The Pure Insanity of Operation Mincemeat in WW2

[@Wanking_wanker]

“Remember when Sicily got invaded because the writer of James Bond threw a dead welsh man into the water near Spain?”

[@attackpatterndelta8949]

Sounds truly incredible, doesn’t it.

[@veramae4098]

@John Ashtone Please cite a source. A REPUTABLE source. Otherwise you're just rumor mongering. Retired librarian

[@aczeartk7032]

@John Ashtone you mad

[@Angry_Garden_Gnome]

@John Ashtone instead of acting 50 like you look in your profile picture, you acted like a child and got defensive and insultve. They just just asked for a source and you just repeated yourself. You are not a source, you were not there, and what you said about Fleming not being a good writer is an opinion not a fact like you are trying to make it seem. I know plenty of people who think he's a good writer, so please kindly grow up instead of being like a child. :)

[@themalaysianguy6603]

Now that's some James Bond type of shit right there.

[@richyhu2042]

How poetic, a man who died a nobody lived as a hero in death.

[@anhduc0913]

He died in the right place at the right time.

[@operatorismail6038]

Nah he was dead as a hero

[@NDB-Semper]

Beautifully tragic indeed. Bless those who may suffer such a sordid lot in life.

[@1597B]

@@NDB-Semper Agreed.

[@DinmaSalitzey]

no he was still dead.

[@jdo1996]

A Guy from Huelva here. We still have the tomb of William Martin at a local cementery (El cementerio inglés, to be precise), It was cared by Isabel Naylor untill 2019, when she passed away

[@sunnyjim1355]

That's great info, thanks mate. And total respect to Isabel Naylor, R.I.P.

[@Quixotepr]

Ese es un dato muy interesante, pensé que el cuerpo lo repatriarían a Inglaterra.

[@ferdonandebull]

This is a wonderful story of personal duty.. I feel a little diminished when I hear these things.. but proud for the people that make the decisions..

[@patrickmason7402]

Rip Isabel Naylor

[@KingBobBobBob]

That's beautiful for someone who before his death was essentially a vagrant I hope it's still being taken care off

[@denishoulan1491]

When I was a child, our neighbour who was involved in the invasion of Sicily always said he was probably still alive due to Operation Mincemeat.

[@5peciesunkn0wn]

Mincemeat did have another effect; when an officer who had the *actual* plans for the Normandy landings wound up dead where the Nazis found him, the Nazis thought it was another ruse like Mincemeat.

[@aviko9560]

Holy shit that's cool af xd

[@pola6138]

Love it 😊

[@unwell5878]

Lmao

[@regular_x]

_test123_ -test123- *test123*

[@tommiturmiola3682]

Wasn't there annother case during op. Market Garden? At least the movie suggested so.

[@justbbricks]

Advertisement: “Are you a victim of identity theft?” Glyndwr Micheal *rising from his fake grave* : “Yes?”

[@IronWarhorsesFun]

and I wasn't expecting some kind of Spanish military inquisition.

[@Armadauzbekistan]

If i'm not wrong after a long time they buried him with his real name

[@penguinsentinel8508]

@@Armadauzbekistan Correct. They buried him as Major Martin first, but replaced the headstone to the one shown much later.

[@TigruArdavi]

@@IronWarhorsesFun No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

[@ribbonwing]

They didn;t steal his identity, they gave him a new one.

[@CrowMercury]

Imagine the discussion in the afterife. Michael: “ Look, I know I was a nobody and I killed myself, but I don’t think I deserve hel- “ St Peter: “ It says here you defeated Hitler. “ Michael: “ …I did what? “

[@leocossham]

That's hilarious 😆

[@freddywright4239]

I like how this implies that there was a delay from his death to when he got judged, like there is a long queue in heaven, the most British of all Heavens!

[@wastedpotential9945]

@@freddywright4239 the queue was pretty long at the time

[@Sanches7557]

@@wastedpotential9945 *realization* 💀

[@pola6138]

Amen 🙏

[@General_Rubenski]

A bittersweet story. Sad to hear about the homeless man and his tragedy but at least even in death he managed to save the lives of thousands

[@mortalclown3812]

When he was only 15, he watched his father commit suicide by stabbing himself in the throat. I'm not sure when his Mum died, but his path was indeed heartbreaking.

[@THEBIGGAME683]

Hitler was homeless too😅

[@condorboss3339]

There was a German joke at the beginning of the war: General: " _Mein Furher, what about Italy_ ?" Hitler: " _Send ten divisions_ " General: " _Mein Furher, the Italians have declared war_ !" Hitler: " _Oh, well send only five divisions_ " General: " _But Mein Furher, they've declared war on our side_ !" Hitler: " _Mein Gott! Send twenty divisions at once_ !"

[@sunnyjim1355]

It doesn't makes any sense, well certainly not how you present it here, but maybe something has been lost in translation. But then Germany is not known for it's humour, which is why 'Dinner for one' is still a cult classic there. 🙄

[@molybdaen11]

There is another saying: "Never have a Italian with a loaded weapon in your back."

[@everythingandanything9676]

Uhh don’t get it

[@imlivingunderyourbed7845]

@@everythingandanything9676 I think it means Hitler first thought that the Italians declared war on Germany, and only wanted to send a few divisions to deal with them, but upon hearing that the Italians are on their side, Hitler quickly wanted to give all the support he could to secure his Southern flank because he is very well aware how incompetent Italy was at that time and wouldn't be able to guard their South on their own.

[@everythingandanything9676]

@@imlivingunderyourbed7845 oh ok thanks

[@MonsieurDean]

Abraham Simpson: "I didn't manage to kill Hitler, but I did kill an assassin who was about to kill Hitler."

[@jakemartin9556]

Isn’t that counter productive or is my comprehension lacking

[@raccspoons7549]

@@jakemartin9556 probably not as Hitler was not a great military leader and he also had total command of the German army his generals only advised him... However some of his generals if given power would've possibly turned the war around so keeping Hitler in power was sort of a military advantage.

[@jakemartin9556]

@@raccspoons7549 yeah okay I get that, I didn’t look at it from the perspective of him being a dictator who made decisions out of emotion. Thanks

[@notmyrealID]

hahah

[@jakemartin9556]

@@notmyrealID what’s funny ya gronk ?

[@issuma8223]

I enjoyed the movie, The Man Who Never Was, but didn't know it was a true story.

[@TheFront]

Yep! Real life can often be stranger than fiction!

[@alexballweg526]

That is a great movie

[@sophierobinson2738]

I saw it around 57 or so years ago, when my father was still a young man. I was fascinated with the movie because my father told me it was real. It was one of the few war movies he watched. He was in the 8th Army Air Corps, and lost many friends.

[@pissonthe0fighteverybody276]

@@sophierobinson2738 Time flies doesn’t it

[@kwhufc5769]

1956 your comment made me realise I've never seen the film, I feel I should yet it's older than I.

[@DjangoXIII]

I read a book on this operation a few years ago. An incredibly interesting look at intelligence and counterintelligence methods during the war. One of the things I remember that I found fascinating was how the germans extracted the letters from the sealed envelopes without breaking the seal and how the British anticipated this. It really helped me develop a deeper appreciation for spycraft

[@mortalclown3812]

When seeing the documentary, this great detail was left out. Reckon I'll get McIntyre's book after all; intelligence like this is in a class all its own.

[@technewseveryweek8332]

@@mortalclown3812 This guy made it more boring than it was in reality. Nothing about the eyelid used to detect if the Germans opened the documents or not for example

[@donellamackenzie6331]

They put a single hair in the letter and when it was returned the hair was gone his the letter was read

[@stevesteves945]

What was the book?

[@jaegerbomb269]

Fact is stranger than fiction.

[@TheFront]

Well said!

[@indianajones4321]

Germans: You put my defensive preparations in jello again! Britain: Churchill face to the camera OSS: hmmmmm might have to start a civilian version of that sometime...

[@TheFront]

The Office: Mediterranean Theatre

[@markaaronsoliva9446]

Hitler: We are invincible Some dead guy: so you have chosen death?

[@TheFront]

They really cheesed the Axis Powers like that.

[@dying101666]

dead guy: come join me.

[@midnightchurningspriteshaq8533]

@@TheFront "Hitler's gonna wind up as, a piece of cheese" - To be or not To be (Movie)

[@ronaldfinkelstein6335]

@@midnightchurningspriteshaq8533 Which one? Jack Benny, or Mel Brooks?

[@midnightchurningspriteshaq8533]

@@ronaldfinkelstein6335 i had no idea there was a mel brooks version, jack benny version is the only one i know and like

[@Paludion]

I came across Operation Mincemeat for the first time when watching Military Aviation History's video on Operation Husky. Didn't know they used the body of a homeless man for this, however. May he rest in peace.

[@sunnyjim1355]

Military Aviation History is a good channel, I recommend.

[@surferdude44444]

Good thing there was no such thing as a “tox screen” test during that time. Finding rat poison in the guy’s system, would have turned Operation Mincemeat into Deadmeat.

[@denishoulan1491]

That was surely why they dropped the body off of a beach in Spain. Believing that the Spanish would not be that thorough in their investigation of the body.

[@JoshGair666]

@@denishoulan1491 I saw on a documentary about this a few years back that the British ambassador made the coroner cut the autopsy short by mentioning how hot it was and that they should take a break. If he hadn't. The autopsy would probably have found the real cause of death

[@doncarlton4858]

That's why a new book recently revealed the body was a Royal Navy sailor killed when his Jeep carrier sank and his body washed ashore. He had sea water and aviation gasoline in his lungs.

[@iangarrett741]

@@JoshGair666 I remember that. After months in cold storage the body of the vagrant, who was not a fit man, looked like a potential suicide rather than a marine. The submarine diverted all the way up to Scotland to pick up a younger, fitter body that had genuinely drowned.

[@kolhapure]

@@denishoulan1491 The Allies had thought about it. They were actually looking for a body of a man that had died of Pneumonia. It would A. make sure that the body didn't have signs of physical trauma, B. it would make the death by drowning seem plausible. The problem was that they couldn't find it. Once they found the man who died of rat poison, they established that William Martin was a strict Catholic and that it was against traditions to have a body of a Catholic man dissected. Spain was largely into it as well. Once the body was found, the British counsel pointed it out to the Spanish authorities that they would expect him not to be dissected out of respect for his faith. The Spanish complied.

[@captc0ck5lap60]

There's nothing in the history of warfare as interesting as British deception. So many fantastic examples.

[@madhurawat155]

Just look at how they acquired a quarter of the globe for instance.

[@bah2vi]

Kid: Germany could have won WW2! Me: Did you know a dead dude defeated Hitler?

[@Viatorus0]

That would be Hitler

[@bah2vi]

@@Viatorus0 Y E S

[@firebird_0-1]

This man understands

[@sillytrash8502]

A dead dude, a gay guy(Alan Turing), and a troll spy(Juan Pujol) haha

[@gnolan4281]

Churchill said that "The truth must be protected by a bodyguard of lies." Admiral Donitz said that "The enemy knows all of our secrets and we know none of his." The British have an extra dimension to their character that the Nazis didn't have. Put that in combination with a lovely channel separating them from the continent and you had an unconquerable Fortress Britain.

[@rocknral]

As a general observation. USA- materiel USSR- manpower Britain- misdirection

[@nightowl3218]

@@rocknral more Like Britain = Brain USA = Brawn USSR = Blood

[@davidrenton]

and yet he never suspected as far as we know, it was because we had cracked his Naval Enigma, i wonder if the idea was just so absurd to him

[@gnolan4281]

@@davidrenton I'm told that although he never suspected, he added an extra rotor just to be sure. But by then the exceptional brains at Bletchley were so in tune with the code's characterisitcs that they quickly broke it too. Then too, the British had snatched an Enigma machine off a floundering U-boat.

[@davidrenton]

@@gnolan4281 interesting maybe they thought we had physic powers

[@jorge.9330]

I remember reading a book on this. The guy writing said some interesting things like they carried around the fake wallets and ID papers in their pockets and rubbed them up and down on their trousers while sitting at desks and at lunches to get them ‘worn in’

[@charlestonianbuilder344]

The brits laughing at this video as he remembers that they also tricked hitler into believing an invasion on norway, and calais, even after the intial landings on normandy.

[@UnknownSquid]

My favourite is still just how we tricked the German air-force into putting their pilots on an intensive primarily carrot diet, under the premise that it was the secret to how our own pilots were able to spot theirs in the dark. All it did was give the poor guys the shits during their missions.

[@the_tactician9858]

@@UnknownSquid And give mothers an argument to end the vegetable debate with their children for once and for all.

[@chuckhainsworth4801]

"Pam sent a wreath." More years than I care to think about, my grade 7 English teacher read "The Man Who Never Was" to us. That phrase stands out as an element of the perfect deception. His imaginary girl friend, Pam, sent a wreath to his interment, because British girls did that. So many techniques had to be used on the documents produced. Veiled speech needed to be apparent in the documents, because that was the practice. Most of the documents had a narrative for them that included details of what is now known as forensic evidence. Proposed text of letters was altered because of wording that wasn't used by the author. Far from insane, this was a perfectly executed deception, and like all deceptions it is really hard to quantify its result. The Sicilian campaign was definitely easier as a result. Did it win the war? No, but as part of the "bodyguard of lies," it contributed.

[@Tuning3434]

It got Italy out of the war, and while Italy's contribution to the Axis cause is a meme in popular culture, the surface fleet of the Regia Marina was definitely more capable and a bigger threat than the Kriegsmarine.

[@mortalclown3812]

@@Tuning3434 I only discovered the info a few days ago. Imagining many would also be shocked to hear that a branch of the Italian WWII armed forces was truth formidable - unless, of course, you were in its terrifying path.

[@the_tactician9858]

@@mortalclown3812 Also, while their equipment sucked some major b***s the crews of Italian artillery brigades were fierce fighters who often killed a lot of enemies with direct fire. But other than that the Italians could just as well have stayed home.

[@superfanmorty1756]

Axis : we declare war !!! Allies : we do a little trolling its called we do a little trolling

[@johncmitchell4941]

IMO, 'mincemeat' was strategically significant in that Hitler invested resources to realign his defenses while the Allies saved resources, esp troop lives, in Sicily. The other Allied Nations' pranks were all tactically significant. (Subscribed)

[@clementbruera]

There's an important point worth mentioning that no one has done on this section. Mussolini and the italian command were sure that Sicily was the aim of the Allies, even after the body and the documents were discovered, but as we know the German thoughts prevailed. You can say what you want about the unprepared italian army, but the SIM (aka the Military Service Information) was top notch!

[@mortalclown3812]

What added to the effectiveness of Operation Mincemeat was Hitler's low regard for Il Duce's military prowess. It's ironic, too, simply because AH was the opposite of a great general. The more Mussolini argued his position, the more defiant Hitler was. Even Goebbels smelled a rat, apparently, but realized hiss boss believed it and even wrote in his diary, '... and that's all that matters.'

[@ulyssespulido9556]

This just reminds me of the opposite of Operation Market Garden where the plans from a clashed glider were genuine.

[@Max_Mersinger]

The reason they threw out the Market Garden plans was this exact incident, along with some D-Day stuff. They just thought the British were up to their normal shenanigans.

[@ulyssespulido9556]

@@Max_Mersinger They didn’t throw out the Market Garden plans. They found it while the operations were happening.

[@keithorbell8946]

@@ulyssespulido9556 but the point is the German Command in the area assumed they were fake.

[@guts-141]

That explained the cutscenes from Company of Heroes Market Garden mission

[@andym9571]

@@Max_Mersinger correct...tho they were found on an American.

[@littletaff95]

As a Welshman I love hearing people outside of Wales trying to pronounce Welsh names and places. Not criticism it just never gets old. :) Diolch yn fawr.

[@Fin0Jay]

I was looking for the first welsh reply. And agreed its a good giggle

[@tombartram7384]

I always describe myself as a Welsh speaker rather than merely Welsh.

[@JulieWallis1963]

Funny. I always think it’s cuntish for people to mock anyone for trying to _speak_ in a foreign language!

[@connordevereaux759]

Good video the front. Already learned this at school as I like history.Greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪

[@francismarionswampfox3468]

Isn't it odd that so many see history as a bunch of dusty names and dates, when in fact it's a collection of the most interesting stories?

[@theirishempire4952]

Greetings from Ireland too XD

[@kozmonauta0515]

Imagine rewriting the goddamn history after you *died*

[@crhu319]

It's very Chad.

[@imdeaded]

Imagine if he didnt die . Hard to find a person of height weight and looks like a man that would be an officer . Dump a plumper and this ruse would have sunk .

[@shedevil50337]

I've not seen any of your videos before & I was impressed with your knowledge level & pronunciation of foreign words. Operation Mincemeat is one of the most interesting things I've learned about WW2. In the mid 1950s there was a British film called The Man who Never Was with actors who'd fought in the war. Because of the Official Secrets Act, the 100% accurate story couldn't be portrayed in the film. I remember seeing it on TV in the late 70s/early 80s, when I was only a child, & it sparked my interest. Ben Macintyre's excellent documentary in 2010 was the first time many of the people involved had spoken about it to anyone since the war, including the girl who was chosen for the photo of Major Martin's fiancée, who worked in M15. The documentary crew actually took her to the location where the photo of her in Martin's wallet was taken, where they asked her about her memories of the event. They also spoke to Cholmondeley's girlfriend at the time of Operation Mincement & the son of Ewen Montagu, as well as a lot of the office staff for M15. Apparently all the women working there wanted to be involved in some way & they held a sort of beauty contest to chose who would be the fiancée. They cultivated an entire life for Major Martin, & gave him lots of pocket litter, including a receipt for a diamond engagement ring & a letter from his bank manager complaining that he had ignored numerous letters requesting he pay off his overdraft. They tried to take a photo of Glyndwr Michael, the man whose body was used for Martin, for his identity papers but it was obvious he was dead, so they had to find someone who looked similar. They were lucky, there was someone working in their organisation who closely resembled him. The love letters were written by an elderly spinster who worked as a secretary in M15 or 6. They were all amazed that someone who seemed so staid & unromantic could write such beautifully moving words of love. Michael's corpse was frozen until it was needed but, when it came to dressing him, his feet hadn't defrosted & they couldn't get on his shoes.They had to set up lots of heaters to defrost them. I can't think of anything more unpleasant to have to do. I highly recommend the documentary, if you get the chance to see it as it goes in to far more detail than The Front can do in under 11 minutes. It's on YT, I've just checked. I was impressed with your recounting of the event & of your pronunciation, especially of Cholmondeley which was almost correct. It's pronounced more like Chumley. It's one of those weird British names that sound nothing like they're spelled, more common in Upper Class families, or Middle Class people aspiring to rise socially. Other such names are Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham), Featherstonhaugh (pronounced Fanshaw), & Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering). We do the same with places as well, with common towns or locations such as Belvoir Castle (Beaver Castle), Ruislip (Rislip), Gloucester (Glos-ter) & Magdalen College (at either Oxford or Cambridge university, pronounced Maud-lin).

[@randomuser5443]

It has got to hurt knowing that you’re right, but some admiral thinks a random body is credible

[@jakelawliet3584]

ikr, that was dumb. It was too much of a coincidence to be true.

[@CountScarlioni]

@@jakelawliet3584 A lot of the German high-ups were shrewdly distrustful of the documents, simply because it was all too good to be true. But in the end Hitler was the pivot on which all things turned and he decided it was the real deal. Probably because he'd already made up his mind that Greece was the weak point and all Operation Mincemeat did was add to his confirmation bias.

[@_R_R_R]

@@CountScarlioni I'm not sure if its true but i heard that the allies never tried to assassinate hitler because he was such a bad strategist

[@CountScarlioni]

@@_R_R_R Yes, at least one assassination plan was vetoed because the majority opinion was that alive he was more likely to lead Germany to ruin. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Foxley

[@inisipisTV]

The deception was very well done. When the body and the documents was discovered the British command immediately send words to the British embassy in Spain to absolutely with all their power to retrieve the documents. The British staff sent men to secure the brief-case, which the neutral Spanish haven’t yet opened. They badgered and threatened the Spanish police to return them immediately. They even have the Spanish office guarded with British staff member round the clock. All this to give an impression that there is a real panic and that the British are really trying to cover up a big disaster. It would be suspicious to the Germans if they got the plans easily. So efficient was the British embassy that they got the briefcase case back in a few days, seemingly unopened. The ruse was so good that the British intelligence was afraid that they got the briefcase without the Germans even seeing it. When they examined the contents they found all the document and letters intact and sealed. This disheartened the British intelligence, but when they thoroughly inspected all the letters through a microscope they saw traces that someone expertly opened the letters and able to re-seal them quite perfectly. Only then they knew that German spies was able to photographed them. Later, they got word from German double-agents are actively trying to validate some of the information gathered from the briefcase, which the British already planned ahead. This ruse is really large organized trick and not just a simple. With fake army command. Fake army. Fake radio communications. All the trimmings.

[@bradenpotts]

Mussolini “they will invade Sicily it would be a strategic place” Hitler “this British dead body says otherwise”

[@davidrenton]

just show's you Hitler trusted a British Corpse over Mussolini , even when baldly was right

[@halo129830]

Great that your talking about this operation it’s usually skimmed over in every wwii documentary.

[@yommmrr]

Hell yes my suggestion made into a video. Thanks the front!

[@willmoore8708]

Back around '70, when I was about 8, I came across this story in a Reader's Digest book called "Secrets & Spies". A pretty cool collection of stories about subterfuge and espionage during WW2. A neat read for a kid. And movie producers too, apparently.

[@alainw77]

The invasion of Sicily may have been a success but the invasion of the italian mainland was badly executed and ended up being a quagmire. Any military planner should have known the narrowness of the italian peninsula would have favoured the defender due to its mountainous and hilly terrain.

[@jamesclark976]

Yes but it opened a second front which the Russians were desperately clamoring for and drew German forces away from the front in addition to knocking Italy out from the war

[@alainw77]

@@jamesclark976 the soviets were no longer in a desperate situation as the battle of kursk occurred at the same time of the sicily invasion. That alone brought down mussolini and italy being a threat to the allies. The sicily invasion had the effect of cancelling hitlers offensive at Kursk earlier than planned. So the campaign on the italian mainland was not really urgent as the allies could have landed in southern france giving them more room to maneuver and have it coincide with the normandy landings a year later. The allies botched their chance of forcing a german capitulation in sicily by allowing them to evacuate unhindered to the italian mainland. If those 100,000 germans had been forced to surrender, there would have been no significant german forces to defend italy by the time the allies landed on the mainland. They would have had a much easier time pushing north and hitler would have had to send way more forces down there.

[@jamesclark976]

@@alainw77 True however the Italians were still combatants that were knocked out by the italy invasion and the invasion of southern france would have been more difficult to do at the time logistically, an invasion of italy was easier than southern france.

[@alainw77]

@@jamesclark976 you just have to look at how long it took the allies to reach rome, 1 year! And they landed in southern france that same summer. It shows that invading italy was a waste of time, men and resources. It was an unnecessary slogging match that the allies could have avoided if things were planned better.

[@jamesclark976]

@@alainw77 Yes but Italy was knocked out very quickly and southern france was invaded in 1944 after the dday landings. The italian army even sided with the allies during the italian campaign

[@randallparr680]

I am not certain that I heard this correctly or from where but there was an unintended byproduct from Mincemeat that occurred during Operation Market-Garden. An officer, acting against strict orders, transported his entire briefing package in his glider but left it behind in the craft where it was discovered by Germans. The byproduct was that the military analysts did not believe the documents were genuine and thought them to be an attempt to replicate Mincemeat. Does anyone know how true this is?

[@sussekind9717]

Yes I've heard of operation mincemeat, AKA "The Man That Never Was". However, as far as wartime deception goes, it was pretty run of the mill, nothing all that special. Deceive the enemy into thinking you will be elsewhere, than the place you will actually be. Even the method was not all that out of the ordinary. When feeding the enemy false information (Except where double agents are concerned, that is a whole different game), it must seem like an accident. As any military historian will tell you, corpses have long been used during wartime, in all manner of military actions.

[@fnusecurity5112]

Thank you. I was like I know that name of that movie. What is it? lol

[@brianspencer6397]

Quite a bit of 'Mincemeat' used in the book (written by one of the participants,) and film named 'The Man Who Never Was' was still covered by the Official Secrets Act at the time, and a lot of the more interesting detail was suppressed, basically 'dumbing down' the story. (No-one would tell the real name of Major Martin, for instance, how the German agents had been identified, or who some of the Spanish participants were.) The film, 'Operation Mincemeat', based on the very accurate book of the same name does it much closer to the truth, though with a few things (over)done for 'dramatic effect'....

[@vincentramelot1893]

McIntyre’s book about operation Mincemeat is a must - as well as all his other books as far as I can judge.

[@theofarmmanager267]

I fully appreciate that this is a short-cut explanation about Mincemeat and will be very useful to those who want to know a summary. If you would like to know more, I would suggest that you read the book by Ewen Montagu - pronounced MONT - as in font - A - GU - as in glue but without the L. However, even the book does not seem to tell the whole true story as Montagu kept up his role as a master of deception. The film of the same name - The Man Who Never Was - is even less accurate and Montagu apparently quit as an advisor to the film in disgust. Mincemeat was a big a success as it could have been. The body of one poor young man, already dead, saved the lives of thousands. Perhaps the bigger success of Mincemeat was the encouragement it gave the Allies to mount the campaign of deception that led to the Germans believing that Operation Overlord would occur in the Pas de Calais and not Normandy.

[@cmichael40]

'Deathly Deception' book is a more technical view of Mincemeat.

[@theunholyburger9338]

You gotta wonder what that dead guy thought of the whole thing in heaven

[@johnsharpTravelandAviation.]

My son and I visited the grave of Major Martin about about 10 years ago and I finally got round to making my own film a couple of months ago. As to the effectiveness of the operation I think that the saving of lives and ships speaks for itself. Further to a previous comment I believe that the grave is now in the charge of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

[@TheKarifax]

Some poor dude was probably just trying to fish and provide for his family but instead of finding any fish, he found some random dead dude

[@andrewilson453]

There is a movie coming out about this operation on Netflix May 11th.

[@ferdonandebull]

There was an old movie about this.. something we do not think about are the love letters.. They had to be written in a female hand . A woman was assigned to write the letters. They say she suffered because she was writing these letters to a man who did not exist and she drew on the depths of her own loss because of the war..

[@ThePrimeMinisterOfTheBlock]

This well researched and excellent video is worthy of a subscribe, I reckon

[@asi3808]

The scene in "The World is not Enough" Where James Bond shoots himself out of the torpedo tube of an ex Soviet submarine, was written to Honor Ian Fleming, as it was the first Bond movie made after Operation MIncemeat was declassified. But you forgot about the coolest document in "Martin"'s briefcase. He had a receipt for a partial payment engagement ring. Which was supposed to not only help sell the ruse, but was also a honey trap to the German spy that ended up going to the jeweler in London, and asking about the payment. British Agents followed him home, waited for him to report back that the story checked out, and then arrested him later. The decision to have William Martin wash up in Spain was because the Spanish did not perform autopsies. If they had, or the body had been washed up anywhere else, it would have been trivial to find out that the man on the table had died months before being found, after ingesting poison, and had been kept refrigerated. British pressure on the Spanish, to return the body not only helped sell the ruse, but it only gave the German agents hours to pour over the body and his effects. This is where William Martin really becomes an important figure, The Abwer agents who looked him over, catalogued everything, and they didn't buy the ruse. When their report made its way to German military leadership, they didn't buy it either. But Hitler believed it, so not only did that tie Germany's hands, but after this happened, MI5 had multiple opportunities to assassinate Hitler, a few involving one of their best Agents, former bank robber and Ian Fleming's inspiration for James Bond's character, Eddie Chapman. Mi5 turned down Chapman's own request to kill Hitler, on the grounds that Adolf himself, was Britain's best intelligence asset, if he were replaced someone more competent, or even worse, someone less prädictable, would replace him, and the war would go on even longer than if Hitler was in charge.

[@doncarlton4858]

A new book "Mincemeat" has recently come out that changes things significantly. Major Martin's body did not come from a Welsh alcoholic who died if pneumonia. The guild in his lungs would obviously not be salt water. Shortly before Mincemeat was completed a British escourt carrier was torpedoed with large loss of life. Several British sailor's bodies were recovered. They selected one man who had drown and had both sea water and aviation gasoline in his lungs. The story used in the first book and movie was told do that the British people would think the Royal Navy had the families permission. If fact the sailor was listed as one of the many "Missing in Action" whose bodies were never recovered.

[@jorenbosmans8065]

The thing that always suprises me with these Allied deceptions is not that they pulled them of, but how Often they pulled it of.

[@youraveragescotsman7119]

Nazis aren't smart.

[@mikehughes4969]

Always remember everybody, if something is crazy and it works, it wasn't crazy.

[@chrisknight6884]

Fairly well told and basically correct account. My main aaaaghhh moment was when (again) a Royal Navy vessel was referred to as 'THE' HMS ...... This is linguistically and grammatically incorrect. British warships belong to the monarch, not the country; the abbreviation HMS stands for His Majesty's Ship. Therefore adding a 'the' in front of it makes ghe sentence read 'The His Majesty's Ship Seraph' - which sounds wrong as well as being wrong. Should a ship belong to Republic, such as the USA for instance , then the description 'The USS Wasp' would be correct. You could refer to the boat (all submarines are boats not ships by the way) as 'The Seraph', dropping the HMS bit, and that would be correct, but only if the full title of the vessel had been established previously.

[@DardanellesBy108]

My sick and silly sense of humour started up about getting a corpse: Mi5: We have a great idea that will fool the Germans. But we need a volunteer. Eager soldier who loves king and country: I volunteer! What do I need to do to train and get ready for the mission? Mi5: Nothing really. Just stand up against the wall there and put on this blind fold.

[@LamborghiniDiabloSVPursuit]

Hitler: Mein Gott I've been duped! I'll never fall for a trick this obvious again! First United States Army Group: OHH HELLO THERE.

[@JKR9488]

It good that we know the name of the corpse, he can be remembered for his final act being that of great help to the war effort.

[@vipergtsmre]

Thanks for posting the vid, this was a very unique operation, but served its purpose😬

[@diestormlie]

I mean, I think the greatest Deception of WW2 was Garbo. But Mincemeat has to be up there.

[@gpo746]

They actually had some of the mans effects deliberately worn as the materials were to new , they rubbed the letters and photos on a filing cabinet and walked around with them in their pockets to add wear .

[@charlesdavis1080]

One factor not mentioned is that earlier in the war the initial plan for invading France in 1940 was little different than the plan used in 1914 with the main attack force on the right flank. But those plans fell into the hands of the Allies when a plane crashed with a German staff officer who had the plans on him. The Germans were aware of this and changed the main attack to the center through the Ardennes. Thus the German high command may have been more accepting of the idea of a Mincemeat. And for those of you putting down the Germans for accepting this deception during Operation Market-Garden a British Staff officer with the plans died in crash. When these plans were brought to the commanding general he assumed it was a deception. There are many instances in history when military plans and orders fall into the hands of the enemy. It is a credit to the British and their many deception efforts.

[@jmiddlefinger]

I learned about operation Mincemeat from reading Tom Clancy’s The Cardinal in the Kremlin while deployed to the Middle East in either 2004 or 2005. If any of you haven’t read it, I highly recommend doing so!

[@bswihart1]

Love it! Thank you!

[@justbbricks]

I’m doing a huge history research project and decided to do this, this video was so helpful.

[@amms0716]

The story I had always read was that they used the body of a person who died of pneumonia because his lungs would mimic a person who died from drowning.

[@ice9snowflake187]

There WAS a movie made about this (in the early 1950's, I think). It's a really good "thriller", called "The Man Who Never Was", and while it's not 100% accurate to the real events, it's really fun to watch and the acting is excellent.

[@mbryson2899]

A fictionalized account doubtlessly inspired by Mincemeat is in Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon." (I highly recommend that book, BTW. About half of it takes place during the WWII era.)

[@Hendo56]

Yes, I had heard about this "mission" but not in this much detail. They are making a movie of this with Colin Firth.

[@dashcroft1892]

Does he star as Martin?

[@Jeff-m5x3j]

I read the book some years ago and finally they made a movie about it that is coming out in May. The detail they went to in order to have everything on the body look authentic and totally convincing was astounding.

[@prfwrx2497]

The picture of the home guard taking a look at the blades of the various units that constituted the Chindits give me joy.

[@davidstewart8796]

I have read and have a copy of Ewen Montagu's book in which he wrote about Mincemeat. A lot of detail is lacking due to secrecy still prevailing in the 1950's but it is clear that it was a most unusual event and one that did cause a ripple in the pond of war. thanks for posting the video

[@brokenbridge6316]

What do you know. I was planning on watching a video on this channel before switching off my computer. And look what came along when I decided it. Nice timing isn't it. As for this operation. Yes I've heard of it before. I've seen a few documentaries on it before. One suggested that the corpse used wasn't that Welshmen that died because his corpse rotted too much but was instead some sailor that died when his ship was torpedoed by a German sub. But I digress. This video was nicely informative.

[@doncarlton4858]

They collected more than one body! Also an alcoholic who died of pneumonia or rat poison would have easily detected by an autopsy. That's why they ultimately used a RN sailor that drowned when his escort carrier was torpedoed. He had sea water and aviation gasoline in his lungs.

[@brokenbridge6316]

@@doncarlton4858---Yeah I heard that too.

[@iangarrett741]

Sounds much more likely.

[@dean1039]

Generals: "We believe Sicily will be the landing site mein Fuhrer." Hitler: "Nah...." Generals: "I really think we should take Scilly seriously...." Hitler: "Nah, some random papers suspiciously found on a dead guy floating near Spain says it's Greece. Move half our forces there" Generals: ".....Sick of this shit"

[@thomasbarrett5658]

I read a book about this a couple years ago and by chance Charles Cholmondeley lived where I live now back in the 60’s I believe and is buried not too far away.

[@twstf8905]

Hahaha the body drops in front of a German soldier reading a Newspaper on a park bench 🤣

[@alwallace4538]

I've always loved this story. What made it so great is that it didn't change anyone's mind. It probably would have been questioned. But it reenforced Hitler's own opinion. The best of Sun Tzu before he was required reading.

[@flashbacks4186]

Ah yes, when the British put some plans to invade Greece on a dead Intelligence Officer and floated them over to Spain. P.S (THIRD!!!!!)

[@flashbacks4186]

You see the Germans became tourists in Greece before it was cool

[@bigblue6917]

@@flashbacks4186 And they got to screw Greece's economy before the Greeks did

[@spudskie3907]

@Big Blue Greeks screwed their economy long before WWII.

[@earlofgriefem]

This is my favourite war story and pleased to here they've made it into a movie which is due for release this weekend in the UK

[@wmtarrant573]

I have been a fan of the Movie "The Man who never was" for years and believe that this was a solid assist in taking Sicily, including Patton getting the job done when Montgomery floundered.

[@PtolemyJones]

I loved the movie, saw it decades ago, wonderful stuff. Kind of surprised that the autopsy in Spain missed the effect of the rat poison. Surely the greatest deception of WW II was convincing the Nazi's that the real target for D-Day was the Pas De Calais though.

[@jamesfindlay7150]

Nice story, however you missed out a few KEY items. First HMS Seraph left Greenock on the firth of Clyde in Scotland on the 19th April 1943, the same firth of Clyde that had on the 27th March 1943 had seen the explosion of HMS Dasher an escort aircraft carrier with the loss of all its crew of over 500 souls so there were freshly drowned seamen being washed up on the coastline of Ayrshire. At the time a make shift morgue was made at HMS fortitude (Ardrossan harbour) and HMS Seraph send crew to it for some unknown reason Greenock is 30 miles from Ardrossan. Also a letter in the briefcase had a P.S saying don’t forget to send me some “SARDINES” which also led the Germans to believe the attack was going to be on the island of Sardinia which is above Sicily not just Greece, so the nazis split their forces to Sardinian and Greece.

[@richardcarolan2159]

There is/was a British movie made about this subject in 1956 called 'The Man Who Never Was'. Although there were a few slight changes made for dramatic effect, the movie follows the story line fairly faithfully and is well worth a watch if you get the chance.

[@firewired3230]

@TheFront have you ever thought of the butterfly effect? Think of this: a depressed homeless man decides to take his own life, small and tragic right?, however due to him dying the allies found a corpse that has no family and he was perfect for the operation, and that operation deceived hitler and making him redirect forces and saving a lot of lives and bloodlines who are alive today, like for example remember that one dude who talked you out of suicide? Well that dude is a descendant of a soilder involved in operation mincemeat and he survived therefor saving your own life!, HOWEVER if the allies did not find him dead operation mincemeat would have failed and thousands of people would have died and you would have committed suicide because that dude did not exist! The butterfly effect is happening at this very moment you are seeing this and is quite interesting.

[@tomarsandbeyond]

butterfly effect is bullcrap. They would have just found some other corpse.

[@garryej]

I'd heard of "The Man Who Never Was" movie but ot OP Mincemeat. It probably did help my dad survive along with his PPCLI regiment.!

[@CJ-ib2jy]

It's a good thing that no shark was in the mood for mincemeat.

[@jaydeister9305]

"The Brits are a clever lot (clever bloks!?). They (the british empire) fought the Nazi's almost single handedly from 1939 to 1941 (inclusive)."

[@sunnyjim1355]

Oh, that? T'was but a trifle. Inventing virtually everything that the modern world relies upon took a little bit of effort though.

[@SteveF1967]

LOL except for Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Libya, and Egypt.

[@kapytanhook]

Don't lump the Netherlands in, 0 resistance after 1 bombing. Hard to blame the people at the time but the Brits sure played a massive role in defeating Hitler compared to the countries you name

[@andym9571]

@@SteveF1967 think you will find that the Brits were instrumental and at the centre of those countries carrying on the fight.

[@AlpenSkyWatcher]

Simply necessary objectives, but not necessarily simple to achieve such objectives. That massive organization, effort, resources, and luck...Really nice to think on how it all comes together.

[@TF2Fan101]

This seems like the perfect story to adapt into a comedic musical!

[@billfairclough2102]

No doubt this remake of Operation Mincemeat will be great entertainment but as with many war and espionage thrillers it's a shame the film industry is producing yet another remake of a classic.. If success is to breed success the film industry must not polish old gems but mine for new ones. In these genres, an example of such a new gem is Beyond Enkription, the first fact based spy thriller in The Burlington Files series. I only mention that because, coincidentally, some critics have likened its protagonist to a "posh Harry Palmer", the subject of yet another recent remake. Anyway, the first novel in the series is indisputably anti-Bond, sophisticated and worth checking out. Not being a remake this enigmatic and elusive thriller may have eluded you.

[@michaelmutranowski123]

didn't they do this again for D-Day?

[@TheFront]

They actually used dummy parachutists and fake tanks for D-Day!

[@revs81]

Hard to top garbo's deceptions around D Day but this was also very impressive

[@tomriley5790]

I remember reading somewhere (I think possibly by Godfrey) that they wanted to spoof the Italians into believing the landing would be in one part of Sicily when it actually would be in another believing that they would move their forces to that area, in actual fact although they believed the deception, their response was to move their forces out of that area - it affected his plans for future operations in that he realised his job wasn't to make the enemy believe what he wanted it was to get them to do what he wanted. It's also interesting that with modern pathology it would be pretty easy to prove that his cause of death had not been drowning. Incidentally I understand it the Consul in Spain was not aware of the deception, was made aware that the body had been found (as it was a british officer) and was instructed to make all efforts to recover him (as part of the deception, hoping secretly that he wouldn't be too successful).

[@jesserivas1387]

Wow, died a nobody and became a hero!

[@caolebthompson7961]

I- imagine being the mans and watching this and being like im the reason italy fell apart so quickly-

[@wanderlust1282]

Just watched the movie about Operation Mincemeat on Netflix. I thought it was pretty good.

[@samdumaquis2033]

Knew about it, great stuff

[@gejmster]

nice vid

[@williamreymond2669]

9:15] Had I heard of the "Man Who Never Was?" Yes, I read Ewan Montagu's excellent book with that title forty years ago. You might consider giving some credit.

[@dibyong7699]

And now it's a Movie

[@michaelmccarthy1358]

The Welshmans body was not used in the final operation. It has come to light that a freshly drowned man recovered from the water near the Clyde in Scotland was used. A little research will reveal this addition to the story. Also read Ben McIntyres book for a detailed story of this operation.

[@EyeLean5280]

My mom told me this story when I was a kid back in the 70s. I think there was a movie about it, maybe called "The Man Who Never Was"? I'm not sure. Fascinating stuff.

[@vapa117]

This got me excited to see the upcoming movie of this operation