We have had recent information that the Boche [the Germans] have been reinforcing and strengthening their defences in Greece and Crete, and CIGS [Chief of the Imperial General Staff] felt that our forces for the assault were insufficient, it read. As the operation prepares to commence, Hester suddenly declares that Bill should be carrying a letter from his fiance; after spurning Charles and Jeans questionable efforts at writing one ("Love is a Bird"), Hester indirectly reveals her own story of the lover she lost during World War I, and agrees to a deeply moved Jeans request that she write the letter herself ("Dear Bill"). The True Story of Operation Mincemeat - CWGC British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a vagrant The British dropped the body into the sea off the coast of Spain, in the hope the Spanish would pass on the confidential documents in his possession to the Germans. WebOperation Mincemeat was a successful deception operation to support the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. "We told the story backwards," Jackson tells me. Operation Mincemeat is a musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zo Roberts (known as the musical comedy troup SpitLip). Montagu was a naval intelligence officer who played a leading role in devising Operation Mincemeat, together withSquadron Leader Charles Cholmondely RAFVR. The plan worked, German secret agents passed copies of fake documents onto German high Command who believed the In the movie, suspicions fall on Montagu as the British intelligence service believe that his brother Ivor, played by Mark Gatiss, is a Russian spy. After a tense week or so - it took the Germans several attempts to get sight of the briefcase's contents - photographs of the falsified documents made it to Hitler's desk. It stars Matthew Macfadyen as Cholmondeley, the ungainly aspiring airman who was stymied both by his height and his poor eyesight and seconded to the British security service, MI5, who first suggested the plan, and Colin Firth as Montagu, the shrewd peacetime lawyer who helped develop it. Eventually, Jean and Hester catch Charles looking in Montagus briefcase, with all three subsequently discovered by Montagu; despite his protests, they read his files, and learn that he is actually writing a film script about Mincemeat depicting himself as a hero; he was secreting files so that he could archive them for personal use later on, being careful not to let them into the wrong hands, and he was talking to Ivor - a filmmaker - to get his opinion on a rough, censored draft of the script. SpitLip did not want to shy away from those questions either, but fundamentally they wanted to celebrate what Montagu achieved, and its sheer audacity. I understand there is no difficulty in obtaining corpses at the Naval Hospital, but, of course, it would have to be a fresh one.. Into his pockets went an identity card, ticket stubs and mementos from a fiancee. Cuffed to the Majors hand was a briefcase containing top secret documents vital to the Allied war efforts. Don't miss the chance to claim a copy of Tracy Borman's latest book + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com when you subscribe to BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed. Hitler and his generals would see this "We were, thanks to the code-breakers at Bletchley Park, essentially reading the Germans' mail. While Spain was neutral, the government cooperated with the Nazis and so Cholmondeley and Montagu knew the letter would reach the Abwehr. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from ", A new stage musical reinvents the story of the operation with songs inspired by Beyonc and sea shanties, and gender-swapped casting (Credit: Matt Crockett). Hester is inspired to tell Jean about the suspicion around Montagus brother, and Jean agrees to swallow her pride and investigate. To Montagu, he was nothing more than a bit of a neer-do-well the only worthwhile thing that he ever did he did after his death. Find out more about the agencies, military units and individuals who have fought the Secret War and how they address the threats of today. They created a convincing backstory for the corpse, a whole new identity: a homeless person named Glyndwr Michael, who had died after ingesting rat poison, was transformed into William Martin, an officer of the Royal Marines. Save 70% on the shop price when you subscribe today - Get 13 issues for just $49.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com, Operation Mincemeat: how a corpse duped Hitler. Hitler had been so convinced by the discovered British order that even when the real Operation Husky on Sicily began on 10 July, he thought it to be a feint from the real target. By Megan Lane. A large part of Operation Mincemeat centred around finding the right kind of dead body to create the fictional Major Martin. But what else are we going to do? The deception succeeded, in part, because the naval intelligence officers behind it, Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, were so invested in the fiction. (1.9%14.5%). Fleming suggested the corpse plot to Godfrey as a clever way to trick the Nazis after reading a similar storyline in a novel. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed The Germans acted swiftly on the false information by doubling the number of troops sent to Sardinia, while many additional German divisions were also transferred to Greece and the Balkans. Special Operations Executive (SOE) was created during the Second World War with the instruction to set Europe ablaze - discover the stories of some of the men and women who served. Charles is deeply insecure about the result of the operation, but is swayed by Montagu into celebrating its completion ("Just For Tonight"); meanwhile, after enduring airborne attacks, the crew of the Seraph are unnerved by the contents of the canister but follow their orders, placing Bill in the sea beyond the Spanish coast before thanking him for his service. What followed would alter the course of WW2 and save thousands of lives. They gave their fake officer an exhaustive identity and backstory, beginning with the name William Martin, a common surname in the Royal Marines, and the rank of Captain (Acting Major), which they deemed high enough to carry top-secret documents, but not so important that the enemy would know him. Its been suggested that Admiral Godfrey was Flemings basis for Bonds boss, M, while another agent involved in Operation Mincemeat, Charles Fraser-Smith, inspired Bonds gadget-making colleague, Q. Fraser-Smith designed a special container to preserve the fake marines corpse during its time in the water, which was then released into the sea from a British submarine. Early on 30 April, a sardine fisherman came across the supposedly drowned British officer near Huelva. By Eloise Barry May 6, 2022 1:44 PM EDT Operation Mincemeat a historical drama chronicling an audacious World War II plot by the British intelligence Graduate with the problem-solving and analytical abilities that will give you the edge in the world of work. Masterminded by Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Certainly, the dozens of ways to fool the enemy listed in the memo would have not looked out of place in one of Flemings later James Bond novels. Within 38 days, the Allied forces had captured the island with far fewer casualties and ship losses than projected. Operation Mincemeat "the best known, and perhaps the most successful single deception operation of the entire war." What was Operation Mincemeat? - University of Plymouth And the British had an ace up their sleeves, says Ben Macintyre, whose book Operation Mincemeat is now a BBC documentary. TheAllied invasion of Sicilywas launched on 9 July 1943 and, as intended, proved a huge surprise to the German defenders. The genesis of the idea went back to the early days of the war with the 1939 Trout For some reason, though, the Spanish refused to hand anything over to the Germans. Its often said the best way to see the future is to understand the past. We knew what Hitler was thinking on an hour-by-hour basis.". Greece was a dummy target - the real plan was to invade Sicily. WebJune 20, 2022 Top image:Major Martins personal items. A dead body would be planted off the coast of Spain carrying secret documents which purported to reveal that the targets for the forthcoming invasion would be Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily only intended as a feint. The Allies often utilised deception operations to try and trick the Germans into unintentionally weakening their defences or leaving major footholds relatively unguarded. Books, including travel guides, newspapers and newsreels were routinely utilised to form background briefing papers (indeed a whole series of books called the. "I doubt such a plan would be feasible today, even in wartime," says Macintyre. Theres also no evidence to suggest that Cholmondeley was spying on his colleague. Signalpapers outlining the role of submarine HMS Seraph in delivering its secret cargo. The new Operation Mincemeat film stars Matthew MacFadyen and Colin Firth as the scheme's two masterminds Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley (Credit: Alamy). The Germans thought they had an established spy network in the UK - in reality, they had none. Sicily was the obvious launch point, since control of the island meant control of shipping in the Mediterranean. These imaginary spies were, like Michael/Martin, given jobs, hobbies, family, lovers and bank managers. //-->Operation Mincemeat | Military Wiki | Fandom Love film and TV? To that end, the deception plan Operation Barclay set up a non-existent army, faked manoeuvres, and carried out real sabotages on infrastructure to divert the Axis powers and confirm Hitlers paranoia that the biggest threat to Europe would surely come from the Balkans. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and the strangest. The play contained a sense of anger that a person could be deemed more valuable after death than when alive. Where is Prigozhin going? Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and certainly the strangest. | was probably the most successful, and certainly the of the - and perhaps any war. In 1943, British agents hatched an elaborate plan to mislead Germany about UK invasion plans and it's now inspired both a Colin Firth film and a stage musical, writes Natasha Tripney. One of the reasons it worked so well was that the organisers were left alone to get on with it, almost without supervision.". And writers abound in the Mincemeat story, something the film plays up. Operation Mincemeat was, perhaps surprisingly, an incredibly successful operation. The corpse was to be the bait for a meticulous, well-connected, yet unimaginative Nazi agent active in the area - Adolf Clauss. Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley), played by Macfadyen, was an eccentric secondee to the intelligence unit from the Royal Air Force, despite having reportedly never flown. Starring Colin Firth and Successions Matthew Macfadyen, the movie dramatizes a mission that played a crucial role in turning the tide in the Allied forces favor in the wars later years. (The naval officer who developed Operation Mincemeat). After three months on ice in Hackney Mortuary, his body was shipped off to the coast of southern Spain for an elaborate plot to fool the Nazis. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. ("Why did we meet in the middle of a war? And put in front of Winston Churchill was a telegram: Mincemeat swallowed rod, line and sinker.. This gave Montagu the impetus to write his own version of the story, publishing The Man Who Never Was in 1953, (later the basis of a film of the same name, which added further fictional layers to the tale), which he claimed was the true version, though he altered some details most notably that the family of the deceased man gave them their permission to use his body, which was not the case. Operation Mincemeat Cholmondeley and Montagu prepared the body and loaded it into a container filled with dry ice for the journey to Scotland (driven by a pre-war motor racing champion, no less) where the submarine HMS Seraph was waiting. As a result of the false information, the Nazis were caught off guard when, in July 1943, 160,000 Allied troops invaded Sicily and took control of the island in just over a month. He has BA in History from the University of York. Secret papers probably in black briefcase, earliest possible information required, it should be recovered at once, care should be taken that it does not get into undesirable hands, it read. Signal ensuring that the Spanish authorities realised that the documents found on the body were important.