Dennis Wheatley and 'Ultra' – the Allies' code designation for the cracking of the top secret German codes such as 'Engima' in World War II.

While Dennis Wheatley must have been fed a significant quantity of output originating from 'Ultra' - because knowing the current mind-set of the enemy would surely have been necessary before that mind-set could be changed - there has been much debate about whether DW knew about 'Ultra' itself, and about where the intelligence originated.

There are, I think, only two references pertinent to this in DW's published writings. One is where, when Johnny Bevan came on board, DW wrote in 'The Deception Planners' (pages 63/4) how:

Soon afterwards Johnny decided to keep a file of his own and labelled it 'Lt Colonel J.H. Bevan – Personal'. Casually he remarked to me, 'The papers in this are just intelligence material with which you need not bother yourself, Dennis.'

It was a tactful way of telling me that I was not to look in it, and that rather amused me, as I could get all the secret information that I wanted from my friends in the Air Ministry. But Johnny was obsessed by security.'

In view of what follows, this folder in all likelihood contained information relating to 'Ultra', and it is amusing to speculate whether DW peeked inside it or not, notwithstanding his commanding officer's instructions. On the one hand DW had his loyalty to his commanding officer, and he would have been conscious of the acute loss-of-face (at best) if it ever emerged that he had contravened his commanding officer's instructions. On the other hand, it is hard not to imagine the inquisitive DW being exceedingly tempted...

DW also made a brief comment that when he left the LCS, someone kindly offered to keep him in touch with everything that was going on afterwards – and in the quote the person concerned specifically mentioned the top secret 'Ultra'.

I had personally been inclined to think that this might just be a bit of 'puff', and that DW might not have been aware of 'Ultra' until the existence of Ultra was revealed to the public in the 1970s, most notably when F.W. Winterbotham published 'The Ultra Secret' in 1974, but a reading of the original typescript of DW's 'The Deception Planners' (originally entitled 'Secrets of the War Cabinet'), suggests this was absolutely genuine.

Not only does 'Ultra' enter seamlessly into the original typescript narrative in several places – notably where DW discusses how 'Ultra' helped the authorities to capture enemy agents as soon as they came ashore from the submarines which had landed them, or where they were parachuted in (TS pages 283-4), and again when he describes how much of the information that 'C' in MI6 gave Winston Churchill came from "Ultra', secret 'Y' service", rather than spies (TS page 288), but more importantly, the story about what was said when he made his farewells (TS pp 692-3) is much more detailed than the account given in the final published version.

Pages 692-3 of the original typescript of 'Secrets of the War Cabinet'
Click on the images to enlarge

I have reproduced it above, and it reads as follows:

'Then the very night before I was due to leave (i.e. towards the end of 1944), another Christmas party was given in the ground floor Joint Planning Staff Mess for the officers, clerks and typists who worked in the Cabinet offices. Again I was the centre of attention by scores of well-wishers drinking to my successful career as an author.

During the party, one amusing incident occurred. Johnny happened to be standing beside me when Frank Inglis, our youngest Air Vice Marshal and the Director of Air Intelligence, came up to me and said:

"Dennis, do keep in touch with us. Come in any time and I'll give you the low-down on what is going on. We'll never have any secrets from you and, as always, I'll continue to give you the 'Ultra'".

Poor, security-obsessed Johnny. By never allowing me to sign the "Black Book", he had been under the impression for years that I had not been privy to "Most Secret Intelligence". Now it was revealed to him at this last moment that all the time I had been aware of every move in the behind-the-scenes game. Yet worse, as a civilian, I was to continue to enjoy that mark of complete confidence. He went quite white, but could do no more than give a feeble smile.

Nevertheless, I did not avail myself of this kind offer ...'.

It therefore appears that while not through his 'chain of command', DW was both aware of 'Ultra', and cognisant of much of the contents of the traffic.

CTHB