1942 June 13, under the joint proposal of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Donovan, Roosevelt ordered the merger of the Intelligence Coordination Bureau and the military intelligence forces, and established the Strategic Service Office (OSS), with Donovan as the director. This is the first unified CIA in the United States and the predecessor of the CIA. Its official work was sabotage, espionage, counter-intelligence, deployment and covert operations-these jobs later became the basic scope of action of the CIA. 194 1 At the end of the year, the United States and Britain reached an agreement that the allied forces will enter North Africa at the end of next year and open up a new battlefield. The plan is code-named Torch. At this time, Washington knew nothing about the situation in North Africa. An expert from the military intelligence department was ordered to analyze the water supply situation in Libya. He searched for a long time in the reference room, only to find a very thin folder, which contained a telegram 20 years ago, an article entitled "Hungry Desert" in a newspaper supplement, and a tourism promotional material with photos of the desert and several coconut trees. This is all the relevant information ... if you are afraid of wolves, don't stay in the forest! This is a famous saying of Donovan. Then, he moved this sentence out and glared at a group of intelligence experts at the secret meeting of the Intelligence Coordination Bureau: Anyway, take this thing out within a week! Helpers have been looking at each other for almost a year. Almost all their actions in a year revolve around that big plan. When it comes to this plan, the boss is particularly nervous and excited. By this autumn, he was very nervous, with more and more tasks, more and more detailed requirements and tighter time. Just received the news from North Africa that a German army at the seaside showed signs of mobilization. He immediately asked to find out its intentions and trends as quickly as possible and write a detailed analysis report. Donovan knows everyone's thoughts. Before the meeting, he once again clearly emphasized: Gentlemen, our whole future will depend on the result of this plan, so please absolutely guarantee the accuracy and confidentiality of our information! Outside the window, it is autumn in 1942. The big plan that Donovan emphasized has been brewing and preparing since the end of last year. He knows better than anyone that the result of this plan is directly related to the fate of the strategic service office.

Information gaps must be filled immediately. The Office of strategic services quickly took over American intelligence agencies in North Africa, and Donovan appointed William Eddie, a hero of World War I and a Marine Corps Colonel, as the head. With $2 million, Eddie expanded the former underground secret organization in France and sought the help of local tribal and religious leaders, who sent thousands of believers to help the Allies collect intelligence and smuggle weapons.

Eddie's spies provided a lot of information about fortifications along the coast of North Africa and the strength of the French army, which made Eisenhower, commander of the North African Expeditionary Force, have a comprehensive and profound understanding of the combat situation. Not only Donovan, but also his sworn enemy, Army Intelligence Minister Strong, praised his intelligence work. 1942 in August, Eddie went to London to report information to the allied forces. His injured leg limped and his chest was covered with medals, which made people respect him. General George Smith Patton once said admiringly: This son of a bitch can always survive.

Eddie has a cold style and is keen on unconventional hidden means. He has always advocated the assassination of some German institutions in North Africa, because they may be members of the Gestapo, and later planned to send black Africans to put sleeping pills in Nazi officials' drinks, but the US General Staff did not approve it. On another occasion, Eddie sent someone to kidnap a German meteorologist, put him in the trunk of a car, and almost suffocated when he was taken to his destination.

The team of more than 654.38+10,000 people, plus all weapons, equipment and materials, is very huge. In order to ensure that the allied movements were not detected by the Axis Powers, office of strategic services's spies spread false news everywhere, saying that the expeditionary force was going to Dakar on the coast of French West Africa, and a large number of ships assembled in Gibraltar were to rescue the besieged Malta. The Germans believed the news and sent special air power to monitor the fleet bound for Malta.

10 8, Hitler was awakened from his dream by an urgent telegram. The adjutant told him that the Allies had landed in french morocco and Algeria. Hitler didn't recover for a long time. Before that, none of his officers had mentioned to him that the enemy would have similar transfer intentions. Shortly before he went to bed, someone reported to him the possible movement of this allied force, but made no mention of french morocco and Algeria. Yes, I didn't mention it!

The navy of Vichy government in France was also caught off guard, but the fighting was still fierce. The Office of Strategic Services took the opportunity to direct the French underground organization to hold riots, while Eddie's agents provided maps, led the way, and introduced important fortifications and fortresses to the allied landing forces. The fierce street fighting lasted for two days and nights. At this time, seven German squadron planes were still hovering over the diplomatic peninsula hundreds of miles away, struggling to catch up with the fleet bound for Malta.

The landing operation in north africa operation ended in the victory of the allied forces, and the flagship German army Afrika Korps was attacked by the United States and Britain and was forced to retreat. But the U.S. government finally reached the Durham Agreement, which made many people unhappy. Dalang was the deputy of Henry philip petain, the head of Vichy government, and later cooperated with the United States. This time, he finally persuaded the pro-Vichy forces to give up their resistance. Under his rule, anti-Semitic Vichy laws are still in force. French officers who supported the Allied Forces and Charles de Gaulle and many members of underground organizations were put into concentration camps, which made the agents of the Strategic Service Bureau very dissatisfied and angry, especially those from academia. They thought it was a compromise, and they deliberately and passively carried out orders for a period of time to protest. Donovan also complained about the deal, thinking that it would weaken the attractiveness of the allies to the European resistance movement. He tried to send someone to assassinate Darren, but someone else did it for him. Before the end of 1942, Darlan was assassinated by a French assassin. The Americans breathed a sigh of relief

The Battle of North Africa greatly enhanced the reputation of the Office of Strategic Services, and the accuracy and activity of the information it provided made Washington and the military sit up and take notice. The military began to accept the idea that this institution could be a good partner in the war. The Office of Strategic Services took this opportunity to expand its activities. 1943 65438+1At the end of October, 12 paratroopers quietly landed in the subtropical forest in northern Myanmar. In the next three years, a small team of 100 people has been active here. They are the strategic service office 10 1 unit, led by Alfred. 10 1 The team absorbed many local Kachin people as the backbone. They are stationed in this hellish lonely forest, and their whereabouts are uncertain. They engage in guerrilla warfare, sabotage and rescue in all parts of Myanmar, and they haunt and kill countless enemies. General joseph stilwell, commander of the China-Burma-India Theater, was very happy about this. His team was driven away by the Japanese army before and was ambushed when retreating. This time, 10 1 team helped him out. However, the general doubted the number of enemies they killed. One day, he asked a kachins how they counted the number of people who killed the enemy. Kachins looked down, opened the small box around her waist and poured out a lot of dried fruits. What is this? The general is puzzled. Japanese ears. Subversive actions like 10 1 Team are Donovan's favorite-the savage Bill has always longed to gallop on the battlefield like General Barton, but since he can't, he turned to lead a group of disciples to engage in subversive activities around the world. He likes to kill people, and finds it barely acceptable to collect intelligence, because it is more or less risky and it is too boring to analyze intelligence and write reports in the office. Under his impetus, ordinary people in the strategic service office look down on intelligence work and prefer to take risks on the battlefield or subvert behind enemy lines. This work feature has also influenced the future direction of the CIA.