Fun Fact #473 Ruthless

 Fun Fact #475

      Ruthless

In 1940 the impact of the German Enigma Machine to encode messages and avoid deciphering was such that Ian Fleming came up with a plan to capture one. The Idea was called "Operation Ruthless" and it revolved around obtaining a German Luftwaffe Bomber and sending a distress signal during a German air raid of Britian to say it had fallen in the sea, with the hope that a German sub would capture them, allowing them to steal the enigma cypher. Despite the support of Bletchley park and Alan Turing, the plan was never carried out.

     The need to gather intelligence stuck with Fleming after that, and so in 1942 he created "The 30 Assault unit" named after King David's 30 in the bible. The group was a commando unit with 130 commandos total and one mission: Obtain Intelligence by any means necessary.  While much of the Units actions remain classified what we do know about their actions can get a little nut at times, from capturing ports on their own, commandeering a German U-boat and retrieving an intact Enigma cypher, to mass kidnappings of German Scientists. They operated all across Europe, Noth Africa, and even went up against Japan in Occupied China and Korea. Yet despite their success the unit was disbanded postwar in 1946. 

      However, it was reformed in 2010 by The Royal Marines as: "The 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group (30 Cdo IXG RM)" which carries on the history of 30 Assault Unit, and their motto "Attain by Suprise"

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