MI6 dismissed strength of Gallipoli Turks

• Records show secret service dismissed Turks
• “Over-optimism permeated early days of Gallipoli”
• Nearly 9000 Australians were killed in campaign

AAP

THE British secret service grossly underestimated the resistance of Turkish forces before the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, according to an historian allowed unprecedented access to MI6 archives.

Professor Keith Jeffery has spent the past five years trawling through Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) records from the first half of the 20th century for his book, The History of the SIS 1909-1949.

He said that documents at the SIS, in its infancy at the time, dismissed the ability of the Turks to defend themselves against any reasonably sized army.

And he said the reports demonstrated the “over-optimism which permeated the early days of the Gallipoli campaign”.

“Everybody did (grossly underestimate the Turks),” he told AAP.

“It was one of those classic cases, they didn’t think there was any resistance.

“What little I found simply confirms that view. Absolutely.”

Former chief of the SIS, Sir John Scarlett said the decision to allow Prof Jeffery access to the secret documents was an attempt to provide the British public with a better understanding of the service and mark its 100 years of operations.

The 800-page book provides details on a host of colourful spies, including Biffy Dunderdale who was said to be one of the major inspirations behind the James Bond character.

, 21 sept 2010