Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (60 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

29
“It is much easier”: Ibid.

30
“He still has no deception”: Ibid.

31
“complete failure to”: Ibid.

32
“now in a highly dangerous situation”: Ibid.

33
“It would be a very great pity”: Ewen Montagu to T. A. Robertson, February 16, 1943.

34
“Spanish police records”: Tomas Harris,
Garbo: The Spy Who Saved D-Day
(London, 2004), p. 38.

35
“worked in military intelligence”: Jimmy Burns,
Papa Spy: Love, Faith and Betrayal in Wartime Spain
(London, 2009), p. 232.

36
“a Spaniard to Spaniards”: Ian Colvin,
The Unknown Courier
(London, 1953), pp. 98–99.

37
“because of his enormous”: Hector Lindi,
Gibraltar Chronicle
, August 1989.

38
“no more than a smattering of sea experience”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

39
“padding about Madrid”: Colvin,
Unknown Courier
, p. 98.

40
“exceptionally favoured by character”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

41
“He was invaluable”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

42
“privileges and facilities”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

43
“Spain contained a large”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

44
“Madrid was full of spies”: TNA, ADM 223/490.

45
“danger of the body”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 444.

46
“German influence in Huelva”: Ibid.

47
“a reliable and helpful man”: Ibid.

48
“very pro-German chief of police”: Cyril Mills to Ewen Montagu, November 11, 1983, Montagu Papers.

49
“active and influential”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 444.

50
“The Shadow”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro del Villar,
Huelva en la Guerra Mundial
(Huelva, Spain), p. 306.

51
“the viceroys”: Jesús Copeiro del Villar, interview with the author, June 3, 2009.

52
“First the Romans”: Ibid.

53
“the black sheep”: Isabel Naylor, interview with the author, June 3, 2009.

54
“the only clever one in the family”: Ibid.

55
“He didn’t dispute”: Federico Clauss, interview with the author, June 2, 2009.

56
“cold, distant and silent”: Jesús Copeiro del Villar, interview with the author, June 3, 2009.

57
“He was an active and intelligent”: Copeiro del Villar,
Huelva
, p. 306.

58
“very efficient German agent”: Ewen Montagu to Lynne Gladstone-Miller, November 1, 1983, Montagu Papers.

59
“super-super efficient agent”: Ewen Montagu, “History of Section 17M (Now Section 12Z),” October 26, 1942, Montagu Papers.

60
“first rate”: Ewen Montagu to Lynne Gladstone-Miller, November 1, 1983, Montagu Papers.

61
“No ship can move without being”: Montagu, “History of Section 17M.”

62
“one of the most difficult”: J. C. Masterman, cited in David Stafford,
Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets
(London, 1999), p. 94.

63
“the tiniest jewel in the imperial”: TNA, KV4/260.

64
“mercenary instincts were”: Ibid.

65
“increased and spread”: Ewen Montagu, “History of Section 17M,” October 26, 1942, Montagu Papers.

66
“in all Spanish and Spanish owned ports”: Ibid.

67
“one of the most important”: Copeiro del Villar,
Huelva
, p. 306.

68
“sufficient evidence can be obtained”: Draft of Operation Mincemeat Report, EM and CC, 27 April 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.

69
“They would have to”: Ibid.

70
“washing ashore of any”: Ibid.

71
“was to be told the outline of the plan”: Ibid.

Chapter Nine: My Dear Alex

1
“owing to the need for placing”: Charles Cholmondeley, Memo 6a, TNA, W0 106/5921.

2
“if the body were dropped in this way”: Ibid.

3
“come in from out at sea”: Ibid.

4
“After the body has been”: Ibid.

5
“technical difficulties in keeping”: Ibid.

6
“Of these methods”: Ibid.

7
“unswerving logic of the German”: Ben Macintyre,
For Your Eyes Only
, p. 108.

8
“if most of the oxygen had previously”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 446.

9
“keep perfectly satisfactorily”: Ewen Montagu to J. H. Bevan, March 26, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

10
“an enormous thermos flask”: Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 126.

11
“HANDLE WITH CARE”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.

12
“the Spaniards and Portuguese”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

13
“the tides in that area”: Ibid.

14
“wind between S and W”: Hydrographer’s Report, March 22, 1943, TNA, W0 106/5921.

15
“if it did not strand”: Ibid.

16
“The currents on the coast”: Ewen Montagu to J. H. Bevan, March 23, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

17
“I am not quite clear as to who”: J. H. Bevan to Ewen Montagu, March 1, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

18
“thinking it couldn’t come off”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.

19
“Mincemeat will be taken out”: Ewen Montagu to J. H. Bevan, March 26, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

20
“All the details are now ‘buttoned up’”: Ibid.

21
“alteration and improvement”: Ibid.

22
“more personal”: J. H. Bevan to A. Nye, April 8, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

23
“a letter in answer to one from”: Ewen Montagu draft of letter, April 6, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

24
“should not be undertaken”: Admiralty amendment to official report, June 3, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.

25
“rather too official”: J. H. Bevan to A. Nye, April 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

26
“we must get Dudley Clarke’s”: J. H. Bevan, memo TNA, CAB 154/67.

27
“danger of overloading”: Dudley Clarke to J. H. Bevan, April 2, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

28
“a mistake to play for high”: Admiralty amendment to official report, June 3, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.

29
“If anything miscarries”: J. H. Bevan, memo, April 12, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

30
“merely a lowish grade innuendo”: Excised paragraph 13 in “Draft History of Operation Mincemeat,” May 29, 1943, IWM, 97/45/1, folder #2.

31
“Mincemeat should be capable”: Admiralty amendment to official report, June 3, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.

32
“of a type which could have”: Excised paragraph 14 in “Draft History of Operation Mincemeat,” May 29, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.

33
“If it isn’t too much trouble”: Ewen Montagu, undated draft letter, TNA, CAB 154/67.

34
“How are you getting on”: Ibid.

35
“Do you still take the same size”: Ibid.

36
“What is wrong with Monty?”: Ibid.

37
“the best way of giving it”: Ewen Montagu, draft letter, April 6, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

38
“ideally suited to the purpose”: Ibid.

39
“not blatantly mentioned”: Ewen Montagu, memo, April 4, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

40
“Your signature in ink might”: J. H. Bevan to A. Nye, April 8, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

41
“General Wilson is referred to”: Ibid.

42
“I referred to him variously”: A. Nye to J. H. Bevan, April 14, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

43
“I would never have written”: A. Nye to Ewen Montagu, April 26, 1954, Montagu Papers.

44
“P.S. We saw you on the cinema”: Ibid.

45
“might help to strike”: Ibid.

46
“Now I hope your friends”: A. Nye to J. H. Bevan, April 14, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

47
“a truly magnificent letter”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 135.

48
“It’s too velvety-arsed and Rolls Royce”: Rick Atkinson,
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943–1945
(London, 2007), p. 52.

49
“laboured”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 143.

50
“I thought that that sort of joke”: Ibid.

51
“Papers actually on the body”: Charles Cholmondeley, memo, February 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67, p. 229.

52
“the Chiefs of Staff have approved”: TNA, CAB 154/67.

53
“To my surprise I was ushered”: J. H. Bevan, handwritten account, undated [April 15, 1943], TNA, CAB 154/67.

54
“In the higher ranges of Secret Service”: Ben Macintyre,
For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond
(London, 2008), p. 58.

55
“Of course there’s a possibility”: Conversation recalled by Randolph Churchill in conversation with J. H. Bevan, recorded in Martin Gilbert,
Road to Victory
(London, 1981), p. 389.

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