Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (56 page)

Acknowledgments

I am hugely indebted to the scores of people in five countries who have helped me in the writing of this book. In Britain, Germany, and Spain, the families of the participants in Operation Mincemeat have been extraordinarily generous with their time, memories, and documentary material: Jeremy Montagu, Jennifer Montagu, Rachel Montagu, Sarah Montagu, Tom Cholmondeley, Alison Cholmondeley, Jean Gerard Leigh, John Gerard Leigh, John Michael, Paul Jewell, Nicholas Jewell, Tristan Hillgarth, Jocelyn Hillgarth, Juliette Kühlenthal, Federico Clauss, Andrew Leverton, Basil Leverton, and Sir Alan Urwick. Many others, either directly or indirectly involved, willingly contributed other material: the late Joan Bright-Astley, Gill Drake, Lady Victoire Ridsdale, Peggy Harmer, Patricia Davies, John Julius Norwich, Eve Streatfeild, Nicholas Reed, Isabelle Naylor, and Selina Fraser-Smith. Still others offered useful advice and contacts: Annabel Murello, Emma Crichton, Guy Liardet, Jack Baer, James Owen, Jan Dalley, John Scarlett, Ian Brunskill, Robert Hands, Fiona and Peter Mason, Stephen Walker, Sally George, and Robin Hunt.

I am grateful to numerous experts in various fields for their advice and guidance: Dr. Sacha Kolar on forensic pathology; Neil Cooke on Whitehall geography; Mary Teviot for her genealogical sleuthing; Pedro J. Ramirez, Javier Gómez, and the staff of
El Mundo
in Spain; Jesus Copeiro for a fascinating guided tour of Huelva and Punta Umbria; Graham Keeley for his work in Spain and Jo Carlill and Paul Bellshaw for their help with pictures.

Numerous historians and writers have also helped me to shape the book: Christopher Andrew, Michael Foot, Frank Stech, Andrew Rose, Roger Morgan, Tim Cottingham, John Follain, Thomas Boghardt, Andrew Lycett, and Martin Gilbert. I am particularly grateful to Peter Martland, Mark Seaman, and Terry Charman for reading the manuscript and saving me from some toe-curling errors. The remaining mistakes are all my own.

This book has involved many hours of archive research, and I have been helped immeasurably by a number of brilliant and dedicated archivists: Rod Sudderby of the Imperial War Museum; Howard Davies, Hugh Alexander, and the staff of the National Archives; David Sutcliffe at the Security Service Archives; James Beckett of the Formula One Archives; Neil F. Murray of the Aston Martin Club; Lesley Hall of the Wellcome Trust; Darren Treadwell of the People’s History Museum; and Caroline Herbert of the Churchill Archives Centre.

My friends and colleagues on the
Times
have been, as ever, unstinting in their help and advice, some of it solicited: James Harding, Keith Blackmore, Alex O’Connell, Mike Evans, Richard Beeston, and many others. I have Duncan Stewart to thank, once again, for the fine maps and diagrams.

My thanks to John Glusman and the team at Harmony for all their help and support. Ed Victor has been my rock for every one of my last seven books. My friends and family have put up with me banging on about Operation Mincemeat for three years. My thanks and gratitude to them. And for Kate, as ever, all my love.

Notes

Epigraph

1
“Who in war will not have”: Winston Churchill,
Closing the Ring
, p. 91.

Preface

1
“some memoranda which”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 14.

Chapter One: The Sardine Spotter

1
“lump”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro del Vilar,
Espías y Neutrales: Huelva en la Guerra Mundial
(Huelva, Spain, 1996), p. 408.

2
“no-one wanted”: Ibid., p. 409.

Chapter Two: Corkscrew Minds

1
“The Trout Fisher”: National Archives (henceforth cited as “TNA”), Admiralty archives of the Naval Intelligence Department (henceforth cited as ADM) 223/478.

2
“marked flair”: Ben Macintyre,
For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond
(London, 2008), p. 42.

3
“romantic Red Indian daydreams”: Ibid., p. 43.

4
“deception, ruses de guerre”: TNA, ADM 223/478.

5
“At first sight”: Ibid.

6
“The business of deception”: John Godfrey, “Afterthoughts,” TNA, ADM 223/619, p. 51.

7
“pushing quicksilver”: Ibid.

8
“introducing ideas”: TNA, ADM 223/478.

9
“treasure ship”: Ibid.

10
“an unimpeachable and immaculate”: Ibid.

11
“with instructions on the”: Ibid.

12
“A Suggestion (not a very nice one)”: Ibid.

13
“research”: “The Thomson Case,”
Time
, January 18, 1926.

14
“I know the stuff”: Basil Thomson,
The Milliner’s Hat
(London, 1937), p. 64.

15
“World War II offers”: Godfrey, “Afterthoughts,” TNA, ADM 223/619, p. 26.

16
“the target date”: David Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II
(New York, 2000), p. 471.

17
“extremely worried”:
After the Battle
, no. 54, 1986.

18
“not been tampered with”: Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies
, p. 471.

19
“quite legible”: Ibid.

20
“It was highly unlikely”: Ibid.

21
“All the documents”: TNA, Cabinet Office Records (henceforth cited as CAB) 163/1.

22
“no greater importance”: Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies
, p. 471.

23
“documents had likely”: Frank J. Stech, “Outguessed and One-Behind: The Real Story of The Man Who Never Was” (paper presented to conference, University of Wolverhampton, UK, July 2004).

24
“This suggested that”: TNA, ADM 223/794.

25
“lifting his toes as he walked”: Jean Gerard Leigh (née Leslie), interview with the author, March 5, 2008.

26
“This was a terrible blow”: Tom Cholmondeley, interview with the author, October 1, 2007.

27
“ideas man”: Thaddeus Holt,
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
(London, 2004), p. 370.

28
“extraordinary and delightful”: Ibid., p. 370

29
“one of those subtle”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 116.

30
“a plan for introducing documents”: Imperial War Museum, papers of Ewen Montagu (henceforth cited as IWM) 97/45/1, folder #2.

31
A body is obtained: Ibid.

32
“the drop”: Ibid.

33
“double for an actual officer”: Ibid.

34
“and injuries inflicted after death”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 116.

35
“a full and capable post-mortem”: Charles Cholmondeley, Memo to XX Committee, February 4, 1938, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.

36
“Of these, Spain was clearly”: Ibid.

37
“Meinertzhagen knew no half measures”: T. E. Lawrence,
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
(London, 1991), p. 452.

38
“Good-bye, my darling!”: John Lord,
Duty, Honour, Empire
(London, 1971), p. 332.

39
“easy, reliable and inexpensive”: Meinertzhagen Army Diary, cited in ibid., p. 336.

40
“fair going”: Holt,
The Decievers
, p. 95.

41
“there was never any evidence”: Ibid., p. 297.

Chapter Three: Room 13

1
“The Germans, having cause to regret”: Jimmy Burns,
Papa Spy: Love, Faith and Betrayal in Wartime Spain
(London, 2009), p. 233.

2
“strongly supported”: Draft of report on Operation Mincemeat, May 29, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.

3
“go into the question of obtaining”: Ibid.

4
“fertile brain”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 108.

5
“My memory is of”: Ewen Montagu, Untitled, unpublished autobiography in manuscript (henceforth cited as “Ewen Montagu Autobiography”), courtesy of Jeremy Montagu (collection henceforth cited as “Montagu Papers”).

6
“Montagu, first Baron Swaythling”: Ivor Montagu,
The Youngest Son: Autobiographical Chapters
(London, 1970), p. 18.

7
“small dining room” Ibid. p. 22.

8
“exquisite chandelier”: Ewen Montagu Autobiography.

9
“Statesmen (British and world)”: Ibid.

10
“like a very animated piece”: Ibid.

11
“It was a servants’ lift”: Montagu,
Youngest Son
, p. 14.