Operation Mincemeat
Page 38
41 “General Wilson is referred to”: Ibid.
42 “I referred to him variously”: A. Nye to J. H. Bevan, April 14, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.
43 “I would never have written”: A. Nye to Ewen Montagu, April 26, 1954, Montagu Papers.
44 “P.S. We saw you on the cinema”: Ibid.
45 “might help to strike”: Ibid.
46 “Now I hope your friends”: A. Nye to J. H. Bevan, April 14, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.
47 “a truly magnificent letter”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 135.
48 “It’s too velvety-arsed and Rolls Royce”: Rick Atkinson, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943–1945 (London, 2007), p. 52.
49 “laboured”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 143.
50 “I thought that that sort of joke”: Ibid.
51 “Papers actually on the body”: Charles Cholmondeley, memo, February 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67, p. 229.
52 “the Chiefs of Staff have approved”: TNA, CAB 154/67.
53 “To my surprise I was ushered”: J. H. Bevan, handwritten account, undated [April 15, 1943], TNA, CAB 154/67.
54 “In the higher ranges of Secret Service”: Ben Macintyre, For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond (London, 2008), p. 58.
55 “Of course there’s a possibility”: Conversation recalled by Randolph Churchill in conversation with J. H. Bevan, recorded in Martin Gilbert, Road to Victory (London, 1981), p. 389.
56 “Weed-killer goes into the lungs”: Ibid.
57 “took much interest”: J. H. Bevan, handwritten account, undated [April 15, 1943], TNA, CAB 154/67.
58 “I pointed out that there”: Ibid.
59 “In that case, we shall”: Ibid.
60 “General Eisenhower gives full”: Telegram IZ 1416, Received 1620, April 17, 1943, Freedom Algiers to Air Ministry, TNA, CAB 154/67.
Chapter Ten: Table-Tennis Traitor
1 “I get more and more optimistic”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, January 24, 1943, Montagu Letters.
2 “We ought by the time”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, November 13, 1942, Montagu Letters.
3 “Mincemeat is in the making”: Guy Liddell, The Guy Liddell Diaries, 1939–1945, vol. 2, ed. Nigel West (London, 2005), p. 45.
4 “Plan Mincemeat has been approved”: Ibid., p. 67.
5 “in close touch with many Russians”: TNA, KV2/599.
6 “an incurable anti-nationalist”: Ibid.
7 “facilities for sport were far greater”: Ibid.
8 “men of decidedly foreign”: Ibid.
9 “did not think Montagu would get”: Ibid.
10 “his association with the Russians”: Ibid.
11 “an active Fifth Columnist”: Ibid.
12 “he is always very keen”: Ibid.
13 “has a wooden hut”: Ibid.
14 “It does not seem desirable”: Ibid.
15 “whether this refusal is”: Hansard Parliamentary Debates, vol. 357, no. 23, March 14, 1940.
16 “I myself have registered”: TNA, KV2/599.
17 “most undesirable that he should”: Ibid.
18 “Intelligentsia lives in the”: TNA, HW 15/43.
19 “as a criminal conspiracy”: Ibid.
20 “known to be queer in any other way”: Ibid.
21 “The reason for our tentative interest”: Ibid.
22 “Bulgarian police authorities”: Ibid.
23 “Hanno-ball”: Ibid.
24 “certain net-stretchers”: Ibid.
25 “suspected of running an illegal”: Ibid.
26 “be using the channel of international”: Ibid.
27 “I know this all seems very trivial”: Ibid.
28 “I had no great faith in the records”: Ewen Montagu, Beyond Top Secret Ultra (London, 1977), p. 48.
29 “How is the table tennis going?”: Ibid., p. 49.
30 “That’s my communist”: Ibid.
31 “special examiners”: History of Operation Mincemeat, April 10, 1945, TNA, CAB 154/67.
32 “if the lash was gone”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro dell Villar, Huelva en la Guerra Mundial (Huelva, Spain, 1996), p. 426.
33 “Mine were used for Major Martin’s”: Montagu, Beyond Top Secret Ultra, p. 149.
34 “an ordinary black Government”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 449.
35 “horribly phoney”: Ewen Montagu, The Man Who Never Was (Oxford, 1996), p. 145.
36 “the use of a chain to the bag”: Charles Cholmondeley, memo, February 10, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67, p. 229.
37 “little or no wreckage floated”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
38 “for simplification and for security”: Ibid.
39 “might have been the twin brother”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p.141.
40 “far more like”: Draft manuscript, Man, IWM 97/45/2.
41 “heartily disliked”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 160.
42 “odd psychological reaction”: Ibid.
43 “told to report to the intelligence”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
44 “normal final training”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
45 “Mincemeat sails 19th April”: TNA, CAB 154/67.
46 “enable the operation to be carried”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
47 “In wartime, any plan that saved”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
48 “the vital need for secrecy”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.
49 “packed, fully clothed and ready”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
50 “as the steel is made of light gauge”: Memo, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
51 “held a super-secret automatic”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.
52 “we suspected the Germans”: Ibid.
53 “Lt Jewell was to impress”: Ibid.
54 “between Portil Pillar and Punta Umbria”: Ibid., p. 445.
55 “Every effort should be made”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1942, TNA, ADM 223/464.
56 “the submarine could probably”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
57 “the proposed use of a flare was dropped”: Ibid.
58 “on specially prepared slides”: Ibid.
59 “The container should then be opened”: Ibid.
60 “When the body is removed”: Ibid.
61 “near the body but not too near”: Ibid.
62 “the body and container”: Ibid.
63 “care must be taken that”: Ibid.
64 “Cancel Mincemeat”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
65 “Mincemeat completed”: Ibid.
66 “a pleasant time building up”: N. L. A. Jewell, audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
67 “making a life for the Major of Marines”: Ibid.
68 “I had the enjoyment”: Ibid.
69 “Mincemeat sails”: Chaucer to Goldbranson, April 15, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.
Chapter Eleven: Gold Prospector
1 “Adventure was once a noble”: Alan Hillgarth, Men of War (London, 1926), p. 34.
2 “a young man called Alan Hillgarth”: Evelyn Waugh, Diaries (London, 1995), July 1, 1927.
3 “steep hill all covered”: Daniel Buck, “Tales of Glitter or Dust,” Americas, vol. 52, May 2000.
4 “a large stone shaped like an egg”: Ibid.
5 “that took five hundred men”: Ibid.
6 “enough strong poison to kill”: Ibid.
7 “reputed by the local Indians”: J. B. S. Meadows, “Sacambaya,” St. Barts Journal, January 1929, p. 58.
8 “squarish man with conspicuously”: Buck, “Tales of Glitter or Dust,” Americas.
9 “record themselves on a photographic”: Report of Sacambaya Company, April 23, 1929, courtesy of Tristan Hillgarth.
10 “the definite location of a strong”: Ibid.
11 “men who had had considerable”: Ibid.
12 “Sacambaya is a poisonous place”: Ibid.
13 �
�protection against the often”: Ibid.
14 “across 20 miles of pretty”: Ibid.
15 “This is the furthest outpost”: Ibid.
16 “This was quite an undertaking”: Ibid.
17 “one case containing 200 lbs”: Ibid.
18 “100 feet into the hillside”: Ibid.
19 “A complete absence of fresh fruit”: J. B. S. Meadows, “Sacambaya,” St. Barts Journal, January 1929, p. 59.
20 “One of our party awakened”: Ibid.
21 “Claustrophobia brought on by”: Ibid.
22 “He has fallen seriously in love”: Edgar Sanders to Alan Hillgarth, January 5, 1929, courtesy of Tristan Hillgarth.
23 “either by the hotel people or the police”: Ibid.
24 “No body of men could have”: Report of Sacambaya Company.
25 “he doubled up as spy”: Jimmy Burns, Papa Spy: Love, Faith and Betrayal in Wartime Spain (London, 2009), p. 22.
26 “an intense bombardment which”: Captain Alan Hillgarth (then British consul in Palma), note on the surrender of Menorca, translated from Catalan by Tristan Hillgarth.
27 “a decisive German victory over Russia”: Alan Hillgarth, memo, July 13, 1942, TNA, ADM 223/478.
28 “very good”: Denis Smyth, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
29 “equipped with a profound knowledge”: Ibid.
30 “privately about anything interesting”: Alan Hillgarth, memo, TNA, ADM 223/490.
31 “useful petard and a good war-winner”: Andrew Lycett, Ian Fleming (London, 1996), p. 158.
32 “the embodiment of drive”: David Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets (London, 1999), p. 110.
33 “secret funds that were made available”: Kim Philby, My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy (London, 1968), p. 54.
34 “helped to feed the gallant”: Ibid.
35 “local police, dock watchmen and stevedores”: Alan Hillgarth Report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
36 “expendable parts of Hitler’s war machine”: Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill, p. 92.
37 “took corruption for granted”: John Brooks, “Annals of Finance,” New Yorker, May 21, 1979.
38 “the last pirate of the Mediterranean”: Ibid.
39 “It would be a mistake to trust him an inch”: Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill, p. 90.
40 “He has already had two German agents shot”: Ibid.
41 “an amphibious car”: “Spanish Help to the Germans,” records of NID12, TNA, ADM 223/490.
42 “There was not a Spaniard who would not”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
43 “The Cavalry of St George”: Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill, p. 93.
44 “We must not lose them now”: Ibid., p. 96.
45 “his approval can safely be assumed”: Ibid., p. 100.
46 “German victory would mean servitude”: Donald McLachlan, Room 39: Naval Intelligence in Action 1939–45 (London, 1968), p. 194.
47 “the Spaniard is xenophobic and suspicious”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
48 “I am finding Hillgarth a great prop”: Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill, p. 96.
49 “a natural sympathy”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
50 “Handling Spaniards is a special”: Ibid.
51 “will be at a very definite”: Ibid.
52 “Even during the worst of the war”: Ibid.
53 “very reliable and well placed”: Ewen Montagu, report, August 21, 1945, TNA, ADM 223/794.
54 “to supply intelligence which”: Ibid.
55 “might compromise a very”: Ibid.
56 “The items were so chosen”: Ibid.
57 “Messig swallowed the stories”: Ibid.
58 “It was a delicate job”: Ibid.
59 “copies of all our telegrams”: Montagu, Beyond Top Secret Ultra, p.121.
60 “It seemed that the listening”: Ibid.
61 “Only by naval ciphers”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
62 “suborned by a woman in German pay”: Ibid.
63 “kept lists of everyone”: Burns, Papa Spy, p. 190.
64 “The Germans would have someone”: Tristan Hillgarth, interview with the author, January 13, 2009.
65 “very amateurish and inefficient”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
66 “Our deportment towards the German”: Ibid.
67 “The circumstances of his release”: Rankin, Churchill’s Wizards, p. 346.
68 “Wrangal Craker”: Deceiving Hitler: Double Cross and Deception in World War II (London 2008), p. 142.
69 “Herewith some photographs”: Rankin, Churchill’s Wizards, p. 349.
70 “sound in mind”: Crowdy, Deceiving Hitler, p. 143.
71 “he is just the type who imagines”: Ibid.
72 “It is time to pass from the defensive”: Alan Hillgarth to Edmund Rushbrooke, TNA, ADM 223/490.
73 “more or less any naval intelligence”: Ibid.
74 “the Axis was allowed with little”: Ibid.
75 “I have found a good man”: Ibid.
76 “All operations are, if I may say so”: Ibid.
77 “You and your staff have shown”: Edmund Rushbrooke to Alan Hillgarth, TNA, ADM 223/490.
78 “undesirable and unnecessary”: Ibid.
Chapter Twelve: The Spy Who Baked Cakes
1 “ubiquitous”: Tomas Harris, Garbo: The Spy Who Saved D-Day (London, 2004), p. 18.
2 “All classes were represented”: “Spanish Help to the Germans,” records of NID12, TNA, ADM 223/490.
3 “In the higher ranks there”: Ibid.
4 “Indeed, the reports went”: TNA, ADM 223/490.
5 “particulars on each”: Kim Philby, My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy (London, 1968), pp. 54–55.
6 “for a very large sum”: Ibid.
7 “precious source”: Ibid.
8 “very high indeed”: Ibid.
9 “I had to fight to get an extra £5”: Ibid.
10 “the cause of death”: Ian Colvin, The Unknown Courier (London, 1953), p. 42.
11 “examined hundreds of corpses”: Ibid., p. 41.
12 “Nothing happened in the Abwehr station”: MI5 interrogation of captured Abwehr officer Hans Joachim Rudolph, in Kühlenthal MI5 files, TNA, KV2/102.
13 “fleshy, boneless cheeks”: Ibid.
14 “curved hawk-like”: Ibid.
15 “blue piercing eyes”: Ibid.
16 “a dark brown French four-seater”: Ibid.
17 “carefully manicured”: Ibid.
18 “a very efficient, ambitious”: Harris, Garbo, p. 69
19 “contrived to push Leissner”: TNA, KV2/102.
20 “became a mere figurehead.: Ibid.
21 “He was an extremely able man”: Ibid.
22 “the esteem and reputation”: Ibid.
23 “by far the best man in Group I”: Ibid.
24 “sent a personal message”: Ibid.
25 “extremely busy and that his visit”: Harris, Garbo, p. 46.
26 “careful not to underestimate”: Ibid., p. 50.
27 “would be a very long war”: Ibid., p. Ibid.
28 “There are people in Glasgow”: Ibid., p. 58.
29 “We have absolute trust in you”: Ibid., p. 250.
30 “My dear friend and comrade”: Ibid., p. 257.
31 “the democratic-Jewish-Masonic”: Ibid.
32 “England must be taken by arms”: Ibid., p. 237.
33 “With a raised arm I end this letter”: Ibid.
34 “His characteristic German lack”: Ibid., p. 70.
35 “the star turn”: Ibid., p. 128.
36 “With good wishes to Odette”: Ibid.
37 “I did the lettering myself”: Ibid.
38 “made cakes which were unpleasant”: Ibid.
39 “vast information” Ibid.
40 “As a keen and efficient officer”: Ibid., p. 69.
41 “We
had the satisfaction of knowing”: Ibid.
42 “the many incredible things we ask”: Ibid., p. 95.
43 “the more sensational the reports”: Ibid., p. 146.
44 “In some cases where messages”: Ibid.
45 “Felipe had become our mouthpiece”: Ibid., p. 72.
46 “an invaluable channel”: Ibid.
47 “conviction that the Isle of Man”: Most Secret Source report, TNA, KV2/102.
48 “invented by Felipe himself”: TNA, KV2/102.
49 “The information provided”: TNA, KV2/102.
50 “one of the people who make up”: Guy Liddell, The Guy Liddell Diaries, 1939–1945, ed. Nigel West (London, 2005), March 10, 1944, p. 179.
51 “There are officers in Spain”: Statement of Josef Ledebur-Wichelin at Camp 020, November 25, 1944, TNA, KV2/102.
52 “leaving a good job as manager”: TNA, KV2/102
53 “he could not serve in the Army”: TNA, KV2/102.
54 “Aryanised”: TNA, KV2/102.
55 “He has been created an Aryan”: Telegram Berlin to Madrid, July 18, 1941, TNA, KV2/102.
56 “since there appeared to be no”: Telegram Berlin to Madrid, May 4, 1941, TNA, KV2/102.
57 “to let the matter drop”: Most Secret Source report, November 5, 1941, TNA, KV2/102.
58 “in the pay of the British Secret Service”: TNA, KV2/102.
59 “refused to take the report seriously”: TNA, KV2/102.
60 “cold and reserved”: TNA, KV2/102.
61 “Appearance: nervous, uncertain”: TNA, KV2/102.
62 “Kühlenthal is trembling to keep”: Statement of Josef Ledebur-Wichelin at Camp 020, November 25, 1944, TNA, KV2/102.
Chapter Thirteen: Mincemeat Sets Sail
1 “national importance”: Basil Leverton, interview with the author, September 8, 2009.
2 “I was not to divulge”: Ivor Leverton, unpublished diary, courtesy of Andrew Leverton.
3 “phone call from St. Pancras”: Ibid.
4 “I was still in fairly good shape”: Ibid.
5 “removal coffins”: Andrew Leverton, interview with the author, January 27, 2009.
6 “must have stood 6′4″ inches tall”: Ivor Leverton, letters to Daily Telegraph, August 13, 2002.
7 “left our passenger”: Ivor Leverton, unpublished diary.
8 “a mortuary-keeper on whom”: Ewen Montagu to John Godfrey, September 19, 1964, Montagu Papers.
9 “made it as easy as possible”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.
10 “I’ve got it”: Robert Jackson, Coroner: The Biography of Sir Bentley Purchase (London, 1963), p. 149.