Operation Mincemeat: The Corpse That Fooled Hitler's Army

History

The Sicily Problem

In the spring of 1943 the Allies faced a problem they could not solve by force. After victory in North Africa, the obvious next step was Sicily. Control of the island would open the Mediterranean and offer a way into Italy. The trouble was that the Germans could see this too. Churchill, the British Prime Minister, is supposed to have said that anyone but a fool could work it out.

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Operation Mincemeat

Planner: Liam Gray

22 hours ago

Creating Major Martin

The turning point came that April, in the sea off southern Spain. Two intelligence officers, Montague of Naval Intelligence and Chomley of MI5 had obtained the body of a homeless man who had died after swallowing rat poison. They dressed him as a Royal Marines officer and filled his pockets with the small details of an invented life. He became Major Martin, a man who had never existed. On the body, they also placed letters between two British generals, suggesting that the Allies meant to invade Greece and Sardinia, and that any move towards Sicily would be nothing more than a feint.

Deception Taken by the Germans

A submarine released the body close to the shore, and a Spanish fisherman found it the next morning. Spain was neutral in name only. Its government copied the documents and passed them to German military intelligence before returning the originals. Examinations showed the papers had been opened, and decoded German signals confirmed the rest. The enemy had believed every word.

What changed was the shape of German defense. Reinforcements moved to Greece and Sardinia, while Sicily received none. When the invasion came in July, the island fell more quickly than the planners had expected, and the cost in lives was lower than they had feared.