British intelligence chiefs tried to guess Hitler's
plans by studying his horoscope, according to files released by the
National Archives.
Hungarian Ludwig von Wohl persuaded senior intelligence
figures that he could replicate the forecasts of the Nazi leader's
personal astrologer.
He claimed that if London knew what astrological advice Hitler was getting, then they would know his next move.
But the security service MI5 had warned that von Wohl was a "charlatan".
Von Wohl, who was also known as Ludwig de Wohl, was a controversial figure. Although he was dismissed as a buffoon and a scoundrel
by some of the military people he met, others suggested that he was
extremely astute, with a keen insight into the thinking of leading
Nazis.
Despite dismissing his claims of being from Hungarian
nobility, MI5 hoped de Wohl could feed them information about his
clients among the "great and the good".
But the Special Operations Executive (SOE) - the wartime
sabotage organisation - recruited de Wohl for its SO2 propaganda
section, giving him the rank of captain and an army uniform.
He is said to have loved to "strut" around London in his military clothes.
In 1940 SOE sent de Wohl on a lecture tour of the United
States aimed at convincing a sceptical public that Hitler could be
defeated, and therefore that the US should enter the war.
His mission was regarded as a great success, with his talks and interviews being given significant publicity.
But the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 dramatically brought the US into the conflict as Britain's ally.
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