What was Operation Mincemeat, the corpse that fooled Hitler?

Operation Mincemeat was a British deception of the Second World War, designed to hide the true target of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. British intelligence officers dressed a dead man as a Royal Marines officer, gave him a false identity and planted documents on him suggesting that the Allies would attack Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily only a feint. The body was then set adrift off the Spanish coast so that the papers would reach German intelligence. [1] [2]

The operation was devised by naval intelligence officer Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley. According to the BBC, they obtained a body from a London coroner, Sir Bentley Purchase. Other sources identify the man as Glyndwr Michael, a homeless labourer who had died after swallowing rat poison. They invented the identity of Major William Martin, supplying a fiancée's photograph, a receipt for an engagement ring, a theatre ticket stub and other personal items. Wikipedia notes the idea drew on the 1939 Trout memo, written by Rear Admiral John Godfrey and Ian Fleming. [3] [1] [2]

A briefcase chained to the body held letters between senior officers. One, from General Sir Archibald Nye to General Harold Alexander, discussed targeting Greece and treated Sicily as a diversion. Another, from Louis Mountbatten to Admiral Cunningham, introduced Major Martin as an amphibious-landing expert. [4]

On 30 April 1943 the body was released from the submarine HMS Seraph just over a mile off southern Spain. A fisherman found it near Huelva. Spain was officially neutral, but parts of its government favoured Germany. Spanish authorities passed the documents' contents to the Abwehr, then returned the originals. Examination in London showed the letters had been opened and resealed, which suggested they had been read. [1] [4] [2]

Decrypted German messages indicated the ruse was believed. The National WWII Museum reports that on 14 May 1943 Hitler told Admiral Doenitz that Greece and Sardinia must be reinforced, and ordered the 1st Panzer Division to Greece along with many infantry divisions. Wikipedia states that reinforcements went to Greece and Sardinia while Sicily received none. The Allies invaded Sicily on 9 July 1943 (the BBC article gives 10 July), and the island was captured in a little over a month. [4] [2] [1] [5]

Popular accounts give the operation large credit. The BBC history page says it fooled Hitler completely, saved thousands of lives and changed the course of the war. Wikipedia is more cautious, stating that the full effect is not known, though Sicily fell faster than expected and with lower losses than predicted. [3] [2]

Military historian Jon Latimer argues that the easy conquest of Sicily was not due only to Mincemeat or the wider Operation Barclay deception. He points to other factors, including Hitler's distrust of the Italians and his reluctance to risk German troops beside Italian forces that might be close to surrendering. The sources here do not settle how to weigh these factors. [2]