MI9 MI9 , the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9 , was a department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945 . During World War II it was tasked with aiding resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory and recovering Allied troops who found themselves behind enemy lines ( for example , aircrew who had been shot down and soldiers stranded after the Battle of Dunkirk ) . It also communicated with British prisoners of war and sent them advice and equipment . Origin . MI9 officially came into being on 23 December 1939 , led by an ex - infantry major , Norman Crockatt . In December 1941 MI9 became a separate department , MI19 . At first MI9 was located in Room 424 of the Metropole Hotel , Northumberland Avenue , London . It received little financial support and was understaffed due to the power struggles and personality clashes with MI6 ( whose assistant - head was Colonel Sir Claude Dansey , known as ACSS ) and other outfits such as SOE and PWE . With limited space at the Metropole , a floor was also taken at the requisitioned Great Central Hotel , opposite Marylebone station where WWII evaders were questioned about their journey home . Later MI9 moved to Wilton Park , Beaconsfield . Middle East . In late 1940 Lieutenant Colonel ( later Brigadier ) Dudley Clarke arrived in Cairo at the request of Commander - in - Chief , Middle East , General Sir Archibald Wavell . Clarke ' s main role was to manage military deception in the region , as cover for this secret mission he was also assigned to job of managing MI9 ' s presence in the Middle East . After Clarke set up his ' A ' Force deception department this cover was extended to the entire office ; and for a while ' A ' Force represented MI9 in the region until later in the war when the two became separate once again . Escape aids . MI9 manufactured various escape aids that they sent to prisoner of war ( POW ) camps . Many of them were based on the ideas of Christopher Hutton . Hutton proved so popular that he built himself a secret underground bunker in the middle of a field where he could work in peace . Hutton made compasses that were hidden inside pens or tunic buttons . He used left - hand threads so that , if the Germans discovered them and the searcher tried to screw them open , they would just tighten . He printed maps on silk , so they would not rustle , and disguised them as handkerchiefs , hiding them inside canned goods . For aircrew he designed special boots with detachable leggings , that could quickly be converted to look like civilian shoes , and hollow heels , that contained packets of dried food . Some of the spare uniforms that were sent to prisoners could be easily converted into civilian suits . Officer prisoners inside Colditz Castle requested and received a complete floor plan of the castle . Hutton also designed an escaper ' s knife : a strong blade , a screwdriver , three saws , a lockpick , a forcing tool and a wire cutter . MI9 used the services of former magician Jasper Maskelyne to design hiding places for escape aids including tools hidden in cricket bat s and baseball bats , maps concealed in playing cards and actual money in board - games . Forged German identity cards , ration coupons and travel warrants were also smuggled into POW camps by MI9 . MI9 sent the tools in parcels in the name of various , usually nonexistent , charity organizations . They did not use Red Cross parcels lest they violate the Geneva Convention and to avoid the guards restricting access to them . MI9 relied upon their parcels either not being searched by the Germans or ensuring that the prisoners ( warned by a message ) could remove the contraband before they were searched . In time the German guards learned to expect and find the escape aids . Pat Reid describes in his book the story of a package of records that was sent to Colditz prisoners in the Second World War . One soldier took his out of the package and tripped . It smashed on the floor to reveal money and forged identity cards . Unfortunately , everyone else took to smashing their records hoping that they would find some escape items inside , destroying their actual records with nothing to be found inside . In southern China the MI9 unit British Army Aid Group helped POWs in Japanese camps escape to China during World War II . The group was closely linked to the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment .