Naval jacket worn by Commander Ian Fleming during the Dieppe raid of August 1942

Naval jacket worn by Commander Ian Fleming during the Dieppe raid of August 1942. Double-breasted navy blue jacket with a deep red, non-regulation lining, eight buttons, stretched fabric collar and pocket trims and accreditation card signed by Fleming.
In May 1939, Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908–64) was invited to become the personal assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, the director of naval intelligence. Fleming flourished in the role, making extensive use of both his facility for languages and his extensive network of social contacts. He developed a flair for anti-German propaganda and the planning of secret operations behind enemy lines. Fleming was also involved in high-level intelligence co-ordination with the United States during 1941 ahead of Pearl Harbor and the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Fleming and Lord Mountbatten were responsible for the Dieppe Raid, which took place on 19 August 1942. Around 6000 mainly Canadian troops were landed on the French coast, ostensibly to test German defences ahead of the eventual opening a north-west European front. But Fleming had another task in mind: the opportunity to seize a four-rotor Enigma machine of the kind used by the German Navy. Like the overall raid itself, this part of the operation failed. At Dieppe, nearly 1000 troops were killed, 2400 wounded and almost 2000 captured – a major military disaster and a sobering lesson about the strength of German resistance. During the operation, Fleming wore this coat. In his later career as a highly successful spy novelist, the elusive Enigma machine became the Soviet Spektor device in the James Bond adventure ‘From Russia with Love’ (1957) and the Lektor in the later film adaptation.