When Rommel's intelligence man got himself captured, the SIGINT fell away for Rommel. That was a part of his ability to predict what would happen and was suddenly gone.
Rommel apparantly also transmitted in the open, but before British forces could do anything about it, he was on the move.
It was interesting how Canaris in perhaps his most inspired plan of the war I discussed a bit earlier allowed Rommel replace his original American intelligence source with a bunch of intelligence women who were at times even better at getting real time intelligence about British plans and their current thinking about the war to Rommel. The thing is the British in breaking the Axis codes were sinking Italian ships right and left by that point as they knew each time Italian supply ships left port so the Axis supplies were drying up big time, thus Allied intelligence in Africa ended up being more decisive.
But, still this was the only theater of the war where Axis intelligence operations were very well planned throughout the war and close to on par in terms of effectiveness with Allied intelligence in the theater. The British in a lot of ways were very lucky that Germany didn't make a far bigger investment in the Mediterranean campaign after France fell because it very well might have paid off.
General Fellers was the US liaison with the British in North Africa. Over his objections, he was instructed to use the US diplomatic Black code to transmit messages to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Unfortunately, that code was stolen and copied by the Italians from the US Embassy in Italy in September of 1941, prior to the US entry into the war. As a result, Rommel’s staff read every word Fellers sent back to Washington before Washington read it. When Fellers was replaced in July of 1942, his replacement was permitted to switch his communications to US military cyphers. The Germans could no longer decipher the intercepted transmissions.
They turned to an Egyptian belly dancer for help. In the spring of 1942, a team of elite German commandos set out from Libya in US military vehicles captured from the British. Their goal was to infiltrate two Abwher agents, Johannes Eppler and his radio operator Hans Sandstede, into Egypt. Eppler had a German mother and an Egyptian father and had spent most of his childhood in Alexandria and Cairo. He was well-trained and well-prepared for an operation in Egypt. After a grueling fifteen day trip through the desert, Eppler and Sandstede were dropped near the British Egyptian rail station at Asyut, Egypt.
The German spies made their way to Cairo where they used well forged documents and high quality counterfeit British cash to rent a house boat and set up operations. The crux of Eppler’s plans came down to one roll of the dice. He contacted an ex-girlfriend by the name of Hekmet Fahmy. In 1942, Fahmy was the most popular belly dancer in Egypt. She had access to the best night clubs and parties attended by the elite of local British and Egyptian society. She was the most alluring female celebrity in that country and enjoyed popularity with dance fans across Europe. She was also trusted in the highest military and social circles.
Fahmy recruited other popular belly dancers to assist Eppler, allowing him to operate one of the most successful honey traps of all time. British officers and government officials mistakenly trusted Fahmy and foolishly revealed critical information. As Fahmy’s guests slept in her arms, Eppler searched their personal effects. By keeping track of which British officers from which regiments frequented the clubs, the Germans determined when particular units were being dispatched to the front.
In some cases, British officers and civilians revealed more detailed classified information that was then transmitted to Rommel’s headquarters. In effect, the Germans replaced an American general with an Egyptian belly dancer.
Thanks to the continued flow of high grade intelligence, the Desert Fox confounded British attacks with timely delaying actions and skillful withdrawals. Rommel’s tanks were outnumbered by now, but he could continually place them and their accompanying 77 millimeter anti-tank guns in ideal locations to deal with British movements.
After a few months of operations in Cairo, the British pushed back the Afrika Korps from El Alamein. Communications with Rommel’s headquarters became difficult. Eppler sought out the Egyptian Free Officer Corps, who were anti-British, to request assistance with passing information to Rommel. The young Egyptian officer who agreed to help was the future president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat.
http://piperbayard.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/booty-spy-hekmet-fahmy-the-fox-behind-the-desert-fox/
In fact Rommel's quick lunge toward Egypt was influenced by the reports he was getting from the belly dancers that the British were in a panic in Cairo after the fall of Tobruk and there was real talk going on of leaving Egypt for Palestine if the Afrika Korps couldn't be stopped in Eastern Egypt.
It was dealt with if I recall in the 1959 West German movie Rommel ruft Kairo. I think the back and forth intelligence war in Africa would make for a good modern Hollywood spy thriller... it certainly has lots of sex appeal, war and high stakes involved and its actually a true story.
Last edited: