Donovan believed that academia could play an important intelligence role by using data and analysis to pinpoint enemy weak points. The R&A branch was thus and created divided into primary geographic divisions for Europe-Africa, Far East, USSR, and Latin America, each subdivided into economic, political, and specific geographic sections. R&A employed prominent historians, economists, sociologists, diplomats and other experts for their intellectual, analytical and research abilities. Materials from the Library of Congress, university libraries, research institutions, government agencies and from OSS agents in the field were used by R&A to produce reports either on demand or on its own initiative. These reports were provided to other OSS branches, the military and government agencies; they dealt with the military and economic potential of enemy and Allied countries, diplomatic issues, and supplementary information for the planning of military operations. In the summer of 1942 R&A was informed of Allied plans to invade North Africa; the entire staff worked day and night for several weeks to produce several detailed reports on Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, much to the astonished satisfaction of the military. R&A also produced the Soldier's Guides for American troops stationed overseas.
R&A established a Map Division that produced unique maps incorporating the economic, political and military situation of a specific country or area; information on these specially prepared maps included transportation routes, communications, industry, natural resources, terrain and weather. MD also amassed a large collection of foreign maps to assist with OSS operations overseas. The Central Information Division was created to collate R&A reports and other information for effective access; CID created a vast card catalog system that allowed it to provide extensive information at short notice. By 1945 over 3 million 3×5 cards, 300,000 captioned photographs, 300,000 classified intelligence documents, one million maps, 350,000 foreign serial publications, 50,000 books, thousands of biographical files and 3,000 research studies had been compiled.
Read Full Article »
