Intelligence Corps | |
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Active | 1914–1929 19 July 1940 – present |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Role | Military intelligence |
Size | 7 Battalions |
HQ Directorate Intelligence Corps | Chicksands |
Nickname(s) | Int Corps |
Motto(s) | Manui Dat Cognitio Vires Knowledge gives strength to the arm |
Beret | Cypress green |
March | "Rose & Laurel" (quick) Purcell's "Trumpet Tune and Ayre" (slow) |
Website | army.mod.uk/intelligence/intelligence.aspx |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | The Princess Royal |
Colonel Commandant | General The Lord Houghton of Richmond |
Insignia | |
Tactical Recognition Flash |
Arms of the British Army |
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Combat Arms |
Combat Support Arms |
Combat Services |
The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a brigadier.
In the 19th century, British intelligence work was undertaken by the Intelligence Department of the War Office. An important figure was Sir Charles Wilson, a Royal Engineer who successfully pushed for reform of the War Office's treatment of topographical work. [1]
In the early 1900s intelligence gathering was becoming better understood, to the point where a counter-intelligence organisation (MI5) was formed by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DoMI) under Captain (later Major-General) Vernon Kell; overseas intelligence gathering began in 1912 by MI6 under Commander (later Captain) Mansfield Smith-Cumming. [2]
Although the first proposals to create an intelligence corps came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in August 1914 and originally included only officers and their servants. It left for France on 12 August 1914. [3] The Royal Flying Corps was formed to monitor the ground, and provided aerial photographs for the Corps to analyse. [4]
During the Irish War of Independence, Intelligence Corps operatives were used to monitor the Irish Republican Army. On Bloody Sunday (1920) 15 British Military Officers and civilians were shot and killed during multiple attacks in Dublin. Of the 15 killed six were Army Intelligence Officers, two were Courts Martial Officers, one was a senior Staff Officer serving with Irish Command (Brevet Lieut-Colonel Hugh Montgomery), three policemen (all former British military), two civilians (all former British military) and one local civilian. [5] Following the war the Intelligence Corps was gradually scaled down and disbanded entirely in 1929; intelligence matters were left to individual unit officers. [6] [7] [8]
On 19 July 1940 a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. The Army had been unprepared for collecting intelligence for deployment to France, and the only intelligence had been collected by Major Sir Gerald Templer. The Corps trained operatives to parachute at RAF Ringway; some of these were then dropped over France as part of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Intelligence Corps officers were involved in forming the highly-effective Long Range Desert Group, and Corps officer Lt Col Peter Clayton was one of the four founders of the Special Air Service (SAS). Around 40 per cent of British Army personnel at Bletchley Park were in the Intelligence Corps. [9]
The Combined Allied Intelligence Corps as it was known in Malta, began recruiting in 1940 following Italy's entry into the war on the side of Germany. [10] Among its many responsibilities in the Mediterranean Theatre were debriefing and interrogation of high-ranking prisoners of war in East Africa following Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia ("Eldoret" P.O.W. Camp no. 365 being one example), counter-intelligence operations following Operation Husky the Allied invasion of Sicily in August 1943, and implementation of the Allied Screening Commission. [10] The commission was established by Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander a few days after the fall of Rome in June 1944 to identify and reimburse Italian civilians who had assisted Allied escapees. [11]
Throughout the Cold War, Intelligence Corps officers and NCOs (with changed insignia) were posted behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany, to join in the intelligence-gathering activities of the British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (Brixmis). [12]
Many members of the Intelligence Corps served in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". Units such as the Military Reaction Force, Special Reconnaissance Unit, Force Research Unit and 14 Intelligence Company contained Corps soldiers and officers. [13]
On 1 February 1985 the corps was officially declared an 'Arm' (combat support) instead of a 'Service' (rear support). [9]
Intelligence Corps personnel wear a distinctive cypress green beret with a cap badge consisting of a union rose (a red rose with a white centre) between two laurel branches and surmounted by a crown. Their motto is Manui Dat Cognitio Vires ("Knowledge gives Strength to the Arm"). The corps' quick march is The Rose & Laurel while its slow march is Henry Purcell's Trumpet Tune & Ayre. [14]
Within the British Army, soldiers of the Intelligence Corps are often referred to as Green Slime, or sometimes simply 'Slime', due to the colour of their beret. [15] [16] [17]
Their headquarters, formerly at Maresfield, East Sussex, then Templer Barracks at Ashford, Kent, moved in 1997 to the former Royal Air Force station at Chicksands in Bedfordshire along with the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC). [14] DISC was renamed as Joint Intelligence Training Group in January 2015. [18]
The Intelligence Corps Museum was created in 1969, [19] and later renamed as the Military Intelligence Museum, now also at Chicksands. As a working military base, the museum can be visited by appointment only. [20]
The corps has a particularly high proportion of commissioned officers, many of them commissioned from the ranks, and also a high percentage of female members. Non-commissioned personnel join as an Operator Military Intelligence (OPMI) or Operator Military Technical Intelligence (OPTI). [21] They do basic 14-week military training at either the Army Training Centre Pirbright, or the Army Training Regiment, Winchester. [22] OPMI/OPTI soldiers then will complete a 20-week special-to-arm training at Templer Training Delivery Wing, Chicksands, at the end of which they are promoted to Lance Corporal and posted to a battalion. [23]
All battalions of the Intelligence Corps fall under 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade of the 6th (UK) Division. [24] Below are the current units of the corps. [25] [26]
The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations. Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio and area networks in the field. It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems, providing command support to commanders and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy communications.
The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst giving them an opportunity to take part in military life whilst at university. OTCs also organise non-military outdoor pursuits such as hill walking and mountaineering. UOTC units are not deployable units nor are their cadets classed as trained soldiers. The majority of members of the UOTC do not go on to serve in the regular or reserve forces.
16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, known simply as 16 Air Assault Brigade from 1999 – 2021, is a formation of the British Army predominantly based in Colchester, Essex. It makes up the Air Assault Task Force, a battlegroup held at high readiness, and is the only brigade in the British Army focused on operating via parachute, helicopter and air-landing.
Redford Cavalry and Infantry Barracks is a military installation located on Colinton Road, near the Edinburgh City Bypass, east of the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. The barracks are set to close in 2029.
HQ 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland is a Regional Point of Command, Brigade of the British Army.
Ministry of Defence Chicksands, or more simply MOD Chicksands, is a tri-service British Armed Forces facility in Bedfordshire, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of London.
Bulford Camp is a military camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1897, the site continues in use as a large British Army base. The camp is close to the village of Bulford and is about 2+1⁄4 miles (3.6 km) north-east of the town of Amesbury. The camp forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.
Forthside Barracks is a military installation in Stirling, Scotland.
Maindy Barracks is a military installation in the Cathays district of Cardiff in Wales.
1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade of the British Army was created as part of the Army 2020 reform, to command military intelligence, ISTAR, and electronic warfare units.
The 4th Military Intelligence Battalion is a military intelligence unit of the British Army's Intelligence Corps, which provides close intelligence support to the headquarters for the only warfighting division in the army.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.
This article represents the structure of the Irish Defence Forces as of May 2020:
5 Military Intelligence Battalion is an Intelligence Corps Army Reserve unit in the British Army. It is based in Scotland, with sub-units in Edinburgh, Gateshead and Leeds and detachments in Glasgow and Chesterfield. It is partnered with 1 Military Intelligence Battalion, a Regular Army unit based in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.
The 7th Battalion, The Rifles is an Army Reserve battalion of the British Army originally formed from elements of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, and Royal Green Jacket badged Sub-Units of The London Regiment following the Future Army Structure programme, and remains an integral part of the regiment.
1st Military Intelligence Brigade was a formation of the British Army formed after the Future Army Structure review reform, but in 2014 was absorbed into the new 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.
The GurkhaAllied Rapid Reaction Corps Support Battalion, or simply the GurkhaARRC Support Battalion is a combat support unit of the British Army, and one of only three units permanently assigned to NATO. For administrative purposes, the Gurkha ARRC Support Battalion falls under the oversight of the Royal Logistic Corps, though employs members from many other cap badges.
Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.