Jasper Journal

It is May 1943. After hard fighting, the Allies forces have defeated the Germans and Italians in North Africa, capturing 275,000 prisoners. British and American forces now stand poised to invade southern Europe. The first intended target is Sicily, and from there, Italy itself. The problem faced by Allied planners is that if Germany correctly surmises the objective, it will make Sicily a fortress, reinforcing its two divisions there with units from throughout Europe.

Two officers in Britain, a Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander (Ewen Montagu) and a Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant (Charles Cholmondeley), propose an audacious scheme. They will drop a corpse carrying sensitive papers — alluding to a pending invasion of Sicily — off the coast of Spain, and hope that Spanish authorities allow the Germans to view the documents. Thus begins a story of one of the most successful deception schemes of World War II, chronicled by Ben MacIntyre.

The story of Operation Mincemeat is not new. Ewen Montagu wrote a book in the 1950s entitled “The Man Who Never Was,” and it was later made into a movie. Montagu’s book, however, was short on details (because of censorship by British Intelligence) and misleading in certain aspects. MacIntyre admirably fills the gaps and corrects the record. In the process, he narrates not only the story of the deception, but paints a rich portrait of the characters. Montagu and Cholmondeley create a fictitious persona — Major William Martin — out of thin air for the corpse. In the process, they almost appear to believe he actually exists, going so far as to have a farewell party for him, in which Montagu assumes the character of Major Martin.

MacIntyre highlights the numerous obstacles that Montagu and Cholmondely had to overcome: finding a corpse who looked like he drowned, getting the authorities to falsify the death certificate, crafting the letters for inclusion with the corpse, ensuring the Germans get access to the documents. The chronicle of British and German efforts in Spain vis-a-vis Major Martin’s papers sound like a bad movie plot — bribed Spanish officials, venal German intelligence officers, surreptitious examination of the papers — but are all the more fascinating because they are true, backed by MacIntyre’s research and sources.

In the process, the author provides a fascinating glimpse into the machinations not only of British Intelligence, but that of the Germans as well. If want to read history made real, and learn more about World War espionage, this is the book for you.