Operation Mincemeat was a highly successful British deception plan during World War II which convinced the German High Command (OKW) that the Allies would invade the Balkans and Sardinia instead of the island of Sicily, the actual objective. The operation called for making the Germans believe that they had, by accident, intercepted highly classified documents detailing future Allied war plans, and part of Mincemeat's success lay in the unusual nature of the operation: the plans were attached to a corpse deliberately left to wash up on a Spanish beach. The story was subsequently told in a book and later film as The Man Who Never Was. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Oberkommando der Wehrmacht OKW most notably stands for Oberkommando der Wehrmacht - the high Command of the Third Reich armed forces. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sardinia (pronounced ; Italian: ; Sardinian: or Sardinna) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... The Man Who Never Was is a 1954 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 2nd World War war film based on the book. ...

Planning for the deception

As the North African Campaign was winding down, Allied planners turned their attention to mainland Europe. Sicily's location made it a strategic first objective. As well as providing a springboard for the invasion of the continent, control of the island would help safeguard Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. However, the strategic importance of the island was not lost on the Germans. It was the base of Luftwaffe air attacks against the British stronghold of Malta. Furthermore, as the massive Allied buildup for the invasion (code-named Operation Husky) would surely be detected as a sign of an impending operation, the Allies had to deceive the Germans, so that they would not concentrate their forces and repulse the allied invasion. During World War II, the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from September 13, 1940 to May 13, 1943. ... This article is very long. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Husky was also the codename of Australian military support to Sierra Leone ending in February 2003. ...

A few months before, Flight Lt. Charles Cholmondeley of Section B1(a) of MI5^[1], came up with an idea of having a wireless radio dropped in France by means of a dead man attached to a badly-opened parachute, thereby giving the Allies the opportunity to feed misinformation to the Germans. This was dismissed as impractical and unworkable; however the idea was taken up a few months later by a small inter-service, interdepartmental intelligence team called the Twenty Committee. A Flight Lieutenants sleeve/shoulder insignia Flight Lieutenant (abbreviated as Flt Lt and pronounced as flight lef-tenant, see Lieutenant) is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Double Cross System or XX System, was a World War II expedient of the British military intelligence arm, MI5, which involved turning captured Nazi agents and using them to broadcast mainly erroneous information to the Nazi high command. ...

As described in his published account, author and team member Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu, a naval intelligence officer, relates that the possibilities for the success of Cholmondeley's deception idea evolved into a more workable plan. Together they quickly devised the details of the ruse. The deception team first thought that the documents would have to be recovered from a man who died due to an unopened parachute, as Cholmondeley had proposed. However, since the Germans knew that it was Allied policy never to send sensitive documents over enemy territory, they decided to make the man a victim of a plane crash at sea. That would explain the fact that the man would be dead for several days if found floating in the sea and solve the problem of the documents. Now that they had a plan, the operation needed a code name. With Montagu's characteristic macabre sense of humor, he gave the operation the code name of Mincemeat, just restored to the list of available names after its employment in a previously successful mission.^[2] In the Royal Navy, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, a lieutenant commander (lieutenant-commander or Lt Cdr in the RN) is a commissioned officer superior to a lieutenant and inferior to a commander. ... Captain Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu (March 19, 1901-July 19, 1985) was a British judge, writer and intelligence officer. ... The Apollo 15 capsule landed safely despite a parachute failure. ...

Precedents

The idea of using a corpse with documents was nothing new. Two incidents that Montagu would have been aware of illustrated this. The first incident happened in August 1942 when a deception plan was executed before the Battle of Alam Halfa by using a corpse with a planted map. The body was placed in a blown-up scout car for the Germans to find, in a minefield facing the 90th Light Division just south of Quaret el Abd. The map included the locations of non-existent Allied minefields. The Germans fell for the ruse, and Rommel's panzers were routed to areas of soft sand where they bogged down.^[3] Battle of Alam Halfa Conflict World War II Date August 30–September 6, 1942 Place El Alamein, Egypt Result Allied strategic victory Axis tactical victory The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place between August 30 and September 6, 1942 during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II... Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ) (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was one of the most distinguished German field marshals of World War II. He was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps and also became known by the nickname “The Desert Fox” (Wüstenfuchs,  ) for the skillful military campaigns he...

The second incident was not a deception at all, but rather a close call. In September that same year a PBY Catalina crashed off Cadiz carrying a courier named Paymaster-Lt. James Hadden Turner of the Royal Navy. When his body was washed up on the beach near Tarifa and recovered by the Spanish authorities, he was carrying a letter from General Mark Clark to the Governor of Gibraltar, which named French agents in North Africa and gave the date of the Torch landings as November 4 (although the actual landings happened on November 8). When the body was returned, the letter was still in its possession, and it was determined that the letter was never opened when examined by technicians. Of course, the Germans had the means to read the letter without opening the envelope, but, if they had, they apparently dismissed the information as bogus, regarding it as "planted" and therefore not acted upon -- until it was too late.^[4] PBY Catalina was the United States Navy designation for an American and Canadian-built flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s. ... This article is about the Spanish city. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Location of Tarifa Municipality Cádiz Mayor Miguel Manella Guerrero Area    - City 419 km²  - Land 419 km²  - Water 0. ... Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 - April 17, 1984) was an American general during World War II and the Korean War. ... November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 53 days remaining. ...

Major William Martin, Royal Marines

With the help of the renowned pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Montagu and his team were able to determine what kind of body they needed for this purpose, one that appeared to have died by drowning. Through the most discreet inquiries they were able to secure the body of a 34-year old man who recently died of chemically-induced pneumonia as the result of ingesting rat poison. They briefed the man's next of kin of the operation and swore them to secrecy. The man's family agreed, on the condition that the man's real identity would never be revealed. Since the man died of pneumonia, the fluid in his lungs would be consistent with that of a man who had been at sea for an extended period. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sir Bernard Spilsbury (1877-1947) was a famous British pathologist. ... Pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. ...

The next step was creating a "legend", or a false identity for the man -- Major Martin of the Royal Marines: William Martin, a captain and acting major, born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1907, and assigned to Headquarters, Combined Operations. This rank was assigned because a man with too junior a rank would not be so entrusted with sensitive documents, but his age would have been a problem. Making Martin an acting major would solve both problems and would give the impression that the man was a very responsible officer and thus had been trusted. William Martin can refer to: William Martin (admiral), first Sea Lord of Britain in 1858-1859 William Martin (French sailor), a French sailor who won a silver medal at the 1900 Olympics. ... Cardiff (English:  Welsh: ) is the capital, largest and core city of Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... Combined Operations was a department of the British War Office set up during World War II to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. ...

To give credence to this cover identity they supplied him with a fiancée named Pam (actually a woman clerk from MI5), complete with photograph and love letters (plus a letter from his father expressing his dissatisfaction with his son's choice of bride). They also provided for a set of keys, theater stubs for a recent performance, a statement from his club for lodging in London, and so forth. To make him even more believable, Montagu and his team decided to insinuate his careless nature such as overdue bills, a replacement identification card to replace the one he lost, an expired pass to Combined Operations HQ that he forgot to renew, and an irate missive from a bank manager from Lloyds Bank for an overdraft of £17 19s 11d. This last touch, although ingenious, carried an element of risk as the possibility existed that the Abwehr would be suspicious of a careless man having been entrusted with sensitive documents. However, if Montagu was aware of the Catalina incident, he was also counting on the Germans' frustration with what could have been an intelligence coup to take the documents seriously. Lloyds TSB Group plc is a group of financial services companies, based in the United Kingdom, with the registered office in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ...

But it was also necessary to imply carelessness because they had to find a way to ensure that both the body and the briefcase with the documents would be recovered together. The solution that they hit upon that Martin would be wearing a chain looped around his trench coat to give the impression of a man who wanted to be comfortable during a long flight but wanted to have the case with him at all times, indicating a highly responsible, if somewhat careless officer.

While the cover identity was being created by Montagu and his team, the documents needed to make the ruse work were being created, since they needed to deceive the Germans that the invasion would be taking place somewhere besides Sicily. Thus the scenario to attack Sardinia first as a staging area for an invasion of the south of France, to be followed by a second major thrust against Greece through the Balkans. Rather than state the obvious through official documents, the war plans would be suggested through a personal letter from Lt. Gen. Sir Archibald Nye, vice chief of the Imperial General Staff to General Sir Harold Alexander, the British commander in North Africa. It would be revealed in an "off-the record" manner that there would be two operations: Alexander would attack Sardinia and Corsica, while General Sir Henry Wilson would take on Greece (which was given the name "Operation Husky", the real name of the Sicily invasion). Furthermore, in a master stroke of reverse psychology, the letter disclosed that deception plans were being drawn up to convince the Germans that they were going to invade Sicily. This would give the impression that they were dealing with a force strong enough for two separate operations that would take place far from the intended target, causing them to disperse their forces to meet the threat. Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Edward Nye, GCSI, GCIE, KCB, KBE, MC (23 April 1895 - 13 December 1967). ... Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (December 10, 1891 - June 16, 1969) was a British military commander and Field Marshal, notably during World War II as the commander of the 15th Army Group. ... (Territorial collectivity flag) (Territorial collectivity logo) Location Administration Capital Ajaccio President of the Executive Council Ange Santini (UMP) (since 2004) Departments Corse-du-Sud Haute-Corse Arrondissements 5 Cantons 52 Communes 360 Statistics Land area1 8,680 km² Population (Ranked 25th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson of Libya (5 September 1881 - 31 December 1964), better known as Jumbo Wilson was a senior British General during World War II. He saw active service in the Boer War and the First World War. ...

To emphasize the letter's sensitive nature as well as to establish Major Martin's qualifications for travel to North Africa, Montagu also included another letter from Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Chief of Combined Operations, to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. In the letter, Mountbatten extolled Major Martin's expertise in amphibious operations; more important was that Mountbatten also told Cunningham that Martin was carrying a letter too important to be sent through normal channels, hence the need for Major Martin to fly. The letter intimated that Sardinia was to be an invasion target. Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... Bronze bust of Lord Cunningham, looking at Nelsons column and Whitehall Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope (7 January 1883 - 12 June 1963), familiarly known as ABC, was the most famous British admiral of World War II, winning distinction in Mediterranean battles in 1940 and 1941, then...

Execution

Major Martin, preserved in dry ice and dressed in his Royal Marines uniform, was placed in a sealed steel canister, and Cholmondeley and Montagu hired a car to deliver it to Holy Loch, Scotland and placed on board the British submarine HMS Seraph. Montagu had made the arrangement through Admiral Barry, the flag officer in charge of submarines. Barry suggested the Seraph, which was available. This was fortunate, for its commanding officer, Lt. Norman L.A. (Bill) Jewell and his crew had previous special operations experience. The Holy Loch seen across the Firth of Clyde with Dunoon on the left The Holy Loch is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter Typhoon class nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a watercraft that can operate underwater... HMS Seraph (pennant number P219) was an S-class submarine of the British Royal Navy. ...

On April 19, 1943 the Seraph set sail to a point about a mile off Huelva on the coast of Spain. This location was decided because they knew that Spain, despite being neutral was sympathetic with the Axis and was crawling with Abwehr agents, allowing for easy discovery. It was known that there was a German agent stationed in Huelva with excellent contacts with Spanish officials. April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

At 0430 hrs. on April 30, Lt. Jewell ordered the canister to be brought up on deck of the surfaced submarine by the crew. He previously told the crew that a top secret meteorological device was being deployed and ordered everyone below deck. He gathered his officers, briefed them on the details of the operation and swore them to secrecy. They then opened the canister, fitted Major Martin with a life jacket, and secured his briefcase with the papers. The 39th Psalm was read and the body was gently pushed into the sea where the tide would bring it ashore. Jewell afterwards sent a message to the Committee: "MINCEMEAT completed". April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... A lifejacket is an article of protective clothing that is designed to keep the wearer floating above the surface of the water. ...

The body was discovered at around 9:30 in the morning by a local fisherman, Jose Antonio Rey Maria, who brought him to port and the report of the discovery was made to the local Abwehr, of which the chief was a man named Adolf Clauss, the son of the German consul, who operated under the cover of an agriculture technician.^[5]

"Mincemeat swallowed whole"

Three days later, the Committee received a cable from the Naval Attaché of the news of the body's discovery. After handing over the body to the British Vice-Consul F.K. Hazeldene, Major Martin was buried with full military honours on May 4 in Huelva. May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ...

The Vice Consul arranged for a pathologist, Eduardo Del Torno, to carry out a post-mortem. He reported that the man had fallen into the sea while still alive and had no bruises, death was due to drowning, and that the body had been in the sea between 3 and 5 days. ^[6] A more comprehensive examination was not made because the pathologist took him for a Roman Catholic due to a silver crucifix that hung from his neck as well as a St. Christopher plaque in his wallet. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in Košice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus. ... This article is about the Christian saint known as Christopher. ...

Meanwhile, Montagu decided to include Major Martin's name in the next British casualty list and a month later was published in The Times, knowing that the Germans would be bound to read them to confirm Martin's bona fides. (By coincidence, the names of two other officers who actually died when their plane was lost at sea en route to Gibraltar were also published that day, giving credence to Major Martin's "story".) To further the ruse, a series of urgent messages were made by the Admiralty to the Naval Attaché demanding the return of the documents found with the body at all costs due to their sensitive nature and to make the inquiries discreet so as not to alert the Spanish authorities of their importance. The papers were returned on May 13, with the assurance that "everything was there". The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... Flag of the Lord High Admiral The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (134th in leap years). ...

The Germans got wind of the discovery and the local Abwehr agent with some difficulty was able to obtain the documents. The envelopes were carefully opened by the Germans and the letters photographed. They were then given to the British by Spanish officials. The photographs were rushed to Berlin where they were evaluated by German intelligence. Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ...

When Major Martin's body was returned and the papers examined, the British had been able to determine that the papers were read, carefully refolded and resealed. Further confirmation from ULTRA prompted a cable to be sent to Winston Churchill, then in the United States: "Mincemeat Swallowed Whole". Ultra (sometimes capitalized ULTRA) was the name used by the British for intelligence resulting from decryption of German communications in World War II. The term eventually became the standard designation in both Britain and the United States for all intelligence from high-level cryptanalytic sources. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ...

The documents were indeed swallowed whole. The care which Montagu and his team had lavished on establishing Martin's identity paid off, for they were to learn much later that the Germans noted the date on the theatre stubs (April 22, 1943) and confirmed their genuineness. As a result Hitler was so convinced of the veracity of the bogus documents that he disagreed with Mussolini that Sicily would be the most likely invasion point, insisting that any incursion against the island should be regarded as a feint. Hitler ordered the reinforcement of Sardinia and Corsica and sent Field Marshall Erwin Rommel to Athens to form an Army Group. Even patrol boats as well as minesweepers and minelayers marked for the defence of Sicily were diverted. Perhaps the most critical move of all was diverting two panzer divisions to Greece from the Eastern Front where they were most needed, especially when the Germans were preparing to engage the Russians in the Kursk salient. April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Hitler redirects here. ... Hitler redirects here. ... (Territorial collectivity flag) (Territorial collectivity logo) Location Administration Capital Ajaccio President of the Executive Council Ange Santini (UMP) (since 2004) Departments Corse-du-Sud Haute-Corse Arrondissements 5 Cantons 52 Communes 360 Statistics Land area1 8,680 km² Population (Ranked 25th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ... Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ) (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was one of the most distinguished German field marshals of World War II. He was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps and also became known by the nickname “The Desert Fox” (Wüstenfuchs,  ) for the skillful military campaigns he... Athens (Greek Αθήνα Athína) is the capital and largest city of Greece. ... An army group is a military organization (formation) consisting of several armies, and is supposed to be self-sufficient for indefinite periods. ... USS Pivot (AM 276) World War II United States Admirable Class Minesweeper shown in the Gulf of Mexico on sea trials 12 July 1944 Image:Hameln Class. ... A minelayer is a naval ship used for deploying sea mines. ... Combatants Soviet Union,1 Poland (from January 1945) Germany,1 Italy (to 1943), Romania (to 1944), Finland (to 1944), Hungary, Slovakia Commanders Aleksei Antonov, Azi Aslanov, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Ivan Bagramyan, Kirill Meretskov, Ivan Petrov, Alexander Rodimtsev, Konstantin Rokossovsky, Pavel Rotmistrov, Semyon Timoshenko, Fyodor Tolbukhin, Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Nikolai Vatutin... Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Hans von Kluge Hermann Hoth Walther Model Georgiy Zhukov Konstantin Rokossovskiy Nikolay Vatutin Ivan Konyev Strength 2,700 tanks 800,000 infantry, 2,000 aircraft 3,600 tanks 1,300,000 infantry, 2,400 aircraft Casualties German Kursk : 50,000 dead, wounded...

Operation Husky began on July 9, with the Allies attacking Sicily. The Germans remained convinced for two more weeks that the main attack would be in Sardinia and Greece. As a result, the Allies met relatively little resistance and the conquest of Sicily was complete by August 9. Moreover, the fall of Palermo in the middle of July inspired the coup against Mussolini, and he fell from power on July 27. July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in leap years), with 144 days remaining. ... For other uses, see Palermo (disambiguation). ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... Mussolini holding a speech. ... July 27 is the 208th day (209th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 157 days remaining. ...

Impact on later operations

During Operation Market-Garden, the invasion of Holland in September 1944, a British staff officer had inadvertently left behind on a transport glider a complete operations order with maps and graphics for the airborne phase of the invasion, which was not even supposed to be brought on a glider or elsewhere with the invading troops. The operations order fell into German hands, but the Germans, convinced that this was another attempt at an Operation Mincemeat-style deception, actually deployed their forces contrary to the information before them. This was referenced in both Cornelius Ryan's book A Bridge Too Far and the 1977 film based on it. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation in World War II, which took place in September 1944. ... Cornelius Ryan (5 June 1920 – 23 November 1974) was an Irish-American journalist and author mainly known for his writings on popular military history, especially World War II. His two best-known books are The Longest Day (1959), which tells the story of the D-Day (day one of the... A Bridge Too Far, a book by Cornelius Ryan published in 1974, tells the story of Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied attempt to break through German lines at Arnhem in the occupied Netherlands during World War II. The name for the book comes from a comment made by British...

Who was Major Martin?

The grave of Major Martin at Huelva, Spain

The man known as Major Martin lies in the Cemetery of Solitude in Huelva. As Mincemeat became legend the question persisted: what was the identity of the man known as Major William Martin? Image File history File linksMetadata Major_Martin_Grave_Composite_-_Huelva. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Major_Martin_Grave_Composite_-_Huelva. ... Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. ...

It was only in 1996 that an amateur historian by the name of Roger Morgan was able to uncover evidence that "Martin" was a vagrant Welsh alcoholic named Glyndwr Michael who died of ingesting rat poison, although how this happened is unknown.^[7] While it will never be completely certain, this is the most likely candidate for the identity of "Martin". This article is about the country. ... King Alcohol and his Prime Minister circa 1820 Alcoholism is the consumption of or preoccupation with alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the alcoholics normal personal, family, social, or work life. ...

As for Ewen Montagu, he was awarded the Military Order of the British Empire for his part in Operation Mincemeat. He later became Judge Advocate of the Fleet. Montagu later wrote a book about the operation, The Man Who Never Was (1953), which was made into a film of the same name (1955). The submarine used in the film wore pennant number P219, that of HMS Seraph, and she was indeed still in commission in 1954/55. Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire (Military division) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority... The Judge Advocate of the Fleet is a civilian, assisted by legally trained naval officers of the Supply Branch, under the Chief Naval Judge Advocate, a Captain, Royal Navy. ... The Man Who Never Was is a 1954 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 2nd World War war film based on the book. ...

HMS Dasher connection

Authors John and Noreen Steele in their book, The Secrets of HMS Dasher claim that the body was not of Glyndwr, but of one of the victims of the aircraft carrier HMS Dasher accident. As reasoning they present evidence that the body of the vagrant was "acquired" in January 1943 and would have suffered decomposition even on ice. Why else would the submarine HMS Seraph be ordered up the east coast of Scotland, around the north, and then turn south and make for the Firth of Clyde? It would have made more sense for Major Montagu to drive straight to Blyth where the Seraph was berthed. The authors think that a new body was needed for the operation as the original body had decomposed to the point of being unusable and the container that Montagu took to Holy Loch was empty. Four aircraft carriers, (front-to-back) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault carrier USS Wasp, supercarrier USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences. ... HMS Dasher (D37) was a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, of the Avenger class - converted merchant vessels - and one of the shortest lived escort carriers. ... Map of the Firth of Clyde and area The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. ... Map sources for Blyth, Northumberland at grid reference NZ3081 Blyth is a town in the district of Blyth Valley, Northumberland, England, lying to the south of the River Blyth and approximately 20 kilometres (13 miles) north east of Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

From The Scotsman

FOR 60 years, she mourned at a grave in Scotland, not knowing that her father’s body was probably buried hundreds of miles away or that he had helped change the course of the Second World War.

Historians now believe that Isobel Mackay’s father John "Jack" Melville was the man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat, an elaborate hoax to fool the Germans into believing Allied forces would invade southern Europe through Greece and Sardinia rather than Sicily.

Last week, 61 years after he died, Mrs Mackay, from Galashiels, was able to give her father the memorial service he deserved, with the help of the Royal Navy in Cyprus.

It is believed to be the first time Britain’s armed services have recognised his role.

For years, the identity of the body carrying the fake Allied invasion plans was a celebrated mystery which became the subject of a book and a 1956 Hollywood film called The Man Who Never Was.

It was commonly believed the corpse was that of a homeless Welsh alcoholic, Glyndwr Michael, who had either committed suicide by drinking rat poison or had been accidentally poisoned while sleeping in a barn.

But doubt has been cast on the "tramp" theory lately, with some arguing intelligence officers would not have used the body of someone so unfit for fear of raising German suspicions. A corpse infected with poison would also have been risky if the enemy carried out a post mortem examination.

However, a book, The Secrets of HMS Dasher which was published in August, revealed that the body was in fact Mr Melville’s.

Mr Melville had perished, aged 37, when the converted aircraft carrier HMS Dasher blew up in the Clyde Estuary in 1943.

At the time, it was believed his body had been brought ashore at Ardrossan and buried with full naval honours in the local cemetery.

What his grieving family did not realise, was that his recovered body was instead packed in ice and embarked on a submarine, the HMS Seraph, for the Mediterranean, where it would play a crucial role in Operation Mincemeat designed to fool the Germans into thinking the Allies would land in Greece rather than Sicily.

The plan involved dressing Mr Melville’s body as a British Royal Marines courier and then having it washed up on the Spanish coast, complete with a leather briefcase attached to his wrist.

Mr Melville’s body was given a fictitious identity, Major William Martin. Intelligence secretaries wrote love letters to go in Martin’s wallet and one even provided a photograph of herself in a swimsuit.

The hoax worked. Days after the body appeared on the Spanish coast, Winston Churchill received a telegram saying: "Mincemeat swallowed whole."

German defence forces intended for Sicily were diverted to Corsica, Sardinia and the Balkans, saving tens of thousands of Allied lives.

Friday’s memorial service took place on board the current HMS Dasher, a patrol boat, in waters around a British sovereign RAF base in Cyprus.

Dennis Barnes, a spokesman for the British Forces in Cyprus, said: "This was undoubtedly the first tribute by the Royal Navy to John Melville, the man who never was."

Lieutenant Commander Mark Hill, commanding officer of the naval squadron in Cyprus, told Mrs Mackay and others present: "In his incarnation as Major Martin, John Melville’s memory lives on in the film, The Man Who Never Was. But we are gathered here today to remember John Melville as a man who most certainly was."

Mrs Mackay, 64, told The Scotsman: "I feel very honoured if my father saved 30,000 Allied lives."

This article: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1190832004

Influences

Operation Mincemeat inspired a similar plan in Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, and in Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy. Cryptonomicon is a 1999 novel by Neal Stephenson. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... Red Rabbit (2002) is a novel by Tom Clancy. ... Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. ...

Notes

December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Major General Freddie De Guingand, 1900-1979, served with Montgomery from Alemain to the surrender of the Wermacht in the West. ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The Kew building. ... Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. ...

Additional reading

• Steele, John and Noreen. The Secrets of HMS Dasher, Scotland: Argyll Publishers, 2002 3rd Ed., ISBN 1-902831-51-9
• Montagu, Ewen. The Man Who Never Was: World War II's Boldest Counter-Intelligence Operation. Paperback. Bluejacket Books, March 2001. ISBN 1-55750-448-2
• Jon Latimer, Deception in War, London: John Murray, 2001. ISBN 978-0719556050

The Man Who Never Was is a 1954 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 2nd World War war film based on the book. ... Jon Latimer is a historian and writer based in Wales. ...

See also

• Barclay
• Trojan Horse
• Warehouse
• Waterfall
• Withstand

During World War II, Operation Barclay was the Allied deception plan in support of the invasion of Sicily. ... // For other uses, see Trojan Horse (disambiguation). ...

External links

• http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/navalwarfare/a/mincemeat.htm
• http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/seraph.html
• http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/27/1043534001763.html
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/24/db2401.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/24/ixportal.html
• http://us.geocities.com/manwhoneverwas/hom090.html