OPERATION MINCEMEAT: A SECRET OPERATION OF WORLD WAR II

The photo shows the body of Glyndwr Michael, a homeless Welshman who unknowingly took part in one of the biggest deception operations in history. Operation “Mincemeat” was designed in January 1943 to make the Axis powers believe, through forged documents, that the Allies would land in Greece that summer and not in Sicily.

To convince the German “Abwehr” that the faked intelligence was genuine, they needed a credible method. British intelligence decided to let a body drift onto the coast of Spain so that the Spanish authorities would find it. Glyndwr Michael was chosen after he died in a hospital from swallowing rat poison and nobody came to claim his body. His pneumonia had produced symptoms similar to those of a drowning victim, so the cause of death would make sense in an autopsy.

The body was dressed as a British courier and fitted out with personal mail, including love letters and photos of a girlfriend. A briefcase was handcuffed to his wrist, holding letters and other documents that all pointed to an invasion of Greece. He was given a false name and the rank of Captain / Acting Major, which matched both his relatively young age and the high responsibility that came with carrying secret documents.

Michael’s body was transported by the submarine HMS Seraph to the Spanish coast, where he was committed to the sea after a psalm was read. The crew waited below deck, left to believe that they were only testing a new weather device. The tide washed Michael ashore in his inflated life vest, and the Spanish authorities recovered him the same day.

A German agent secured the briefcase with the documents, which were carefully opened and photographed. The Spanish then sent the body and all the documents back to the British, with the assurance “that everything was there”.

The photographs of the secret documents were evaluated in Berlin, after which Hitler ruled out an invasion of Sicily and considered Greece the more likely target. The result was a repositioning of German forces to meet the perceived “threat” in the Balkans. By the time other evidence pointed convincingly to the real invasion of Sicily, it was too late to move the troops again. Sicily fell to the Allies, Benito Mussolini was overthrown and his successor entered secret talks with the Allies. Operation Mincemeat was a complete success.

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