Deathly Deception
The Real Story of Operation Mincemeat
1st Edition
Published on 17. June 2010
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-19-923398-4 (ISBN)
Description
Deathly Deception tells the true story of the classic World War Two intelligence plan to pass misleading strategic information to Hitler and his Generals that was immortalized in the 1956 Hollywood film The Man Who Never Was.
Drawing on a wealth of recently available documentation, Denis Smyth shows how British deceptioneers solved a multitude of medical, technical, and logistical problems to implement their deceptive design. The aim of their covert plan was to persuade the German High Command that the Allies were going to attack Greece, rather than Sicily in the summer of 1943. To achieve this, they equipped a dead body with a new military identity as a Royal Marine Major, a new private personality as the
fiance of an attractive young woman named 'Pam', and a government briefcase containing deceptive documents. They then planted the corpse in south-western Spanish coastal waters via a stealthy submarine operation, and carefully monitored (through their codebreakers and spies) how the Nazi intelligence services
and their warlords proceeded to 'swallow Mincemeat whole'.
The result was a stunning success. The German mis-deployment of their forces to meet the notional Anglo-American threat to Greece materially contributed to the Allied victory in Sicily - which, in its turn, drove Mussolini from power in Italy and inflicted irreparable damage on the German war effort.
Drawing on a wealth of recently available documentation, Denis Smyth shows how British deceptioneers solved a multitude of medical, technical, and logistical problems to implement their deceptive design. The aim of their covert plan was to persuade the German High Command that the Allies were going to attack Greece, rather than Sicily in the summer of 1943. To achieve this, they equipped a dead body with a new military identity as a Royal Marine Major, a new private personality as the
fiance of an attractive young woman named 'Pam', and a government briefcase containing deceptive documents. They then planted the corpse in south-western Spanish coastal waters via a stealthy submarine operation, and carefully monitored (through their codebreakers and spies) how the Nazi intelligence services
and their warlords proceeded to 'swallow Mincemeat whole'.
The result was a stunning success. The German mis-deployment of their forces to meet the notional Anglo-American threat to Greece materially contributed to the Allied victory in Sicily - which, in its turn, drove Mussolini from power in Italy and inflicted irreparable damage on the German war effort.
Reviews / Votes
Now for the first time we have all the facts which dispel the mysteries surrounding the operation and show the complexitites, pitfalls and dangers faced by British intelligence. Using official sources and an historian's acumen, Prof. Smyth has at last revealed the whole story of this fascinating ploy which did so much to save Allied soldier's lives. * James Munson, Contemporary Review * Captivating * Military Review: The Professional Journal of the U.S Army * Superlative... Readers are likely to find this book impossible to put down once started and impossible to forget once finished * Roland Green, Booklist * This is another fascinating and very readable book on the most brilliantly tangled web of deception spun in the Second World War * History Today * Smyth's book gives an engaging picture of an exceptionally intricate, exceptionally secret piece of military deceit... He scores over Macintyre one important point: he has done a lot of work on the archives of the Special Operations Executive. * M R D Foot, Literary Review * An engaging picture of an exceptionally intricate, exceptionally secret piece of military deceit. * Literary Review * What comes through most clearly in Smyth's book is the incredible complexity of the undertaking...It is fascinating stuff, much like a police procedural on television, and more than a little ghoulish. * HistoryNet.com * Smyth completes the story... He presents the complex processes of the false information's evaluation by German intelligence, the high command, and Hitler himself. Second, he describes the painstaking method by which the British verified Mincemeat's progress. And third, he relates the vital achievement of Allied intelligence to convince the military commanders to undertake the deception. As a strategic success, Mincemeat has few rivals and no superiors * Publishers Weekly * This fascinating story is told with new thoroughness. Recommended for all studying World War II intelligence activities. * Library Journal * An important, well-written and soundly documented history of Operation Mincemeat. * Hayden B. Peake, Studies in Intelligence *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
All those interested in the Second World War and the history of military and naval intelligence and deception.
Illustrations
8pp black and white plates
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
731 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-923398-4 (9780199233984)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2011
Oxford University Press
€26.03
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Denis Smyth studied for his Ph.D. in History at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Sir Harry Hinsley, official historian of British intelligence in the Second World War. He lectured in Modern European History at University College, Cork from 1976 to 1985, and has been a Professor in the Department of History, and in the International Relations Programme, 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.
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.
Content
Prologue ; 1. Accidental Conception ; 2. Medical Consultation ; 3. Grand Stratagem ; 4. A Sea of Troubles ; 5. Loud and Clear ; 6. Tailor Made ; 7. Pam's Person ; 8. Travel Arrangements ; 9. Mincemeat Digested ; 10. Mincemeat Dissected ; Epilogue ; Further Reading ; Index