Hitler's Strategic Mistakes, Black Magic, And The Novelist,

[sandyRoe]

Evelyn Waugh.

The security services, according to Waugh, knew Hitler was deeply superstitious and set in motion a plan, using African Witchdoctors in London, to hex him.

In view of the tactical mistakes he made during the war could there be even a remote possibility that Waugh had stumbled upon one of the most successful secret service operations?

 

[jno]

unlike Stalin, who mostly let his generals get on with it, Hitler was given to interfering and telling them what to do, which is no way to win a war when you don't know what you're talking about.

I don't know if the security services had anything to do with it, but a skyclad coven in the New Forest did cast spells against him

https://www.military.com/history/coven-of-witches-fought-nazis-during-world-war-ii.html

There's an interesting account of Nazi occultism here

https://tinyurl.com/mr377v9v

[10ClarionSt]

Himmler was supposed to be into all that gubbins, wasn't he? But I suppose the secret service tried all kinds of things, some of which we may never know about. One of the most quirky was called Churchills' Toy Shop, who invented all kinds of things to help secret agents in Europe.

[jourdain2]

I think this is correct - I was in a Psychical Research Society at college (dowsing - which does work for some people) etc. and I'm certain that I picked-up that the UK 'nasty tricks dept.' somehow managed to influence the atrological charts in which he set such faith.

I did learn to cast horoscopes, which was very interesting, and they could often be interpreted in different ways - it is the interpretation that counts.  

 

[Peter Pedant]

Evelyn Waugh spent most of his war in Jug ( tito asked, why does capt Waugh think I m a woman?)

turned down a CBE 1960s as he thought he was worth a knighhood

[sandyRoe]

In the book a lady went into the uncharted wilds of the East End to try and find an obliging African  doctor who would help her by performing an illegal procedure.

She was told by his former neighbours that he now worked for the government.

Waugh may have heard a whisper about the witch doctors and put it into his book.