Deathly Deception The Real Story of Operation Mincemeat

by Smyth, Denis

• ISBN13: 9780199233984
• ISBN10: 0199233985
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the pre-dawn darkness of April 30, 1943, the body of a Royal Marine Major washed ashore on the south-western coast of Spain, part of an incredible plot to mislead the German High Command about the Allies' impending Mediterranean invasion. What made this ruse unique--and macabre--was that the "Major" was actually a deceased Welsh laborer, who drifted lifelessly ashore carrying false documents indicating that the Allies were set to launch an attack on Greece, rather than Sicily. Codenamed "Mincemeat" and immortalized in the film The Man Who Never Was, this audacious, high-stakes scheme is renowned as the most spectacular episode in the annals of deception. In this accurate and in-depth retelling of the story behind the operation, Denis Smyth draws on a vast collection of previously unavailable documentary sources to expertly bring all phases of "Mincemeat" to life. He reveals how the architects of the plan navigated a maze of medical, technical, and logistical issues to deceive the enemy at the highest strategic levels. Before planting the corpse in the Spanish coastal waters via a stealthy submarine operation, the planners not only gave their dead messenger a new military identity, but also a private one--as the fiance of an attractive young woman named "Pam." The discovery of her photo and love letters in the pockets of the deceased's uniform, along with a government briefcase containing the deceptive documents, was enough for the Nazi intelligence apparatus to "swallow Mincemeat whole." The Germans deployed their forces to meet the fictional Allied threat in Greece, falling for a ruse which ultimately saved thousands of American lives. Filled with eye-opening revelations, Operation Mincemeat will delight aficionados of military history, wartime intrigue, and covert operations.

Author Biography

Denis Smyth has been a Professor in the Department of History and the International Relations Program at the University of Toronto since 1985. His previous publications have dealt with the diplomacy and strategy of the Great Powers during the twentieth century and he has edited a number of volumes in the British Documents on Foreign Affairs series.

Table of Contents

List of Plates	p. xvii
List of Abbreviations	p. xix
Prologue	p. 1
Accidental Conception	p. 6
Medical Consultation	p. 22
Grand Stratagem	p. 47
A Sea of Troubles	p. 64
Loud and Clear	p. 78
Tailor-Made	p. 96
Brief Encounter	p. 122
Travel Arrangements	p. 149
Mincemeat Digested	p. 188
Mincemeat Dissected	p. 230
Epilogue	p. 269
Appendix	p. 281
Notes	p. 286
Bibliography	p. 337
Index	p. 353
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