| Intelligence Corps | |
|---|---|
 Badge of the Intelligence Corps | |
| Active | 1914–1929 19 July 1940 – present |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army |
| Role | Military intelligence |
| Size | 7 Battalions |
| HQ Directorate Intelligence Corps | Chicksands |
| Nickname | Int Corps |
| Mottos | Manui Dat Cognitio Vires Knowledge gives strength to the arm |
| Beret | Cypress green |
| March | "Rose & Laurel" (quick) Purcell's "Trumpet Tune and Ayre" (slow) |
| Website | army.mod.uk/intelligence/intelligence.aspx |
| Commanders | |
| Colonel-in-Chief | Anne, Princess Royal |
| Insignia | |
| Tactical Recognition Flash |  |
 |
| Arms of theBritish Army |
|---|
| Combat Arms |
| Combat Support Arms |
| Combat Services |
|
TheIntelligence Corps (Int Corps) is acorps of theBritish Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminatingmilitary intelligence and also forcounter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is abrigadier.
In the 19th century, British intelligence work was undertaken by the Intelligence Department of theWar Office. An important figure wasSir Charles Wilson, aRoyal Engineer who successfully pushed for reform of the War Office's treatment of topographical work.[1]
In the early 1900s intelligence gathering was becoming better understood, to the point where acounter-intelligence organisation (MI5) was formed by theDirectorate of Military Intelligence (DoMI) under Captain (later Major-General)Vernon Kell; overseas intelligence gathering began in 1912 byMI6 under Commander (later Captain)Mansfield Smith-Cumming.[2]
Although the first proposals to create an intelligence corps came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in August 1914 and originally included only officers and their servants. It left for France on 12 August 1914.[3] TheRoyal Flying Corps was formed to monitor the ground, and provided aerial photographs for the Corps to analyse.[4]
During theIrish War of Independence, Intelligence Corps operatives were used to monitor theIrish Republican Army. OnBloody Sunday (1920) 15 British Military Officers and civilians were shot and killed during multiple attacks in Dublin. Of the 15 killed six were Army Intelligence Officers, two were Courts Martial Officers, one was a senior Staff Officer serving with Irish Command (Brevet Lieut-Colonel Hugh Montgomery), three policemen (all former British military), two civilians (all former British military) and one local civilian.[5] Following the war the Intelligence Corps was gradually scaled down and disbanded entirely in 1929; intelligence matters were left to individual unit officers.[6][7][8]
On 19 July 1940 a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. The Army had been unprepared for collecting intelligence for deployment to France, and the only intelligence had been collected by Major SirGerald Templer. The Corps trained operatives to parachute atRAF Ringway; some of these were then dropped over France as part of theSpecial Operations Executive (SOE). Intelligence Corps officers were involved in forming the highly-effectiveLong Range Desert Group, and Corps officer Lt Col Peter Clayton was one of the four founders of theSpecial Air Service (SAS). Around 40 per cent of British Army personnel atBletchley Park were in the Intelligence Corps.[9]
The Combined Allied Intelligence Corps as it was known in Malta, began recruiting in 1940 following Italy's entry into the war on the side of Germany.[10] Among its many responsibilities in theMediterranean Theatre were debriefing and interrogation of high-ranking prisoners of war in East Africa followingMussolini's invasion ofAbyssinia ("Eldoret" P.O.W. Camp no. 365 being one example), counter-intelligence operations followingOperation Husky the Allied invasion of Sicily in August 1943, and implementation of the Allied Screening Commission.[10] The commission was established by Field-MarshalSir Harold Alexander a few days after the fall of Rome in June 1944 to identify and reimburse Italian civilians who had assisted Allied escapees.[11]
Throughout theCold War, Intelligence Corpsofficers andNCOs (with changed insignia) were posted behind theIron Curtain inEast Germany, to join in the intelligence-gathering activities of the British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (Brixmis).[12]
Many members of the Intelligence Corps served inNorthern Ireland during "the Troubles". Units such as theMilitary Reaction Force,Special Reconnaissance Unit,Force Research Unit and14 Intelligence Company contained Corps soldiers and officers.[13]
On 1 February 1985 the corps was officially declared an 'Arm' (combat support) instead of a 'Service' (rear support).[9]
Intelligence Corps personnel wear a distinctivecypress green beret with acap badge consisting of aunion rose (a red rose with a white centre) between twolaurel branches and surmounted by a crown. Their motto isManui Dat Cognitio Vires ("Knowledge gives Strength to the Arm"). The corps' quick march isThe Rose & Laurel while its slow march isHenry Purcell'sTrumpet Tune & Ayre.[14]
Within the British Army, soldiers of the Intelligence Corps are often referred to as Green Slime, or sometimes simply 'Slime', due to the colour of their beret.[15][16][17]
During theSecond World War, the depot of the Intelligence Corps was atWentworth Woodhouse in South Yorkshire. A new headquarters was established atMaresfield Camp,East Sussex in 1948, before it moved toTempler Barracks atAshford, Kent in 1966.[18]
The corps moved again in 1997 toMOD Chicksands in Bedfordshire along with the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC).[19][14] DISC was renamed asJoint Intelligence Training Group in January 2015.[20]
The Intelligence Corps Museum was created in 1969,[21] and later renamed as the Military Intelligence Museum, now also at Chicksands. Because the museum is on a working military base, it can be visited by appointment only.[22] In 2025 plans were announced to move the museum to theKingsway tunnels in London.[23]
The corps has a particularly high proportion ofcommissioned officers, many of them commissioned from the ranks, and also a high percentage of female members. Non-commissioned personnel join as an Operator Military Intelligence (OPMI) or Operator Military Technical Intelligence (OPTI).[24] They do basic 14-week military training at either theArmy Training Centre Pirbright, or theArmy Training Regiment, Winchester.[25] OPMI/OPTI soldiers then will complete a 20-week special-to-arm training at Templer Training Delivery Wing, Chicksands, at the end of which they are promoted toLance Corporal and posted to abattalion.[26]
Intelligence Corps battalions are under the command of theIntelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group withinField Army Troops.
| Preceded by | Order of Precedence | Succeeded by |
| General (lists) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regiments and corps |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
