In 1939, Fleming became the assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, who was the director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. Godfrey later became the model for M in the Bond series. (The admiral was said to be none too happy about that.)
James Bond's creator had a desk job, but his duties included planning and liaison work, with the American allies in particular.
In September 1940, Fleming came up with a plan to steal the codebook for the German naval Enigma machine. The proposal, which became known as "Operation Ruthless," involved a British crew who would be disguised as Germans and crash land a captured German bomber in the English Channel. The crash would prompt a German rescue boat to arrive on the scene, wherein the Germans would be shot and the vessel brought back to British waters. The plan, which Fleming is said to have later called "nonsense," was approved but never carried out.
The Russian "Spektor" coding machine in From Russia With Love was based on Enigma.
Photo by Imperial War Museum
Caption by Anne Dujmovic
