German spies hid secret messages in drawings of models wearing the latest fashions in an attempt to outwit Allied censors during World War II, according to British security service files released yesterday.
Nazi agents relayed sensitive military information using the dots and dashes of Morse code incorporated in the drawings. They posted the letters to their handlers, hoping that counter-espionage experts would be fooled by the seemingly innocent pictures.
But British secret service officials were aware of the ruse and issued censors with a guide to code-breaking to intercept them.
The book -- part of a batch of British secret service files made public for the first time -- included an example of a code hidden in a drawing of three young models.
"Heavy reinforcements for the enemy expected hourly," reads a message disguised as a decorative pattern in the stitching of their gowns, hats and blouses.
The files reveal other ingenious ways spies tried to send coded notes through the post. Invisible ink, pinpricks and indentations on letters were all used to convey details of troop movements, bombing raids and ship-building.
They hid codes in sheet music, descriptions of chess moves and shorthand symbols disguised as normal handwriting. Postcards were spliced in half, stuffed with wafer-thin notes and resealed.
Agents also used secret alphabets and messages which could only be read by taking the first letter of certain words.
According to other documents released by the National Archives yesterday, British military historian Basil Liddell Hart obtained details of secret Allied plans for the D-Day invasion and shared them with acquaintances including Lord Beaverbrook, publisher of the Daily Express and wartime minister of aircraft production.
The leak, which became known three months before the invasion in June 1944, infuriated prime minister Winston Churchill, who wanted to have Liddell Hart charged with a crime, the documents revealed.
No charges were filed, though Liddell Hart was placed under surveillance and his telephone calls and letters were intercepted.
Surveillance ended after the invasion.
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