The Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing, Passchendaele, Belgium, is

the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world. The land on which it lays played a key role in the
Major Charles Villiers- Stuart (left), GSO Int, Major Thomas
ANZAC Corps HQ, killed by Turkish artillery at Blamey, GSO Int, The Intelligence CP at Anzac
Gallipoli in May 1915 and replaced by Major HQ 1st Aust
Stephen Butler (right) Division, Gallipoli
Australian’s attending a Scout, Observer & Sniping
(SOS) School in France, 1916
LT Hugh Knyvett, Int Offr 59
Aust. Inf Battalion, August
1916. Died of wounds 1918
3 Aust Inf Brigade OP,
1916
 Military intelligence is essentially the
source from which all military activity
is actuated. It is on the knowledge of
the military dispositions that any
operation of war is based.
Intelligence is concerned in every
phase of attack and defence — from
the action of a reconnoitring patrol in
the fighting front to the defence of
ammunition factories in the Heart of
a seemingly peaceful country.

Source: Int course notebook of Lt Ray Tuckerman, IO 54 Aust Inf Bn, on No.1 Course of Instruction for Intelligence
Officers, February 1917
 AIF Intelligence Staff Establishment, Sep 1917
I & II Anzac Corps GSO 3 Int (Maj)
HQ (each) Staff Learner (Lt)
Arty & Air IOs (3+)
Clerks (3)
Interpreters (5)
Mounted Intelligence Police (12)
Guides (10)

Aust Inf Div HQ GSO 3 (Maj / Capt)

Div IO (Lt / Capt)
Staff Learner (Lt)
Clerk (1)
Draftsman (1)
Interpreters (5)
Mounted Intelligence Police (8)
Guides (8)

Aust Inf Bde HQ IO (LT / Capt)

Staff Learner (Lt)

Aust Inf Bn HQ IO (Lt)

Int NCO (Sgt)
Int Sect / Pl (30)
Source: Instructions for Intelligence Duties, Second Army, 10 June 1916
 BEF & AIF Intelligence Staff Functions

Ia Intel on the enemy, incl. enemy documents, equipment & POWs

Ib Secret Service, incl. codes, cyphers & intelligence police

Ic Topography Sect incl. topo info, maps, photography, plans & sketches

Id Censorship, control of press and foreign attaches

Ie Wireless (sigs intercept)

If Visitors

If & g War trade & Intelligence Corps (Outside of AIF responsibility)

Source: Staff Manual: War (Provisional), 1912, p.37

"A Souvenir King !" Pte John
‘Barney’ Hines, 45 Bn, with
his trophies obtained on 27
September 1917 during his
battalion’s advance on
Polygon Wood
Source: AWM E00822
… the value of intelligence was especially
great. The work of our intelligence police and
battalion intelligence personnel was
remarkable - papers, letters and maps began to
arrive back at Brigade Headquarters early and
in large quantities.
Source: First Anzac Corps Memorandum G24/1/162, 4 September 1917, AWM25
 The importance of up to date maps and photographs

The incoming troops knew their tasks

as they had never known them
before…memoranda and maps,
numerous aeroplane photographs had
been sent to each battalion…The men
knew the theory as well as the officers.
Source: 3rd Aust Division Notes on Interview with G.S.O.(I), First
ANZAC Corps Concerning Intelligence Arrangements, 16
November 1917, AWM25, 423/25/44

Australians of the 13th Brigade studying the large contour

map which was specially made to give the troops a
knowledge of the Messines battlefield, June 1917 (AWM
E00632)
Two of our pigeons are missing

Source: AWM ART02555

The cartoon first appeared in BEF magazine ‘From the Front’ in Jan 17
A reliable agent reports that by the first week
in March [1917], the Germans will have
completed 100 tanks, more powerful than the
British ones and capable of containing a
crew of 50 men.

It is being reported that the Kaiser and his

entire General Staff have been assasinated.
Source: Fifth Army Memorandum S.G. 67/1, 22 February 1917

Lt George Fox Priestley, MC, AIF. Ex

IO of 11th Bn. Graduate of GHQ
intelligence course in UK. For
Passendaele he was attached to GHQ
Int Corps where he was in charge of
the I (b) Secret Service Section at
Havre. Won his MC as 1 Div IO for
Monash’s advance in Sep 18
British Int Corps sergeant interviews an evacuee
from German occupied France (Int Museum)
Drawings from note book of Lt Reg Tuckerman, IO 54 Bn, while at Aust Corps School of
Intelligence, 1918
Brig John Rogers, MC

• Enlisted as a 19-year-old inf private in 1914

• Promoted to CSM at Gallipoli
• Appointed 6 Bn IO, Mar 1916
• Served as Bde IO and 1 Div GSO3 Int
• Ended war as Blamey & Monash’s
intelligence officer in HQ Aust Corps.
• Awarded MC while Bn IO & MID for his
detailed planning of operations as GSO3 Int
at HQ 1 Div.
• At Blamey’s request he served again in WWII
in several intelligence roles, including the
Director of Military Intelligence as a
brigadier.
 
Source: Judy Thomson, Winning with Intelligence: A
Biography of John David Rogers, Australian Military History
Publications, Sydney, 2000, p. 60.
My Contact Details:

Glenn Wahlert
Mob. 0411 281 747
ggwahlert@bigpond.com

Or go through Karen Hunter