Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory (70 page)
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
54
“perhaps the most successful single”: Howard,
British Intelligence in the Second World War, Vol. V: Strategic Deception
, p. 89.
55
“Mincemeat swallowed rod, line and sinker”: Howard,
Grand Strategy
, vol. 4, p. 370.
Chapter Twenty-three: Mincemeat Revealed
1
“I am a prejudiced party”: Ewen Montagu to Colonel Patavel of War Cabinet Office, July 9, 1945, IWM 97/45/1, folder #1.
2
“It would pay to release Mincemeat”: Ibid.
3
“The Foreign Office”: Ewen Montagu to John Drew, November 7, 1950, IWM 97/45/2.
4
“in case the embargo”: Ibid.
5
“Our intelligence [agents] obtained”: radio monitoring report, August 6, 1944, IWM 97/45/1, folder #1.
6
“I believe this story”: Ibid.
7
“Unless some action is taken”: T. A. Robertson to J. H. Bevan, August 31, 1944, TNA, CAB 154/67.
8
“there was in fact some truth”: Ibid.
9
“leave the American authorities”: Ibid.
10
“We should do our utmost”: Note to T. A. Robertson, August 21, 1944, TNA, CAB 154/67.
11
“Dawn had not broken”: Alfred Duff Cooper,
Operation Heartbreak
(London, 2007), p. 103.
12
“Duff Cooper learned of Mincemeat”: Ewen Montagu to Roger Morgan, April 19, 1982, IWM 97/45/1, folder #5.
13
“Sir W always wanted to hear”: After the Battle, 54, 1986.
14
“considered the objections”: John Julius Norwich, in introduction to Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
(Oxford, 1996), p. xi.
15
“direct from Churchill”: R. V. Jones,
Most Secret War
(London, 1978), p. 217.
16
“consternation in security quarters”: Ewen Montagu “Postscript,” Montagu Papers.
17
“there could not be one law”: Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
18
“wholly contrary to”: Sir Harold Parker to EM, December 20, 1950, IWM 97/45/2.
19
“Any true account”: Ibid.
20
“there is no longer any”: Ibid.
21
“One would not think”: Ewen Montagu to Sir Harold Parker, November 7, 1950, IWM 97/45/2.
22
“I see no reason why”: Ibid.
23
“I forced Shinwell to agree”: Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
24
“sympathetically consider advice”: Ewen Montagu to Sir Harold Parker, April 2, 1951, IWN 97/45/2.
25
“it would be wrong to publish”: Ewen Montagu “Postscript,” Montagu Papers.
26
“shot off to Spain.” Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
27
“cabled back in a frenzy”: Ibid.
28
“The Foreign Office’s chief worry”: Ibid.
29
“using diplomats to lie”: Ibid.
30
“Further pressure was applied”: Ibid.
31
“the true means”: Roger Morgan,
Beyond the Battle
, 146, November 2009.
32
“rushed round to the Sunday Express”: Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
33
“wholly unexpected”: Ewen Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
(London, 1977), p. 12.
34
“The request not to publish”: Ewen Montagu “Postscript,” Montagu Papers.
35
“so wildly inaccurate”: Ibid.
36
“controlled version”: Roger Morgan,
Beyond the Battle
, 146, November 2009.
37
“someone not under any control or influence”: Ewen Montagu to N. L. A. Jewell, January 11, 1953, EM collection.
38
“The return that the country”: Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
39
“The Express will submit”: Ewen Montagu to N. L. A. Jewell, January 11, 1953, Montagu Papers.
40
“with much black coffee”: Ewen Montagu “Postscript,” Montagu Papers.
41
“or should it be ‘Pam’”: Ewen Montagu to Jean Gerard Leigh, January 8, 1953, Montagu Papers.
42
“The powers that be”: Ibid.
43
“We don’t want to alter”: Ibid.
44
“a girl working in my section”: Ibid.
45
“Mincemeat is soon going”: Ewen Montagu to N. L. A. Jewell, January 11, 1953, Montagu Papers.
46
“My account has been vetted”: Ibid
47
“I felt that you ought not”: Ibid.
48
“I was most interested”: Jean Gerard Leigh to Ewen Montagu, January 14, 1954, Montagu Papers.
49
“merely say that you were”: Ewen Montagu to Jean Gerard Leigh, January 21, 1953.
50
“book, film rights, or other uses”: Charles Cholmondeley to Ewen Montagu, March 3, 1954, Montagu Papers.
51
“As you will recall”: Charles Cholmondeley to Ewen Montagu, March 3, 1954, Montagu Papers.
52
“Whilst the general situation”: Ibid.
53
“I do not feel that my own”: Ibid.
54
“the war’s most fantastic secret”:
Sunday Express
, February 1, 1953.
55
“I shall look forward”: Charles Cholmondeley to Ewen Montagu, March 3, 1954, Montagu Papers.
56
“Although I heartily disapproved”: Lord Louis Mountbatten, August 31, 1953.
57
“a good deal of persuasion”: A. Nye to Ewen Montagu, April 26, 1954, Montagu Papers.
58
“You and I don’t agree”: JCM to Ewen Montagu, August 31, 1954, EM collection.
59
“Uncle John blitzed me”: Ewen Montagu to Margery Boxall, October 30, 1950, courtesy of Fiona Mason.
60
“Your admirable Man Who Never Was”: John Godfrey to Ewen Montagu, September 13, 1964, Montagu Papers.
61
“an exploit more astonishing”:
Sunday Express
, February 1, 1953.
62
“managed to give the impression”: Thaddeus Holt,
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
(London, 2004), p. 370.
63
“an only son”: First draft of manuscript, IWM 97/45/1, folder #5.
64
“His parents were then”: Ibid.
65
“without saying what we proposed”: Ewen Montagu,
The Man Who Never Was
, p. 123.
66
“I gave a solemn promise”: Montagu,
Beyond Top Secret Ultra
, p. 145.
67
“My work is such that”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.
68
“thrilling incidents which”: Ewen Montagu “Postscript,” Montagu Papers.
69
“appear to be grudging”: Mountbatten to Ronald Neame, April 29, 1955, IWM 97/45/1, folder # 4.
70
“I would like to make it clear”: Ibid.
71
“I would have no objection”: Ibid.
72
“There’s nothing true in it”: Federico Clauss, interview with the author, June 2, 2009.
73
“a derelict alcoholic”: Anthony Cave Brown,
Bodyguard of Lies
, vol. I (London, 1975), p. 282.
74
“the wastrel brother”: Ibid. I have not explored the theory that the body was a victim of the HMS
Daster
explosion, since this is most effectively demolished by Roger Morgan in his essay “Mincemeat Revisited,”
Beyond the Battle
, 146, November 2009.
Chapter Twenty-four: Aftermath
1
“absolutely devoted to one another”: Nicholas Jewell, interview with the author, June 24, 2008.
2
“General Mark Wayne Clark”: Terence Robertson,
The Ship with Two Captains
(London, 1957), p. 175.
3
“played a tiny part”: Ivor Leverton, letter to
Daily Telegraph
, August 13, 2002.
4
“redeemed”: Basil Leverton, interview with the author, September 8, 2009.
5
“developed an intelligence organisation”: Denis Smyth,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
6
“He walked several miles a day”: Ibid.
7
“the most unscrupulous”: Stafford,
Roosevelt and Churchill
, p. 109.
8
“quiet, cold-blooded war”: Ibid., p. 373.
9
“The Russians are cleverer than the Germans” Ibid., p. 378.
10
“Thus ends the story”: Ernest Sanders to Alan Hillgarth, June 28, 1948, collection of Tristan Hillgarth.
11
“Crazy Nolte is rich”: Ibid.
12
“I am sorry, but I am not”: Ian Colvin,
The Unknown Courier
(London, 1953), p. 101.
13
“His mind was not as it used to be”: Robert Jackson,
Coroner
(London, 1963), p. 192.
14
“Every time I tell a story”: Ibid., p. 201.
15
“His wife was the daughter”: Federico Clauss, interview with the author, June 2, 2009.
16
“He was always suspicious”: Ibid.