Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (69 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

33
“With flares, searchlights and blazing fires”: Jewell,
Secret Mission Submarine
, p. 114.

34
“cheering the stubborn little submarine”: Robertson,
Ship with Two Captains
, p. 129.

35
“Ahoy Seraph”: Ibid.

36
“a slightly astonished salute”: Ibid.

37
“You know those boys”: Ibid.

38
“slide warily back into the protective darkness”: Ibid.

39
“tiny, darting flashes marked the progress”: Ibid.

40
“hoped the friendly, ever-joking colonel”: Ibid.

41
“Darby is really a great soldier”: Carlo D’Este,
Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily 1943
(London 1988), p. 275.

42
“wished my chaps good luck”: Derrick Leverton, letter to parents, November 29, 1943, courtesy of Andrew Leverton.

43
“As there was still a bit of time in hand”: Ibid.

44
“quite a bit of banging about”: Ibid

45
“It was getting close to dawn”: Ibid.

46
“slightly premature landings”: Ibid

47
“The first thing I was conscious”: Ibid.

48
“Occasional mines went off”: Ibid.

49
“tea-sugar-and-milk powder”: Ibid.

50
“Most nourishing, appetising and intelligent”: Ibid.

51
“added zest to the party”: Ibid.

52
“As the bombs came down”: Ibid.

53
“Another bomb fell in the sea”: Ibid.

54
“little graves about three feet deep”: Ibid.

55
“I had rather an awful sort of dream”: Ibid.

56
“the concussion in my grave”: Ibid.

57
“plus quite a lot of ‘possibles’”: Ibid.

58
“I didn’t feel I was suitably dressed”: Ibid.

59
“I therefore designed myself”: Ibid.

60
“Throw them back into the sea”: Follain,
Mussolini’s Island
, p. 85.

61
“I’m convinced our men will resist”: Ibid., p. 84.

62
“We must be confident”: Ibid.

63
“I could see his heart beating”: Atkinson,
Day of Battle
, p. 36.

64
“Stop, you bastards”: Ibid., p. 40.

65
“Most important. Have learned”: Thaddeus Holt,
The Deceivers
(London, 2004), p. 381.

66
“complete failure of coastal defence”: Intercepted Message 2124 Rome to Berlin, July 11, 1943, ADM 223/147.

67
“on enemy penetration many”: Ibid.

68
“half-clothed Italian soldiers”: Ralph Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy 1941–1945
(London, 1989), p. 225.

69
“At once and with all forces attack”: TNA, ADM 223/147.

70
“The counterattack against hostile”: Atkinson,
Day of Battle
, p. 103.

71
“the shortest Blitzkrieg”: Follain,
Mussolini’s Island
, p. 310.

72
“The German in Sicily”: Atkinson,
Day of Battle
, p. 123.

Chapter Twenty-two: Hook, Line, and Sinker

1
“Even if I have once brought off”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.

2
“too keyed-up to read”: Ibid.

3
“It is really impossible”: Ewen Montagu, unpublished note, October 7, 1976, IWM 97/45/1, folder #4.

4
“Joy of joys to anyone”: Ibid.

5
“We fooled those of the Spaniards”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. 196.

6
“One specially made canister”: Ewen Montagu, unpublished critique of Constantine Fitzgibbon, S
ecret Intelligence in the Twentieth Century
(London, 1976), IWM, 97/45/1, folder #4.

7
“The most I could do”: Ewen Montagu, Beyond Top Secret Ultra, p. 166.

8
“I do congratulate you”: Dudley Clarke, Note to Ewen Montagu, May 14, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

9
“It is a most interesting story”: A. Nye to J. H. Bevan, July 20, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.

10
“the greatest achievement”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.

11
“Mincemeat has been an outstanding success”: Guy Liddell,
Diaries
, May 20, 1931.

12
“From evidence at present available” J. H. Bevan to Inglis, October 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

13
“was the originator of this ingenious”: J. H. Bevan to Lamplough, August 21, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

14
“papers from Sikorski’s aircraft”: Ewen Montagu to JB, July 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

15
“to show that Mincemeat was genuine”: Ibid.

16
“Not worth trying”: Initials illegible, note attached to Ewen Montagu to JB, July 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.

17
“mousetrap for all German”: John Follain,
Mussolini’s Island: The Untold Story of the Invasion of Italy
(London, 2005), p. 311.

18
“Most Immediate”: Signal General Keitel to Commander in Chief Med, July 9, 1943, translation accompanying Rushbrooke report, July 19, 1943, IWM, 97/45/1, folder #2.

19
“Western assault forces appear”: Ibid.

20
“A subsequent landing”: Ibid.

21
“stating that the High Command”: ADM 223/794, p. 456.

22
“entirely consistent with the Mincemeat story”: Ibid.

23
“the departure of the 1st R-Boat”: ADM 223/794, pp. 460–61.

24
“macaroni-eaters”: David Irving,
Hitler’s War
(London, 1977), p. 437.

25
“Hitler’s own reaction”: Michael Howard,
Grand Strategy
(London, 1972), p. 368.

26
“This report has been proved”: F. W. Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship: Mussolini, Hitler and the Fall of Italian Fascism
(London, 1962), p. 417.

27
“Undertake a most careful”: Ribbentrop to Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff in Madrid, July 29, 1943, in Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, p. 417.

28
“The documents had been found”: Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 417.

29
“The English and Americans had”: Ibid., p. 419.

30
“The British Secret Service is quite”: Ibid.

31
“that we should not adopt”: Ibid., p. 418.

32
“It is practically certain”: Ibid.

33
“Who originally circulated”: Ibid.

34
“after the invasion of Italy”: MI5 interrogation of Joachim Canaris, Kühlenthal MI5 file, TNA, KV2/102.

35
“at present at any rate”: IWM, MI 14/522/2 Kurze Feind Beurteilung West, 982 of July 25, 1943, cited in Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy
, p. 227.

36
“The only thing certain”: Joseph Goebbels,
The Goebbels Diaries
(London, 1948), p. 437.

37
“The sacrifice of my country”: Atkinson,
Day of Battle
, p. 139.

38
“inept and cowardly”: Ibid.

39
“We are fighting for a common”: Ibid., p. 140.

40
“It can’t go on any longer”: Follain,
Mussolini’s Island
, p. 240.

41
“Fascism fell, as was fitting”: Atkinson,
Day of Battle
, p. 142.

42
“It is well known that under”: OKW/KTB iv. 1797, quoted in Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy
, p. 227.

43
“On no account should we”: Alan Clark,
Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict 1941–45
(London, 1966), p. 337.

44
“Inescapably faced with the dilemma”: Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy
, p. 222.

45
“With the failure of Zitadelle”: Christer Bergström,
Kursk: The Air Battle of July 1943
(London, 2007), p. 58.

46
“a small classic of deception”: ADM 223/794, p. 442.

47
“as widely and thinly as possible”: Bennett,
Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy
, p. 227.

48
“There can be no doubt”: ADM 223/794, p. 455.

49
“Special intelligence enabled us”: ADM 223/794, p. 442.

50
“Sicily has impressed”: David Stafford,
Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets
(London, 1999), p. 107.

51
“really affected the outcome”: Robertson,
Ship with Two Captains
, p. 132.

52
“impossible to estimate”: Ibid.

53
“the most spectacular single episode”: Hugh Trevor-Roper, Foreword to Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 10.

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