Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force

General Archibald Wavell, the commander of forces in North Africa at the outbreak of war, initiated the use of deception as part of Operation Compass, in December 1940.

The British Middle East Command, based in Egypt under General Archibald Wavell, fought a defensive war against Italian forces until Autumn, when it initiated more offensive manoeuvres.

On 13 December he informed Allied high command of his intention to form a department to manage deception, and requested Dudley Clarke be sent to Cairo to help.

His cover role was to establish a regional department for MI9, the somewhat less secret organisation tasked with helping Allied servicemen in escape and evasion tactics.

[5] In January 1941 Clarke began fabricating the existence of a British paratrooper regiment in the region, Operation Abeam, based on intelligence recovered the previous December.

It would be two years before Allied paratroopers were deployed to North Africa, but Clarke planned to enhance these fears by creating a fictional "Special Air Service Brigade".

He travelled to Turkey with the dual aim of establishing an MI9 presence in the country, and developing routes for 'A' Force to pass deceptive information to the enemy.

[9] As well as overseeing deception within the North African theatre it also represented MI9 (escape and evasion) in the region, as a cover role, which accounted for a good portion of its staff.