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Max Hastings on On the Secret Mission to Defeat Hitler

History &
Social Policy

How an almost forgotten operation helped turn the tide of the Second World War

February 1942. RAF intelligence is baffled by a newly-identified radar network on the coast of Nazi-occupied Europe. Several radar installations are identified from aerial photographs but the purpose and the nature of the installations are not known. Some British scientists believe that these stations are connected with successful German downings of RAF bombers conducting raids in occupied Europe, resulting in severe losses of pilots and bombers. British scientists request that one of these installations be raided and the technology it possesses be studied and, if possible, extracted and brought back to Britain for further examination.

With the approval of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chief of Operations Lord Mountbatten of Burma an extraordinary operation known as Operation Biting is launched with an ambitious goal: dismantle Hitler’s radar systems and help Britain win the war. 

In May 2024 Max Hastings came to the Intelligence Squared stage to recount the remarkable story of Operation Biting and what it tells us about the crucial role of intelligence and special forces in great power conflict. Drawing from his new book Operation Biting: The 1942 Assault to Capture Hitler’s Radar he explored how this almost forgotten operation helped turn the tide of the war and how modern intelligence and special forces continue to shape the conflicts and wars we see in the world today.

Speakers for the motion

  • Max Hastings

    Military historian, journalist and broadcaster

Chair

  • Margaret MacMillan

    Emeritus Professor of International History at Oxford University

Speakers

Speaker

Max Hastings

Military historian, journalist and broadcaster

Author, journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in every British national newspaper. He has written thirty books and received awards for his books and journalism, the most recent being a 2019 Arthur Ross Literary Award from the US Council on Foreign Relations for Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy 1945-1975. He was editor, then editor-in-chief, of The Daily Telegraph from 1986-1995, and of The Evening Standard 1996-2002. His forthcoming book is Operation Biting: The 1942 Assault to Capture Hitler's Radar.   
Host

Margaret MacMillan

Emeritus Professor of International History at Oxford University

Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Toronto and Emeritus Professor of International History at Oxford University.  She was Provost of Trinity College, Toronto and then Warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford. In 2018 she was the BBC Reith Lecturer. Her books include Paris, 1919; The War that Ended Peace; and most recently War: How Conflict Shaped Us.