Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (61 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

56
“Weed-killer goes into the lungs”: Ibid.

57
“took much interest”: J. H. Bevan, handwritten account, undated [April 15, 1943], TNA, CAB 154/67.

58
“I pointed out that there”: Ibid.

59
“In that case, we shall”: Ibid.

60
“General Eisenhower gives full”: Telegram IZ 1416, Received 1620, April 17, 1943, Freedom Algiers to Air Ministry, TNA, CAB 154/67.

Chapter Ten: Table-Tennis Traitor

1
“I get more and more optimistic”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, January 24, 1943, Montagu Letters.

2
“We ought by the time”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, November 13, 1942, Montagu Letters.

3
“Mincemeat is in the making”: Guy Liddell,
The Guy Liddell Diaries, 1939–1945
, vol. 2, ed. Nigel West (London, 2005), p. 45.

4
“Plan Mincemeat has been approved”: Ibid., p. 67.

5
“in close touch with many Russians”: TNA, KV2/599.

6
“an incurable anti-nationalist”: Ibid.

7
“facilities for sport were far greater”: Ibid.

8
“men of decidedly foreign”: Ibid.

9
“did not think Montagu would get”: Ibid.

10
“his association with the Russians”: Ibid.

11
“an active Fifth Columnist”: Ibid.

12
“he is always very keen”: Ibid.

13
“has a wooden hut”: Ibid.

14
“It does not seem desirable”: Ibid.

15
“whether this refusal is”:
Hansard Parliamentary Debates
, vol. 357, no. 23, March 14, 1940.

16
“I myself have registered”: TNA, KV2/599.

17
“most undesirable that he should”: Ibid.

18
“Intelligentsia lives in the”: TNA, HW 15/43.

19
“as a criminal conspiracy”: Ibid.

20
“known to be queer in any other way”: Ibid.

21
“The reason for our tentative interest”: Ibid.

22
“Bulgarian police authorities”: Ibid.

23
“Hanno-ball”: Ibid.

24
“certain net-stretchers”: Ibid.

25
“suspected of running an illegal”: Ibid.

26
“be using the channel of international”: Ibid.

27
“I know this all seems very trivial”: Ibid.

28
“I had no great faith in the records”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 48.

29
“How is the table tennis going?”: Ibid., p. 49.

30
“That’s my communist”: Ibid.

31
“special examiners”: History of Operation Mincemeat, April 10, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.

32
“if the lash was gone”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro dell Villar,
Huelva en la Guerra Mundial
(Huelva, Spain, 1996), p. 426.

33
“Mine were used for Major Martin’s”: Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
, p. 149.

34
“an ordinary black Government”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 449.

35
“horribly phoney”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 145.

36
“the use of a chain to the bag”: Charles Cholmondeley, memo, February 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67, p. 229.

37
“little or no wreckage floated”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.

38
“for simplification and for security”: Ibid.

39
“might have been the twin brother”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p.141.

40
“far more like”: Draft manuscript, Man, IWM 97/45/2.

41
“heartily disliked”: Montagu,
Man Who Never Was
, p. 160.

42
“odd psychological reaction”: Ibid.

43
“told to report to the intelligence”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.

44
“normal final training”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.

45
“Mincemeat sails 19th April”: TNA, CAB 154/67.

46
“enable the operation to be carried”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.

47
“In wartime, any plan that saved”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.

48
“the vital need for secrecy”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.

49
“packed, fully clothed and ready”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

50
“as the steel is made of light gauge”: Memo, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

51
“held a super-secret automatic”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.

52
“we suspected the Germans”: Ibid.

53
“Lt Jewell was to impress”: Ibid.

54
“between Portil Pillar and Punta Umbria”: Ibid., p. 445.

55
“Every effort should be made”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1942, TNA, ADM 223/464.

56
“the submarine could probably”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.

57
“the proposed use of a flare was dropped”: Ibid.

58
“on specially prepared slides”: Ibid.

59
“The container should then be opened”: Ibid.

60
“When the body is removed”: Ibid.

61
“near the body but not too near”: Ibid.

62
“the body and container”: Ibid.

63
“care must be taken that”: Ibid.

64
“Cancel Mincemeat”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.

65
“Mincemeat completed”: Ibid.

66
“a pleasant time building up”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.

67
“making a life for the Major of Marines”: Ibid.

68
“I had the enjoyment”: Ibid.

69
“Mincemeat sails”: Chaucer to Goldbranson, April 15, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

Chapter Eleven: Gold Prospector

1
“Adventure was once a noble”: Alan Hillgarth,
Men of War
(London, 1926), p. 34.

2
“a young man called Alan Hillgarth”: Evelyn Waugh,
Diaries
(London, 1995), July 1, 1927.

3
“steep hill all covered”: Daniel Buck, “Tales of Glitter or Dust,”
Americas
, vol. 52, May 2000.

4
“a large stone shaped like an egg”: Ibid.

5
“that took five hundred men”: Ibid.

6
“enough strong poison to kill”: Ibid.

7
“reputed by the local Indians”: J. B. S. Meadows, “Sacambaya,”
St. Barts Journal
, January 1929, p. 58.

8
“squarish man with conspicuously”: Buck, “Tales of Glitter or Dust,”
Americas
.

9
“record themselves on a photographic”: Report of Sacambaya Company, April 23, 1929, courtesy of Tristan Hillgarth.

10
“the definite location of a strong”: Ibid.

11
“men who had had considerable”: Ibid.

12
“Sacambaya is a poisonous place”: Ibid.

13
“protection against the often”: Ibid.

14
“across 20 miles of pretty”: Ibid.

15
“This is the furthest outpost”: Ibid.

16
“This was quite an undertaking”: Ibid.

17
“one case containing 200 lbs”: Ibid.

18
“100 feet into the hillside”: Ibid.

19
“A complete absence of fresh fruit”: J. B. S. Meadows, “Sacambaya,”
St. Barts Journal
, January 1929, p. 59.

20
“One of our party awakened”: Ibid.

21
“Claustrophobia brought on by”: Ibid.

22
“He has fallen seriously in love”: Edgar Sanders to Alan Hillgarth, January 5, 1929, courtesy of Tristan Hillgarth.

23
“either by the hotel people or the police”: Ibid.

24
“No body of men could have”: Report of Sacambaya Company.

25
“he doubled up as spy”: Jimmy Burns,
Papa Spy: Love, Faith and Betrayal in Wartime Spain
(London, 2009), p. 22.

26
“an intense bombardment which”: Captain Alan Hillgarth (then British consul in Palma), note on the surrender of Menorca, translated from Catalan by Tristan Hillgarth.

27
“a decisive German victory over Russia”: Alan Hillgarth, memo, July 13, 1942, TNA, ADM 223/478.

28
“very good”: Denis Smyth,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
.

29
“equipped with a profound knowledge”: Ibid.

30
“privately about anything interesting”: Alan Hillgarth, memo, TNA, ADM 223/490.

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