Operation Mincemeat: True spy story from World War II that helped Britain defeat Germany

In the heights of World War II, British intelligence officers hatched an audacious plan to pass off an anonymous and unidentified dead body from a London morgue as an officer in possession of top-secret documents. Not only were they successful in making the Germans believe this was a legitimate plan, but it also paved way for one of the greatest stealth victories the Allied powers witnessed before the war conclusively ended.

What is Operation Mincemeat?

British intelligence officers in an effort to throw Germans off-track launched Operation Mincemeat. In April 1943, a nearly half decomposed corpse was seen floating off Southern Spain’s Huelva coast. The corpse was first spotted by fishermen in the area who notified the incident to Spanish coast guards. Word quickly spread and when the corpse was brought to shore, it was seen that the body had some documents that identified him as Major William Martin of Britain’s Royal Marines.

In his possession, a black attaché was also spotted-chained to his wrist. The information was quickly relayed to Nazi intelligence units. It is imperative to note that Spain was a neutral observer in the war and did not actively participate or take sides. Although the military leadership at the time favoured Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. 

Wartime Deception

As soon as Nazi intelligence learned of the apparently drowned officer’s briefcase, concerted efforts were made in all capacities to retrieve it, along with other documents he possessed. Due to the Spanish leadership’s close relations with Nazi Germany, Hitler was able to gain access to those “top-secret” documents.

In their possession now was also a letter that appeared to be from Britain’s military authorities in London to another senior British officer in Tunisia. (Tunisia was also a part of the British Empire at the time). The letter indicated that the Allied powers and their armies were preparing to cross the Mediterranean Sea from their positions in North Africa and attack German-held Greece and Sardinia.

This newly acquired tip-off was alarming as Nazi’s elaborate spy network did not anticipate this move from Britain. They quickly notified Hitler and initiated a process to transfer German troops from France to Greece, ahead of what was believed at the time a massive enemy invasion over their Line of Control. When things were set in motion and Germany pulled back all its troops to the newly perceived threat, it was almost too late to assess another possibility, simply because the gamble was too big.

James Bond 007’s World War II connection

Germany prepared for a fight in a new frontier, but the only problem was that it was all a hoax. The supposedly “drowned” Major William Martin of Britain’s Royal Marines, was in fact just an anonymous man from Wales, who the BBC had quoted in its papers after the victory of the Allied powers as a “Tramp” who helped fool the Germans. The Welsh tramp’s body was obtained from a morgue in London by British officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu, later credited as the brains behind Operation Mincemeat. 

It was Cholmondeley and Montagu who were tasked with creating elaborate fake identities and a believable backstory for ‘William Martin”. They even got Charles Fraser-Smith (thought to be the brainchild for “Q” in the James Bond novels, written by Ian Fleming, who surprisingly enough was also a British naval intelligence officer before he retired and started writing internationally bestselling crime and spy thrillers) to design special a container to preserve the body during its time in the water.

The corpse, shortly after preserving it was transported in a container to a Royal Navy submarine, which then promptly dropped it off the Spanish coast and the whole frantic ordeal began with Germany running helter-skelter to avert the fake war.

As a result of the uncanny plot unaware and unwillingly executed by “William Martin” and false intelligence reports, the Nazis were caught unawares as they moved their armies to Greece and Sardinia, when simultaneously over 160,000 soldiers from the Allied powers invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943. Not only did this manoeuvre save thousands of soldiers’ lives, but Operation Mincemeat also further led to the fall of Italian leader Mussolini’s downfall, as it turned the tide of war towards victory in Europe.

Who were the Allied powers?

Britain, France (except during the German occupation), the Soviet Union and the United States were part of the Allied powers that fought together at various points against Germany.

Who were the Axis powers?

Germany, Japan and Italy were part of the Axis powers that lost the Second World War.

What happened in World War II?

Second World War or often abbreviated as WWII was a global war that lasted nearly eight years between 1938-1945. It involved most of the world’s countries including all of the great powers forming two opposing military alliances. The war was responsible for the death of over 100 million people in more than 30 countries. The Allied powers won the won finally in 1945 and divided Germany in two as East and West Berlin and split it among the victors in order to prevent future wars and the rise of Germany. It also resulted in the creation of the United Nations and Germany was ordered to pay reparations.