Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book is a great read, and a lot of fun into the bargain. This is the story of a little-known British anti-Nazi espionage plan to divert attention from D-Day in Sicily. There has been brief mention of this tale in several books concerning the British spy systems during WWII, But never before have all of the actual real-life details been revealed. If you enjoy reading of the derring-do exploits of some during war time, this is the book for you. If you are interested in the history of WWII, this is the book for you, if you enjoy spy stories- this will suit you to a "T".

The tale begins inauspiciously enough with the combination of a poor Welsh laborer and aristocratic MI5 officers, it proceeds through a poor Spanish fisherman and the halls of power in Germany to Hitler's desk! The results of all of this chicanery are astonishing, resulting in a triumph for the Allied forces that leads to a successful invasion of Italy.

This tale encompasses stolen bodies, massive cover-ups by the British government, a veritable warren of European spies, and a submarine. The book is well written and consuming, the type of book that one reads in 1 day, because one can not bear to put it down until all plot twists are revealed. The review copy did not have many illustrations, but I would imagine that the final book itself will be well-provided with images of the protagonists, doesn't matter- the book grips you with vivid descriptions and thumbnail sketches of it's own.

For all WWII buffs, lovers of European history, spy thriller fans and many others, this is the book for you. Hugely recommended !

Having read numerous spy novels over the years, I am proud to say that "Operation Mincemeat" is far better than the vast majority. It is riveting, insightful, exciting, and incredibly difficult to put down. The author demonstrates intimate knowledge of his subject matter with exhaustive research and shares his enthusiasm with wit and style. I want to particularly acknowledge the vivid characterizations throughout the book, each of which brings to life a real-life persona, even those with only passing relevance to the story, in a way that adds to the excitement and drama of this successful wartime operation.

The author assumes at the start that most readers have heard of "Operation Mincemeat" and know the basics. However, not being an World War II enthusiast of any sort, I knew nothing of this story prior to picking up this book. Setting aside any apprehension, I dove straight in, and I don't regret a moment of the time spent soaking up all of the vivid details. I can safely say that even war history novices with no prior knowledge of this bold World War II intelligence operation will never be lost or confused. This is remarkable non-fiction storytelling at its finest, and I would not hesitate to recommend this title to everyone.

I came across this story in the 1950s as a schoolboy reading "The Man who Never Was" and seeing the movie. I didn't think there was much more to tell until I read this book, where a combination of new facts (like the Enigma machine) and Ben Macintyre's easy style made me happy to read it again.

In 1943 the Allies were victorious in Africa, driving Rommel's Afrika Corps back to Italy. The next step was to invade some part of Europe, and "Operation Husky" was to take the fight to Italy. The Allies deluded the Nazis into thinking that the main attack on Sicily was just a diversion, and that the attack would fall on Greece and Corsica. Troops and weapons would be stationed in other places than Sicily, so the invasion would meet less resistance.

The plan was outrageous, and the central figure was a dead man. The British made the Germans believe that this was a courier whose plane had crashed off the Southern Atlantic coast of Spain. Spain was ostensibly neutral, but there was a strong Nazi diplomatic presence and many Nazi sympathizers in Spain's bureaucracy. The Spanish officials, it was hoped, would let the Germans copy letters in the dead man's briefcase, and forward their finding to Berlin.

The story moves from London to Wales (where the dead man came from), to Scotland where he was placed on a submarine which released the body off the Spanish coast. As the story unfolds, Ben Macintyre describes the scene and is particularly good at portraying the major characters. It would be very easy to slip into stereotypical Allied and Nazi personalities, but Macintyre shows that the cast comprises a part-Jewish German officer and an English racing car driver, and you soon get the feeling that you know these people.

Macintyre shows the same skill as he did in his earlier book - "Agent Zigzag." The writing never flags and you want to know how things turned out. The book almost descends into farce when the Spanish have the documents, but aren't letting the Germans look at them, while the British have to both act like they want the documents to remain a secret while privately hoping that the Germans will be taken in by them.

I chose this book because I like military history, but even if you don't I think you be carried along by it. Good writing and a great story make this one to take notice of. And of course, if you've never heard the tale before, Macintyre is the ideal guide.

On April 30, 1943, Jose Antonio Rey Maria set out with the rest of the fishing fleet of Punta Umbra, Spain to net sardines. This day, however, he pulled in a more significant catch: the body of British officer Bill Martin, a briefcase chained to his body, the apparent victim of a plane crash. The contents of that briefcase -- personal correspondence between senior officers -- convinced the Germans that the target of Operation Husky (the Allied invasion of Europe) was Greece or Sardinia, instead of the more logical choice of Sicily. The resulting change in German defense positioning laid Sicily vulnerable and resulted in far fewer casualties than initially estimated by military planners.

While fans of WWII history are familiar with the story of the Man Who Never Was, Operation Mincemeat reveals new details from recently declassified material along with a trove of personal documents from the one of the key players in the deception plan, Ewen Montagu. Operation Mincemeat discusses the history of the so-called haversack ruse (planting materials on a corpse) and the genesis of the idea for using this method as part of the overall deception plan for Operation Husky. Once the plan was approved, execution of the plot required significant attention to detail in order to present a convincing story, resolution of a string of logistical challenges (just how does one store, transport, and release a decomposing body so that it will reach shore?), and psychological manipulation of several key people within the nest of viperous spies that was wartime Spain. Mixed in with the complications of Russian spies, possibly treasonous siblings, and cameo appearances by such figures as Ian Fleming and Bill Darby, the book is a rousing ride through a part of the war that is generally unknown.

A dead body, washed up onto a neutral beach, top secret documents, invasion plans, double agents, faked papers, and security leaks. It's everything needed for a spy movie but was a genuine piece of British World War II disinformation. Bits and pieces of the story have been told for years in both non-fiction and fictionalized manners, but the full story is told here for the first time. It's a well-researched and eminently readable version of the story as well.

Of particular note for me was Ian Fleming's role in the operation and the closeness with which the Soviet spies operated all around the operation. Among items in the appendix is a copy of the original British documentation of the fake Major Martin's personal belongings, an interesting historical detail to the tale.

You may well be aware that in World War II the British played a fine trick on the Germans by letting them find a floating a body bearing bogus secret invasion plans. This is a well known and factual story, which was the basis of a 1956 film The Man Who Never Was. It might seem an easy enough trick, but the Nazis and their military intelligence branch Abwehr were no fools. The deception was one of astonishing intricacy, and has not been told in full until now. Ben Macintyre, who has given us fine presentations of slices of WWII history in _Agent Zigzag_ and of WWI in _The Englishman's Daughter_, turns his researcher's doggedness and storytelling skill to the tale of probably the greatest of military deceptions. _Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Ensured an Allied Victory_ (Harmony Books) is a grand story, full of colorful and odd characters on both sides of the battle, and it traces the plot from its conception through the victory it brought. The plotters were careful to work their scheme down to the smallest of details, and it was because of this that the trick succeeded (and also because of a good deal of luck and because of taking advantage of the wishful thinking of individuals within German intelligence). All the details are here, and it is an exciting tale.

The point of the deception was to fool Germany about where Allied forces would land coming from the southern Mediterranean. Hitler had to be convinced that the push from Africa would not be to the obvious Sicily, but that the canny Allies were going to head toward Sardinia to the west and Greece to the east. The idea man whose "corkscrew mind" was most responsible for the corpse trick was Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced "Chumly"), a gangling giant with a six inch waxed mustache, who worked for MI5. His boss was Ewan Montagu, a wealthy barrister who had become an intelligence officer for the war. There were plenty of other contributors, including the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, who worked in intelligence during the war and had found the corpse plot - "A Suggestion (not a very nice one)" - in a detective novel. Macintyre has revealed that the body was that of Glyndwr Michael, a homeless Welshman who was found dead in London after eating rat poison, deliberately or by accident. Poor Michael had been a nobody when alive; when dead he was to change the course of history. It would not do just to put phony secret plans upon the body and float it away. Anything that might raise a Nazi eyebrow had to be anticipated. A new uniform, for instance, would look suspect, so Cholmondeley put on Marine battle dress and wore it every day for three months while the body was on ice. The secret plans were sealed carefully, including a deliberately-placed eyelash that would stay in their folds if they were undisturbed, but would fall out if they were opened. The body was taken by submarine to Spain, where it washed up as planned. The resultant dance between the pro-Nazi officers of neutral Spain, the German spies, and the British contacts resulted in the documents being carefully extracted from their envelopes without disturbing the seals, photographed, and replaced (without that eyelash) so that the Germans could think they had fooled the British undetected. Their head of intelligence in Madrid, eager to please and to make a name for himself, personally took the documents to Berlin, embellishing the story of how they came into his hands to make them seem even more plausible. There were questions the Nazis should have asked, holes in the story they should have seen, but the eagerness to believe this spectacular intelligence coup extended all the way to Hitler. (Goebbels alone seems to have had his doubts, but kept his skepticism to his diary.) The Fuhrer gave commands to fortify preparations in Greece and Sardinia, and Sicily dropped from precedence.

The exact degree of success of Operation Mincemeat cannot be calculated, and taking Sicily was no milk run, but British casualties were a seventh of what had been expected. By the time the Nazis realized that their forces were in the wrong places, Sicily was an Allied territory. The operation was deadly serious, but a reader gets the sense throughout that the plotters were having fun despite all the detailed steps and bureaucratic shufflings it took to make the plan go through. Macintyre, in a sparkling and gripping book, reminds us that in war, having plenty of guns is important, as is having well-trained soldiers. But imagination, and even whimsy, have their place in battle, too.

If you thought you knew the story of "The Man who Never Was" from film or book, you didn't have the whole story, and here it is - at least most of it and I suppose all we'll ever know of it until the files of Soviet intelligence are opened and a few more i's can be dotted and t's crossed. For, you see, the brother of one of the major architects of the scheme to deceive Hitler about the pending invasion of Sicily was likely a Soviet spy. As is, this book is popular history at its best with a fantastic cast of characters from Ian Fleming and Winston Churchill to Adolph Hitler and Nazi intelligence operators who wanted to deceive him. A rip roaring good tale neatly told. A page turner if there ever was one.

Nothing really new here, and the style leaves something to be desired. Ewen Montagu's "The Man Who Never Was" is the better read, written by one of the main participants.

2.5 stars. It took three weeks to muddle through this book. When the story stayed on point, I flipped through the pages with ease and looked forward to learning more. Unfortunately, the author provides too much rambling, irrelevant, mundane information that serves only to distract the reader from the real story. Maybe Mr. McIntyre thought the reader would find the mind-numbing minutia interesting...maybe he needed to meet a page requirement. For whatever reason, I found his style of writing very frustrating. Had this subject been placed in the care of a more fluid writer, I think I would have enjoyed it very much. Guess I'll skip Agent Zigzag.

Ben Macintyre can't seem to write a bad book, and he has a knack for finding unusual, quirky stories and characters or, as in the case of this book, the unusual twist/angle to a story that may already be well known to readers and movie-goers thanks to the 1950s publication and film of The Man Who Never Was. That film was an indifferent drama based on an incredible story, and Macintyre has done even better, delivering a far more complete narrative of that story, jam packed with interesting characters and coincidences.

Essentially, it's a spy story, set at the height of World War II, in the months leading up to the invasion of Sicily. Already the Allies were using all kinds of misdirection to feed inaccurate intelligence back to the Germans, but they were particularly concerned about the Sicily landings, not just as a trial run for D-Day but in their own right: if they were repulsed, there might very well never be a D-Day, just a stalemate. How to convince the Germans that the Sicilian attack was only a feint; a cover for the real attack on Sardinia or Greece? Some of the smart and very eccentric minds in the intelligence operations got pondering this, and decided to float a body, containing secret documents, onto a Spanish beach in hopes that the ostensibly neutral Spanish fascists would share the information they found with the Germans AND that the Germans would believe it. Sound incredible? This is the story of that operation, from idea all the way through to the Sicily landings, and it's quite something. Even those familiar with the story will find all kinds of quirky sidenotes -- the main protagonist, for instance, had a brother who was a Soviet spy: he was a typical ecccentric in that he founded a cheese-eating society at Cambridge, was a table-tennis nut, collected rare species of mice and, oh yes, spied for the Soviet Union. (In between producing films for Hitchcock and Eisenstein, and teaching Charlie Chaplin to swear in Russian, of course...)

If you're interested in taking a broader look at this kind of World War 2 intelligence coup, the best book of all (although not as lively or succinct a read as this one) is Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914-1945 by Nicholas Rankin, which covers Mincemeat and the various misdirection operations that surrounded D-Day itself.

Meanwhile, do hunt out Macintyre's other books, which include a book about jewel thief Adam Worth and one focusing on a little-known event in World War One that is a poignant mystery -- The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I.

Highly recommended, and not just to military history buffs (whose ranks I would not include myself in.)