Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (59 page)

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Authors: Ben Macintyre

Tags: #General, #Psychology, #Europe, #History, #Great Britain, #20th Century, #Political Freedom & Security, #Intelligence, #Political Freedom & Security - Intelligence, #Political Science, #Espionage, #Modern, #World War, #1939-1945, #Military, #Italy, #Naval, #World War II, #Secret service, #Sicily (Italy), #Deception, #Military - World War II, #War, #History - Military, #Military - Naval, #Military - 20th century, #World War; 1939-1945, #Deception - Spain - Atlantic Coast - History - 20th century, #Naval History - World War II, #Ewen, #Military - Intelligence, #World War; 1939-1945 - Secret service - Great Britain, #Sicily (Italy) - History; Military - 20th century, #1939-1945 - Secret service - Great Britain, #Atlantic Coast (Spain), #1939-1945 - Spain - Atlantic Coast, #1939-1945 - Campaigns - Italy - Sicily, #Intelligence Operations, #Deception - Great Britain - History - 20th century, #Atlantic Coast (Spain) - History, #Montagu, #Atlantic Coast (Spain) - History; Military - 20th century, #Sicily (Italy) - History, #World War; 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Italy - Sicily, #Operation Mincemeat, #Montagu; Ewen, #World War; 1939-1945 - Spain - Atlantic Coast

7
“very attractive”: Draft of Operation Mincemeat report EM and CC, April 27, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.

8
“The more attractive girls in”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 152.

9
“I think he had every intention”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.

10
“The swimming there was horrible”: Ibid.

11
“quite a collection”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 152.

12
“Uncle John gave specific orders”: Pat Davies (née Trehearne), interview with the author, October 4, 2009.

13
“We were all rather jealous”: Ibid.

14
“I knew it was going to be planted”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.

15
“Has anybody else got that”: Ibid.

16
“I never realised how lonely”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, August 17, 1941, Montagu Letters.

17
“How ultra-happy our life was”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, December 30, 1940, Montagu Letters.

18
“You must have gone off”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, December 2, 1940, Montagu Letters.

19
“I am always the gooseberry”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, September 28, 1941, Montagu Letters.

20
“It was a question of whether”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, December 22, 1940, Montagu Letters.

21
“I took a girl from the office”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, April 4, 1942, Montagu Letters.

22
“skinny and embittered”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.

23
“no German could resist the ‘Englishness’”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 152.

24
“achieved the thrill and pathos”: Ibid.

25
“P.L. from W.M. 14.4.43”: TNA, WO 106–5921–19.

26
“We will insert the legacy of £50”: Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
, p. 156.

27
“since the wife’s family will not”: Ibid.

28
“The nearer the approach”: John Godfrey, “Afterthoughts,” TNA, ADM 223/619.

29
“He is very old”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, November 13, 1942, Montagu Letters.

30
“He was the world’s prize shit”: Ewen Montagu to Captain A. N. Grey, June 24, 1980, Montagu Papers.

31
“the unhoped for benefit”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.

32
“preparation and devising”: Ibid.

33
“was entirely unsupervised”: Ibid.

34
“‘How will that argument’”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 90.

35
“There was almost complete”: TNA, ADM 223/794.

36
“Masterman raised the question”: Ibid.

37
“execution subcommittee”: Ibid.

38
“the only deceptioneer”: Ibid.

39
“enthusiasm for all things Russian”: TNA, archives of the Security Service, MI5 (henceforth KV2) 598.

40
“We have had a request”: Ibid.

41
“the keenest players”: Ibid.

42
“Dear Comrade Trotsky”: Ivor Montagu to Leon Trotsky, July 1, 1929, Montagu Collection, Labour History Archive and Study Centre (People’s History Museum).

43
“like Edinburgh at its worst”: Ivor Montagu Autobiography.

44
“Two Turkish policemen”: Ibid.

45
“to put under my pillow”: Ibid.

46
“I did not know what precautions”: Ibid.

47
“The memory I shall always”: Ibid

48
“fascinating and commanding”: Ibid.

49
“repelled by his self-admiration”: Ibid.

50
“I felt I understood”: Ibid.

51
“Ivor Montagu has”: Leon Trotsky to Reg Groves, July 13, 1932, TNA, KV2/598.

52
“Montagu has for some time”: Security Service memo, May 10, 1926, TNA, KV2/598.

53
“Montagu has dark curly hair”: Ibid.

54
“What is the use of living”: Ivor Montagu Autobiography.

55
“Last night Ivor came to dinner”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 30, 1942, Montagu Letters.

56
“He is simply enormous”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, August 8, 1940, Montagu Letters.

57
“Ivor is really bad”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, December 12, 1940, Montagu Letters.

58
“He is busy working for the Russian”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 30, 1942, Montagu Letters.

59
“knew in advance practically”: Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
, p. 30.

60
“that particularly unpleasant”: Security Service memo, RHH to DP (unidentified), March 3, 1942, TNA, KV2/599.

61
“I have met representatives”: TNA, records of the Government Code and Cypher School (henceforth HW) 15/43.

62
“Intelligentsia considers there is”: Ibid.

63
“influential relatives”: TNA, Ibid.

64
“Intelligentsia has not yet found”: Ibid.

65
“Although one is somewhat deaf”: J. B. S. Haldane,
What Is Life
(London, 1949), p. 32.

66
“I think that Marxism”: J. B. S. Haldane,
The Marxist Philosophy and the Sciences
(New York, 1939), p. 4.

67
“Intelligentsia has handed over”: TNA, HW 15/43.

68
“three military sources”: Ibid.

69
“reported that a girl”: Ibid.

70
“that this was a matter”: Ibid.

71
“an officer of the air ministry”: Ibid.

72
“The coastal defence is”: Ibid.

73
“30 Sausage Dealer bombers”: Ibid.

74
“he still seems to be going on with”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 11, 1941, Montagu Letters.

75
“Intelligentsia has reported”: TNA, HW 15/43.

Chapter Eight: The Butterfly Collector

1
“We felt that we knew”: Ewen Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 160.

2
“an incurable romantic”: Christopher Andrew,
The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5
(London, 2009), p. 285.

3
“joined up to go to sea”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 20.

4
“Ewen lived the part”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.

5
“He wrote me endless letters”: Ibid.

6
“Till death us do part”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 168.

7
“Pam dearest”: Ewen Montagu to Jean Leslie, undated, courtesy of Jean Gerard Leigh.

8
“The girl from the Elms”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, January 9, 1943, Montagu Letters.

9
“One of her appealing virtues”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 29, 1943, Montagu Letters.

10
“She has been much connected”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, April 15, 1943, Montagu Letters.

11
“I took the girl from the Elms”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, March 15, 1943, Montagu Letters.

12
“I feel definitely that you ought”: Ibid.

13
“If Mother did touch my things”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 29, 1943, Montagu Letters.

14
“I told her truthfully that it was”: Ibid.

15
“writing in her letters”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 168.

16
“would not carry enough weight”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 442.

17
“to fake documents of a sufficiently”: Ewen Montagu to Thomas Thibeault, March 18, 1980, Montagu Papers.

18
“a crooked lawyer’s dream of heaven”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 150.

19
“bone from the neck up”: Rick Atkinson,
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943–1945
(London, 2007), p. 130.

20
“as if he had just had a steam bath”: Ibid., pp. 130–131.

21
“Will Eisenhower go ahead”: Ewen Montagu, first draft of letter, February 16, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

22
“So and so—naming a general”: Ibid.

23
“personal and ‘off the record’”: Ibid.

24
“the contents of such a letter”: J. H. Bevan, report to T. A. Robertson, February 12, 1943, TNA, CO/43/66.

25
“almost completely ignorant”: Ewen Montagu, memo, March 5, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794.

26
“is almost completely inexperienced”: Ewen Montagu, memo, March 5, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794.

27
“From reports coming out”: German High Command to Command in Tunisia, February 26, 1943, MSS 2180/T.28, IWM 97/4/1, folder #1.

28
“Sicily has now been allowed”: Ewen Montagu, memo, March 5, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794.

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