D-Day and Intelligence

Hugh Sinclair, the 'Spymaster', was the MI6 head who provided vital help on D-Day. By Helen Fry.

A rare image of Hugh ‘Quex’ Sinclair, Head of MI6

It was the 1st Duke of Marlborough (1715) who once said: ‘No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence.’ That was also the belief of Hugh ‘Quex’ Sinclair (the head of MI6) in 1938 as Britain faced the escalating threat of war from Nazi Germany. Sinclair believed whoever would win the intelligence game would win the war – and with that in mind, he purchased Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire and moved the Government Code & Cipher School (GC&CS) out there from Broadways Buildings (then MI6 HQ in London).