Operation Mincemeat, 1943: A Body and a Briefcase
Follow the British deception operation that planted false invasion plans on a dead man off Spain. Connect the invented identity of William Martin, intelligence channels through Huelva, and the Allied invasion of Sicily while examining how success is assessed.
Connections9
Operation Barclay: people, places, and context for the episode.
Operation Barclay was a World War II deception by the Allies in support of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
Allied invasion of Sicily: people, places, and context for the episode.
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which Allied forces invaded the Italian island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis forces.
Alan Hillgarth: people, places, and context for the episode.
Captain Alan Hugh Hillgarth was a British adventure novelist and member of the intelligence services, perhaps best known for his activities in Spain during and after the Spanish Civil War. Hillgarth appears as one of the actual historical figures in C. J.
Huelva: people, places, and context for the episode.
Huelva is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia.
HMS Seraph (P219): people, places, and context for the episode.
HMS Seraph was an S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Completed in 1942, she carried out multiple intelligence and special operations activities during World War II, the most notable of which was Operation Mincemeat.
Trout memo: people, places, and context for the episode.
The Trout memo, written in 1939, is a document comparing the deception of an enemy in wartime with fly fishing.
William Martin (Royal Marines officer): people, places, and context for the episode.
Major William Martin was a persona invented by British Military Intelligence for Operation Mincemeat, a Second World War deception plan that lured German forces to Greece prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Charles Cholmondeley (intelligence officer): people, places, and context for the episode.
Flight Lieutenant Charles Christopher Cholmondeley was a British intelligence officer known for his leading role in Operation Mincemeat, a critical military deception operation which misdirected German forces' attention away from the Allied invasion of Sicily in Operation Husky.
Ewen Montagu: people, places, and context for the episode.
Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer, and author.