The British origins of Partisan terrorism in WWII

The British origins of Partisan terrorism in WWII
(Extracted from: "A Genius for Deception - How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars", Nicholas Rankin, Oxford University Press, 2008)

Major Colin Gubbins of the Royal Artillery researched and wrote two pamphlets, The Partisan Leader’s Handbook (‘Surprise is the most important thing in everything you undertake’) and, with Holland, The Art of Guerrilla Warfare, (...) ‘If distributed today,’ Patrick Howarth remarked in his book, Undercover, in 1980, ‘they would probably be described as terrorists’ handbooks.’.

(...)

Admiral Godfrey made strong links with government, allied diplomats, the armed services and the secret ones, MI6, MI5 and Special Branch. He met Sir Roderick Jones of Reuters, the great press barons and their newspaper editors. Admiral Hall said the director of Naval Intelligence was entitled to enlist the help of anyone in the country from the Archbishop of Canterbury down, and he introduced Godfrey to Sir Montague Norman, governor of the Bank of England, and to various other powerful figures in the City of London. Hall himself had employed a stockbroker called Claude Serocold as his personal assistant in WW1 and advised Godfrey to do the same. The governor of the Bank of England and the chairman of Barings, Sir Edward Peacock, found Godfrey his right-hand man in May 1939. It was the suave chap who had drunk vodka with Sefton Delmer in the hotel opposite the Kremlin, the stockbroker Ian Lancaster Fleming.
Ian Fleming was an inspired choice to lead the coordinating section of Naval Intelligence, NID 17, where he had to supply ingenious ideas, create structural order, and liaise externally with the wider world. After Eton and Sandhurst, Ian Fleming had learned German and French, and worked for Reuters as a reporter before he became a stockbroker in the City.