Customer Reviews

The Man Who Never Was

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Modern novellists would never have thought of this simple yet highly complicated plan to deceive the Germans during World War II. This book is written by Ewen Montagu who actually undertook the whole operation. Due to the fact of its high secrecy it could not first be revealed until the Mid-1950's when the first edition came out. Even then the full story could not be told for one of the other great secrets of WWII (the fact that the British had cracked the German code 'Engima') meant that the progress of the deception was monitored throughout its progress.

The deception was simple - dump a body with highly secret documents in a place where the Germans will be party to the find. Make it so convincing that they will take the bait. This was to mislead the Germans over the true place where the allies wanted to land (Sicily) so getting them to fortify another part of South Eastern Europe instead - the Dodecanese and Sardinia. It was a plan to save lives - as many allied lives as possible by reducing German resistance. And it worked - beautifully.

This book by Montagu gives us the absolute inside story with all the twists and turns to how the idea was conceived and how it was implemented. And for such a simple idea it was of course relatively complicated to implement. How to find an appropriately dead body to dump - where to dump it - how to make sure the Germans would find it without being suspicious of the material and so on. All very fascinating stuff and makes for a good, quick and easy read - it is very well-written and if nothing else is such an amazing story it is hard to put down.

This story is well publicised now - it has been the subject of at least one film and one documentary in the "Secrets of World War II" series, however it is nothing like information straight from the horses mouth to make you appreciate what it was all about.

My conclusion - Relatively short book but highly readable and very well worthwhile picking up even if your interest isn't in the arena of either War or World War II.

The book tells the story how British Intelligence decided to mislead the Nazis in 1943 about where the next landing in the Mediterranean would occur. The original story was that they waited until a young man died of pneumonia, so he would have fluid in the lungs as cause of death. In fact, he was an unclaimed homeless man who died from eating rat poison. A submarine slipped his body into the sea off Spain, making it look like he was a Royal Marine officer and courier, and a victim of an offshore airplane crash. This was done near a town with a known active Nazi agent. The brief case he was carrying falsely showed that the Allies would invade Greece, not Sicily. The Nazi agent was allowed to see his papers which showed a coming landing in Greece. The movie has King George himself meet with the family to convince them to give over the body, missing burial with his family. In reality, the man eventually was buried with military honors in Spain. Since the original book was published, a new edition has appeared (Oxford University Press, 1996). We have learned that the first edition would never have been written had not a novel appeared in 1950 with substantially the same plot. The new (1996) edition reveals approval by the Twenty Committee in charge of these projects (Twenty = XX = double cross). The new introduction also reveals the British monitored the progress of the deception using Ultra. In the original edition, the one who conceived the operation was "George." Now it can be revealed that it was created by a lowly Flight-Lieutenant, Charles Cholmondeley, and carried out by the author, who later became chief judicial officer of the Royal Navy. The deception was a success. The Nazis did move some forces away from Sicily. Even two weeks into the invasion of Sicily, the Germans were still believing the main attack would be in Greece. It is a great read on how long it takes to put together a successful deception, and the great risks as wel! l. If it had failed, the Nazis would have known for sure the invasion would be in Sicily. The benefit was Nazi forces sat in Greece waiting for an invasion that never came.

This book captured my attention to the very end. It thoroughly describes how Intelligence agents planted false documents on a body and left it for the Nazis to "find" during World War II. It was great!

I have always known the story of the Man Who Never Was and wanted to include the book in my library for years. It is a well written story by the man who ran the operation. Living in the world we do today with instant technologhy it makes this an even more amazing story to realize first that it's true, and second what it took to pull it off.

This is a fantastic tale whereby the body of a young man was used to deceive the German high command during WW2 into believing a forthcoming Allied offensive would be centred in one European country and not the real target. Given the somewhat inappropriate codename of `Operation Mincemeat, the body of a young man was dressed in the uniform of a major in the Royal Marines and furnished with a complete set of false papers. The minute detail which went into those papers included two used cinema ticket stubs plus a photograph and letters from a fictional girlfriend. Handcuffed to his wrist was a briefcase inside which were copies of a supposed invasion plan. His body was then set adrift so that it would be washed up on the coast of Spain in the certain knowledge that all those papers would be handed over to the German authorities in that country.

Perhaps one might be forgiven for thinking that obtaining a suitable dead body during WW2 would have been relatively easy but not so. The human body could not be kept in storage for too long before assuming a certain state of unnatural decomposition which would have alerted German doctors that all was not as it seemed. It was also imperative that the body was washed ashore in the right place. After all, it could hardly be parachuted into Berlin!!!

Eventually, a man of the right size, condition and age to suit the false persona of Major Martin Royal Marines was found dead in the streets of London and his body used to completely deceive the Germans. The full account of this amazing tale is retold by the person who was placed in charge of the deception. When first published, this book became a best seller.

It was intended for the identity of the deceased to have remained a secret forever. It was not until 1996 (or thereabouts) that the true identity of the person was revealed by an amateur historian who discovered him to have been a down-and-out who survived by begging on the streets of London. Unfortunately, he also suffered from some form of mental illness and was found dead shortly after having been turned down for military service. The cause of death was recorded as having died from ingesting rat poison. In Spain, however, that same man got a very different death certificate before being buried in a local graveyard.

Av truly remarkable, almost fanciful, tale from WW2.

NM

this is about a time just before a big allied strike when they were looking for ways to distract the axis. i found it very interesting and loved the parts about making the fake guy's cover story.

These were desperate times during WWII. Operations in Africa were just beginning to turn in favor of the British forces. The allied forces needed some good fortune before the ensuing invasion of France, is executed, "Operation Overlord". Some how some way a situation was needed to draw forces away from the coast of Normandy. A plan was conceived and it was called "Operation Mincemeat".
This is a true story. The author, Ewen Montagu, was the main instigator of the plan. The style of Montagu allows the plot to slowly unfold while adhering to the main facts. There are times when you will see the raw emotions of all of the characters in the team revealed. This can be seen in both men and women assigned to the task and will range from elation to doubt to sadness. There will be times when the team struggles with the morale issues that face them in carrying out the details of the operation. But it is the overall good that will come if the operation is successful. Its knowing that success is possible which drives the team to complete all the necessary tasks and that every detail is flawless which will ensure the operation's success while pushing the envelope of human ingenuity.
The reader will be presented with documentary and photographic evidence of the German reaction to "Operation Mincemeat". For those who find history boring, this book will be the exception. Montagu allows the story to unfold like a mystery. It will keep the reader dangling with suspense as to how the plot and all of the subplots are revealed.

"The Man Who Never Was" is a real page-turner, even though I already knew the basic story. Lots of good information on a well-conceived and -executed intelligence operation that the Germans fell for hook, line and sinker. Makes me wonder how many failed counterintelligence operations we suffered to achieve one success? Writing can be a little stuffy in a couple places but on the whole is good.

The Man who Never Was is the thrilling (true) story of a deception carried on by the Allies during World War II, codenamed Operation Mincemeat. It involved the creation of a false identity for a soldier who never existed, carrying false high-level documents that would fool the Germans into defending a spot other than that which the Allies were planning on attacking. Throughout the book, the author tells how they accomplished that aim.

The story begins with a crazy idea, that is later considered as a possibility. One officer has the idea of fooling the Germans with a fake body carrying important papers. When a cover operation is needed for the invasion of Sicily, this idea is reconsidered and ultimately ends up being what they do.

Full review at [...]

The story of the man who never was is told in this book by one of the men involved in the scheme. It does not go as far as the latest book on the subject, "Operation Mincemeat", but that is because there were restrictions on release of information and documents in the 1950's when Montagu wrote his early version. Nevertheless, it is of interest because it is in the words of one on the "inside" of the scheme - a scheme which, unbelievably, actually succeeded in befuddling the German high command, and contributed to the successful allied invasion of Europe in 1944.