Key Takeaways
- Operation Mincemeat used a cadaver to deceive Nazi Germany during World War II.
- The elaborate ruse diverted 90,000 German troops from Sicily to Greece.
- This strategic misdirection significantly reduced Allied casualties in the 1943 Operation Husky.
- The concept originated from the 1939 'Trout Memo' and was executed by British intelligence.
Deep Dive
- Early 1943 was a critical point in WWII, with Europe largely under Nazi control, referred to as 'Fortress Europe'.
- Churchill proposed attacking Europe's 'underbelly' through areas like Italy and Greece, a widely anticipated strategy.
- In January 1943, the Casablanca Conference determined the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) would occur in July, necessitating deception.
- On September 29, 1939, British Naval Intelligence Director Admiral John Godfrey and Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming co-authored the 'Trout Memo'.
- The memo outlined 51 deception operations, with suggestion #28 proposing the use of a corpse as a decoy.
- The plan involved dressing a corpse as an airman with false dispatches to mislead Nazis into believing an invasion of Greece was imminent, while Sicily was the true target.
- Ewan Montague and Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 devised the plan to mislead Nazi Germany.
- They began creating a backstory for a fake courier, with a target invasion date in July requiring the planted information to be in Nazi hands by May.
- Spain was chosen for the operation due to its Axis sympathies, and Nazi agent Adolf Klaus was specifically targeted for his gullibility.
- British intelligence agents meticulously crafted a fake identity for 'Major William Martin' prior to acquiring a corpse.
- The persona included a fabricated fiancée, Jean Leslie, and personal effects such as theatre stubs and bank overdraft notices.
- Agents wore Major Martin's uniform and intensively prepared his backstory to maintain momentum for the operation before final approval.
- The team sought an unclaimed, military-aged body without visible trauma, ideally one who had died of pneumonia.
- Sir Bentley Purchase, the coroner for London's largest mortuary, identified Glyndwr Michael, a young Welshman who died in January 1943.
- Michael, whose parents died under grim circumstances, was believed to have died by rat poison, which was considered suitable for appearing to have drowned at sea.
- The critical element was a forged letter, written by a U.S. or British official, hinting that the Allied invasion would target Greece, not Sicily, and included a subtle joke about sardines.
- At Bletchley Park, British intelligence read German communications hourly, allowing them to craft misinformation that exploited Hitler's existing beliefs.
- A subtle tactic involved placing a single eyelash in the fold of a letter to detect if the Nazis had opened and resealed it, confirming interception.
- A submarine released 'Major Martin's' body off the coast of Huelva, Spain, where it reportedly washed ashore and was found by a fisherman the same day.
- British officials sent urgent, possibly intercepted, telegrams about a missing person to reinforce the deception, and emphasized the deceased's Roman Catholic faith to prevent an autopsy.
- Nazi official Carlo Kulenthal intercepted the briefcase in Madrid, and nine days after the body washed ashore, the documents reached German leadership, despite Goebbels' suspicions.
- Intercepted German communications confirmed the operation's success, leading to the diversion of approximately 90,000 German troops and significant armaments from Sicily to Greece.
- This strategic deception resulted in substantially lower Allied casualties during the Sicily invasion (Operation Husky) than anticipated.
- Operation Mincemeat also weakened defenses against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front and contributed to Mussolini's downfall.
- Fifty years after his death, Glyndwr Michael was buried with military honors in Spain under the guise of Major William Martin, acknowledging his unwitting role.