Second World War officer behind ‘ingenious schemes’ honoured with blue plaque

Second World War military strategist Brigadier Dudley Clarke, who was arrested undercover dressed as a woman and helped inspire the name for the SAS, has been honoured with a blue plaque.The Army officer, who was a key figure in British intelligence in the Middle East during the war, was recognised by English Heritage for his work devising “ingenious schemes” to mislead the Nazis.Among his plots, he helped invent the fictional SAS to convince the Axis powers that Britain had an airborne force ready to strike. The deception went on to inspire the name of the real SAS.Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke photographed by Spanish police dressed as a man and a woman (National Archives/PA)PA MediaThe ploy also inspired the upcoming film Fortitude, starring Michael Sheen, Nicolas Cage and Ben Kingsley, in which Clarke is portrayed by Deadpool’s Ed Skrein.Clarke was also portrayed by The Wire actor Dominic West in BBC action drama SAS: Rogue Heroes.His own exploits were as extraordinary as the schemes he devised, including when Clarke, who was supposed to maintain a low profile while travelling through Madrid under cover as a war correspondent for The Times, was arrested dressed as a woman in October 1941.The plaque will mark his former home in Knightsbridge, London, where he lived after the war.Howard Spencer, senior historian at English Heritage, said: “Dudley Clarke understood that the most effective way to deceive an enemy was not simply to hide the truth, but to feed them an entirely different story and cause this to guide their actions.Dominic West as Dudley Clarke in SAS: Rogue Heroes (Kudos/BBC/PA)PA Media“He helped establish the Commandos, devised a fictional SAS and developed deception operations that helped shape the course of the war.“His imagination, originality and audacity made him an exceptional figure in the history of military intelligence, yet much of his work remained hidden from public view for decades.“We hope this plaque will help bring his remarkable story to a wider public.”According to English Heritage, Clarke was sent to the Middle East in 1940 where he established A Force, a secret unit dedicated to deceiving the enemy through double agents, fake radio transmissions, dummy tanks and fictitious military formations.Its work helped mislead German commander Erwin Rommel before the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942.He also contributed to Operation Bodyguard, the wider Allied deception strategy designed to divert German forces from Normandy before D-Day in June 1944.