal Navy intelligence was a key factor in the decision to create 'Target Force', normally referred to as T-Force. Fleming sat on the committee that selected targets for the unit, helping to create what were known as the 'Black Books' which were issued to officers of the unit. The infantry component of T-Force was formed by the 5th Battalion of the King's Regiment to support the 2nd British Army, and the Bucks Battalion of 1st Ox and Bucks
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army.The regiment was formed as a consequence of Childers reforms, a continuation of the Cardwell reforms, by the amalgamation of the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 52nd Regiment of Foot , forming the 1st...

 to support the 1st Canadian Army
First Canadian Army
The First Canadian Army was the senior Canadian operational formation in Europe during the Second World War.The Army was formed in early 1942, replacing the existing unnumbered Canadian Corps, as the growing number of Canadian forces in the United Kingdom necessitated an expansion to two corps...

. It was responsible for securing targets of interest to the British military and included nuclear laboratories, gas research centres and rocket scientists. The unit's most notable coup was the advance on the German port of Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

 where it captured the research centre where the engines for German rockets, missiles, jet fighters and high speed U Boats had been designed. Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

 used elements of this story in his 1955 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 novel Moonraker
Moonraker
Moonraker is the third novel by British author Ian Fleming featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond. The book was first published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955, bearing a cover based on Fleming's own concept...

. The story of T-Force and Fleming's connection to its work remained unknown until revealed in Sean Longden
Sean Longden
Sean Longden is an author and historian who specialises in previously untold stories from World War II , mostly sourced from interviews with veterans...

's book on the subject.

Western front

T-Force units accompanied combat units when capturing industrial plants, or arrived soon afterward to take control of them. They had to prevent any looting or sabotaging in the plants, and were responsible for ensuring that key personnel did not escape and no documents were removed. Once the T-Force took control of a plant, CIOS would be informed of it, and investigators were sent there immediately.

A notable achievement of the T-Force was the seizing of Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

 on 4 May 1945. Allied troops had been ordered not to move north past Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck.It is famous for its annual Karl-May-Festival...

 by this time. However, a T-Force group led by Major Tony Hibbert
Tony Hibbert (soldier)
Tony Hibbert MC is a former British Army officer who fought in World War II.He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1938, fighting with the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of France and being evacuated from Dunkirk. He then joined No. 2 Commando in October 1940, later renamed 11th...

 was given permission to advance to Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

 and seize the targets there. Not knowing that this permission was given in error, the T-Force moved into Kiel unopposed, and took control of their assigned targets. A strong German force was present in the city, which was reluctant to surrender when asked by the T-Force, until Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...

 instructed them to do so.

Operations in post-war Germany

In post war Germany, T-Force was tasked with carrying out abductions of German scientists and businessmen. One of the objectives of these abductions was to recover military secrets of Nazi Germany. In addition to this, the abductions of the scientists enabled Britain to use their knowledge in building up the British economy after the war, and also prevented the Soviet Union from obtaining their knowledge. The knowledge obtained from businessmen and technicians was used to improve British industries.

For example, Courtauld’s received the latest information on manmade fibres, Dorman Long benefited from information and equipment originating from the Hermann Goering Steel Works and even the British coal industry had pit props sent to them from the Harz Mountains.
On the military side much information was gathered, which could have been vital, had the war in the Far East not ended so soon.

Apart from this, there were wider political and economic implications, including the significance of the early liberation of Kiel, which prevented the Russians from adding Schleswig-Holstein and the Jutland Peninsula to their area of influence, as indeed they temporarily did with the Danish island of Bornholm. The unit's role remained secret until very recently, coming to wider notice only with the publication of Sean Longden’s book T Force, the Race for Nazi War Secrets, 1945 in September 2010.

Old Comrades' Association

An Old Comrades' Association (OCA) was formed on 24 March 1990, approved by the King's Regimental Colonel Major-General Peter Davies. At its height the OCA had a membership of 60, today it is 30—scattered around some 25 locations in the UK and a couple abroad.

A book, T Force Story was published in 2005, with copies presented to HM the Queen of Denmark, HRH the Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark and HH Duke Jost of Stolberg. This was followed up with a DVD, supported by a lottery grant, and distributed free of charge to some 60 Army Museums, education authorities in the north-west of England, King's RHQ and branches. Countless interviews have been given to press, radio and TV, in the UK, in Denmark and Germany. Technical help has been given to the Kiel Archives on the production of a book and DVD Kiel May 1945, there has been similar co-operation with the archives in Preetz, and with research on a book about Eckernfoerde immediately after the Second World War, produced by their historical society and interviews with German film production company LOOKS, for their documentary series Damals nach dem Krieg.

The BBC's The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...

showed a short feature on T-Force on 13 July 2010 to mark the publication of Sean Longden's book: T Force, the Race for German War Secrets, 1945, following his earlier book To the Victor the Spoils.

The association produces a quarterly newsletter 'Free Lance' (the same name as the post-war unit magazine published between 7 August 1945 and July 1947), with issue No 80 to appear later this year. The association also enjoys special relations with a number of towns and cities in Denmark and Germany, and has been honoured by official receptions: in Kolding and Aarhus in Denmark, Kiel, Goslar, Bad Nenndorf and Hanover in Germany. The King's were offered the 'Freedom of the City' in Kolding, but unfortunately, due to transport expenses this had to be declined.
Operta Aperta, the motto of 5 King’s / 2 T Force, translated: "From darkness comes light", accurately describes the chaos which was Germany in May 1945 and the following rapid development of technology in the western world.

Following representation from the 5th Battalion, Kings (Liverpool) Regiment / 2d T-Force OCA, to recognise his achievements in securing a peaceful transfer of power in Kiel and leading a small British unit of just A and B Companies of 5th Battalion, King's, Major Hibbert MBE MC received the Great Seal of the City of Kiel on 19 June 2010 at his home, Trebah Gardens, from the hands of the Honorary German Consul to Devon/Cornwall, Mrs Angela Spatz.

External links

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