28 Facts About Kenneth Strong

Kenneth Strong became Head of the German Section at MI14 in August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

In March 1943, Strong was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at General Dwight D Eisenhower's Allied Force Headquarters.

Kenneth Strong retired from the Army with the rank of major general in 1947 to become a civil servant.

Kenneth Strong was initially appointed director general of the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office.

Kenneth Strong was the first director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau at the Ministry of Defence from 1948 until 1964, when he became the first director general of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence.

Kenneth William Dobson Strong was born in Montrose, Angus, Scotland, on 9 September 1900, the only son amongst four children, to John Strong, the rector of Montrose Academy and his wife Ethel May nee Dobson.

Kenneth Strong was educated at Montrose Academy, Glenalmond College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Kenneth Strong was commissioned into the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1920.

Kenneth Strong served as an intelligence officer with his battalion in Ireland from 1920 to 1922 during the Irish War of Independence.

Kenneth Strong was trained as an interpreter and posted to Germany from 1926 until the Occupation of the Rhineland ended in 1929.

Kenneth Strong then served as a Defence Security Officer in Malta and Gibraltar.

Kenneth Strong was appointed Head of the German Section at MI14 in August 1939.

Kenneth Strong liaised with French intelligence until the Fall of France in June 1940.

In March 1943, Kenneth Strong was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at General Dwight Eisenhower's Allied Force Headquarters, replacing Brigadier Eric Mockler-Ferryman, whose over-reliance on Ultra sources had led to a misinterpretation of the enemy's intentions leading up to the disastrous Battle of the Kasserine Pass.

Kenneth Strong got on well with Eisenhower and his chief of staff, Major General Bedell Smith in particular, and Americans in general.

Kenneth Strong had an explosive laugh, an appreciation of the wisecrack, and an easy acceptance of the West Pointers' rough language and casual manner rare in British officers.

Smith and Kenneth Strong subsequently negotiated for the Allies with Castellano in Sicily over the terms over Italian surrender.

However Eisenhower and Smith eventually had their way, going over Brooke's head to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Strong assumed the post on 25 May 1944, with Brigadier General Thomas J Betts as his deputy.

Kenneth Strong informed Smith that the German armoured reserves might be sent to the Eastern Front, or used for a counterattack against an Allied penetration of the front, but might be used for a counterattack during a period of bad weather.

The magnitude and ferocity of the German Ardennes Offensive came as a shock and Kenneth Strong was criticised for failing to predict it.

Smith and Kenneth Strong met with the representatives of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl and Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.

Kenneth Strong was initially appointed Director General of the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office.

Kenneth Strong was the first Director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau at the Ministry of Defence from 1948 until 1964, when he became the first Director General of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence.

Kenneth Strong was knighted on 1 January 1952, and became a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.

Kenneth Strong became a director of Eagle Star Insurance and other companies.

Kenneth Strong wrote two books, his memoir, Intelligence at the Top, and Men of Intelligence.

Kenneth Strong died at his home in Eastbourne, East Sussex on 11 January 1982.

Kenneth Strong's papers are in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.