Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory

Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre (Harmony Books, New York: 2010) is an interesting story told brilliantly. Indeed, this is a great book and the way history should be written. it is well researched--Macintyre spent three years reviewing documents and conducting interviews but the writing is anything but dry, Macintyre tells the tale with relish. It works on several levels.While focused on but one intelligence operation during World War II--a misdirection of invasion plans served up to the Nazi war machine, the book really captures the essence of war time espionage and intelligence activity more generally because MaCintyre follows all the leads and provides insights beyond the mere operation that is the subject of his book.This is must reading for the intelligence practitoner --and the policymaker alike. One of the obvious lessons is the potential for intelligence collectors, analysts, and policymakers to be had. I am not giving anything away by providing the gist of the plot which was the subject of a much earlier book and film (both treated in the Mincemeat)--a dead body with bogus letters discussing a military invasion (away from the actual landing in Sicily) is positioned in the sea so as to fall into German hands. In intelligence parlance the acquisition of the letters by the German Defense Intelligence Service amounted to "documentary material," rather than quoting a living HUMINT source. And accordingly, the analytical mechanism focused on the documents rather than conducting a full analysis of the provenance of the materials. Now the letters were not crafted in a vacuum--the British knew well the potential for self-deception within the Nazi war machine because independent thought that might question the Nazi leaders perceptions was a risky business. Indeed, while reading this it was eerily familiar: in the run-up to the Iraq war there was a similar potential for self-deception within the analytical and policymaking apparatus--the President's advisors and the President himself were determined to remove Saddam Hussein through military action, intelligence that was not corroborated was seized upon as the rationale for the invasion. The inclination to be supportive of the policy goals, to be team players, was counter to the equal need to be skeptical of uncorroborated information upon which important decisions will be made. In the intelligence collection activity, there is a constant tension among all involved in the process in terms evaluating the bone fides of the intelligence acquired while still being supportive to all involved in the mission--and while being responsive to policy needs. The tension is necessary and helpful to the process and it can save lives and embarrassment--the opposite is true when the process is corrupted.Another key factor jumped out to me in the reading of this fine book. You could have the most ingenious intelligence plan in the world but it boils down to execution by people--and while there were certainly a cast of characters involved in Operation Mincemeat--the success of the mission was the result of the performance of just a handful of people, quality people.All of the key factors of the intelligence craft are on display in Operation Mincemeat: the personal antagonisms, petty arguments and disagreements within bureaucracies (even the wonderfully small ones that the British had then and still do) , the unpredictability of human behavior, the long hours of work, the requirement for secrecy as well as the need for the occasional "white lie" to protect sources and methods, the potential for self-delusion as I have indicated earlier, as well as the potential to achieve significant goals on the cheap.

As a former FBI counterintelligence agent, I rarely read spy novels or books about spies. Authors rarely take the time to be accurate, so concerned are they that it fit the "action-packed" stereotype we've come to expect from books about spies. However, I was intrigued by the unique story of Operation Mincemeat and took a chance. I'd never read the other books written by Ben Macintyre so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm a hard critic of spy books but I loved this one.For one thing, Macintyre captures the reality of spy operations. They don't always have clean story lines that are executed with the suave expertise of James Bond. I find it ironic that Ian Fleming was actually a member of British Naval Intelligence at the time and contributed his prolific imagination to the planning of Mincemeat. Macintyre explains how Fleming read a mystery novel that began with a dead man carrying a set of documents that turn out to be forged. He incorporated the idea into the Trout Memo, a series of proposals for deceiving the Germans.British Naval Intelligence liked the idea and Macintyre unfolds the blunders, gaps, and trial-and-error approach that comes with every intelligence operation, no matter how well planned. Macintyre writes, "Operation Mincemeat began as fiction, a plot twist in a long-forgotten novel, and approved by yet another novelist."Operation Mincemeat is the aptly named caper about a half-decomposed corpse that washed up on the shores of Spain in 1943 with a briefcase containing secret intelligence that American and British forces planned to attack Sardinia and German-held Greece. The briefcase contained a letter that spells out secret plans that American and British forces planned to cross the Mediterranean and launch an attack on German-held Greece and Sardinia. Hitler transferred a panzer division to the region and issued a statement that measures to protect Sardinia take priority over any others.Too late the Germans learned that the dead body was that of a vagrant who died of rat poisoning and that the new British uniform he was wearing had been "broken in" by a British Intelligence officer who was the same size. Since underwear was rationed during wartime, the corpse was dressed in the underwear of another dead man. To keep the body fresh, he was frozen until time for his journey.Macintyre spares no details on the problems of dressing a frozen corpse--his feet had to be thawed so the ankles would be bend. "I've got it," said the Coroner. "We'll get an electric fire and thaw out the feet only. As soon as the boots are on we'll pop him back in the refrigerator again and refreeze him." Macintyre then describes his transport in an insulated capsule that had been invited by Charles Fraser-Smith, who is believed to be the model for Q in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.Operation Mincemeat was a success and the Germans took the bait hook, line, and sinker. When a hundred and sixty thousand Allied troops invaded Sicily--instead of Sardinia--on July 10, 1943, it became clear that the Germans had fallen victim to one of the more spectacular ruses of modern military history.

Dieses Buch Beschreibt ein sehr erfolgreiches Täuschungsmanöver der Briten während den zweiten Weltkrieg. Das Erste mal das ich hiervon hörte war als ich den Verfilmung hiervon gesehen hab, Der Mann, den es nie gab (The Man Who Never Was) nach den gleichnamigen Buch.Die Briten wollen vor der Invasion von Sizilien die Deutschen soweit kriegen das die Truppen von Sizilien wo anders hin verlegen. Hierzu würde eine falsche Identität kreiert für eine an Lungenentzündung gestorbenen obdachlosen. Seine Leiche wurde mit ausführlichen falsch Information geschmückt und vor der Spanische Küste als Flugzeugabsturzopfer getarnt ausgesetzt.Der Deutsche Abwehr fiel voll drauf rein und Truppen wurden verlegt.Das Buch ist sehr gut recherchiert, dokumentiert den ganzen Operation hervorragend und erklärt auch die unterschieden zwischen Wirklichkeit und die doch etwas Romantisierte Verfilmung der Operation.Interessant für jeden der sich in Geheimdienstoperationen interessiert oder einfach eine spannenden buch lesen das sich liest wie ein Thriller aber keinen ist.

Excellent book on a famous and well planned deceipt of WWII. The book shows that the author went through a thorough research before publishing his book. A great read for history buffs of WWII.

Good

Schnelle Bearbeitung und einwandfreie Qualität! Ich bin vollauf zufrieden. So sollte es immer sein. Das ideale Buch zur gleichnamigen BBC-Doku.

A true story, the facts pieced together with history of world, the intrigue as well as personal cameos. A masterpiece.