Status
Available
Call number
Publication
London, Evans Bros. [1953]
Description
As plans got under way for the Allied invasion of Sicily in June 1943, British counter-intelligence agent Ewen Montagu masterminded a scheme to mislead the Germans into thinking the next landing would occur in Greece. The innovative plot was so successful that the Germans moved some of their forces away from Sicily, and two weeks into the real invasion still expected an attack in Greece. This extraordinary operation called for a dead body, dressed as a Royal Marine officer and carrying false information about a pending Allied invasion of Greece, to wash up on a Spanish shore near the town of a
User reviews
LibraryThing member nesum
It is a rare treat when you get to read, first of all, about a true intelligence mission like this one, since they are so often classified, but also to hear it from the man who planned it in the first place. That is what this book is -- one of the most interesting true spy stories in history from a
The Allies were trying to mislead the Germans as to where their next attack would be, and so Montagu hatched this plan where they would plant a body, dressed as a Marine officer, in the water off of the Spanish coast and let the Germans find it. The papers he was carrying would convince the Germans that the Allies would attack in a different place.
The book is loaded letters and conversations about what these intelligence officers went through to create a fake identity for this corpse that would convince the Germans intelligence officers that it was real. The detail is fascinating, and the book gives a good feel for what intelligence work was really about. There is no James Bond here, but the story is every bit as interesting.
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primary source.The Allies were trying to mislead the Germans as to where their next attack would be, and so Montagu hatched this plan where they would plant a body, dressed as a Marine officer, in the water off of the Spanish coast and let the Germans find it. The papers he was carrying would convince the Germans that the Allies would attack in a different place.
The book is loaded letters and conversations about what these intelligence officers went through to create a fake identity for this corpse that would convince the Germans intelligence officers that it was real. The detail is fascinating, and the book gives a good feel for what intelligence work was really about. There is no James Bond here, but the story is every bit as interesting.
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LibraryThing member MerryMary
I stumbled over this book by accident while cleaning library shelves years ago. It is a quick read, but utterly fascinating. I was riveted. The narrative concerns a covert operation to get bogus information into the hands of Nazis about the Allied landing. The thoroughness with which the British
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agents prepared the documents, the way they thought through the "incidental" things a man carries in his pockets, the creation of a real character and personality for their "dead courier," all add up to a great page turner. Worth reading again. And maybe again. Show Less
LibraryThing member ben_a
The inside story of perhaps the most successful ruse in the history of warfare. It's a truth more fantastical than fiction, down to the (randomly selected!) codename "Operation Mincemeat." Packed with "there will always be an England" moments.
"You have nothing to fear from a Spanish autopsy"
"You have nothing to fear from a Spanish autopsy"
LibraryThing member MtnGoat
Interesting detailed account of a complex British Intelligence operation in WWII.
LibraryThing member pamelad
Published in 1953, this is the account of Operation Mincemeat by a man involved in the deception from the very beginning, when a chat between two colleagues threw up the wild idea of misleading the German High Command about the Allied invasion of Sicily by planting fake documents on a dead body.
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The same story was covered in Ben MacIntyre's breathlessly dramatic Operation Mincemeat, but because Montagu is an insider this book has a different slant and we're with him as he wades through the operational difficulties, from finding a suitable body, through dealing with the conflicting opinions of his superiors, establishing a background for the pretend Major Martin and ultimately delivering the Major to the coast of Spain. All the way through, Montagu can barely believe that the plan is working. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1953
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