Operation Mincemeat
Page 39
11 “the least pleasant part of our work”: Ewen Montagu, The Man Who Never Was (Oxford, 1996), p. 160.
12 “We decided Bill Martin and Pam”: Ibid., p. 162.
13 “Get an army blanket”: Jackson, Coroner, p. 149.
14 “lightly tied with tape”: Ibid.
15 “reverently”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 162.
16 “a shirt and tie”: Ian Girling, “The Horsfall Story: A Tribute,” Aston Martin Magazine, vol. 33, no. 142, Spring 1999.
17 “went berserk”: Ibid.
18 “potentially lethal pieces of metal”: Ibid.
19 “The scream that Kath gave”: Ibid.
20 “I gave her time to start her piddle”: Ibid.
21 “he claimed to have done 100 mph”: John Otter, letter to Daily Telegraph, August 15, 2002.
22 “one of us sitting”: Draft manuscript of The Man Who Never Was, IWM 97/45/2.
23 “had supper with a corpse parked”: Ibid.
24 “much better story”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 163.
25 “partially ‘in the know’”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 450.
26 “being accepted as merely being”: Ibid.
27 “By this time Major Martin”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 160.
28 “We had come to feel”: Ibid.
29 “news such as can be written”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, April 24, 1943, Montagu Letters.
30 “I had to go up to Scotland”: Ibid.
31 “I was to see that this package”: David Scott, “The Man That Never Was: Operation Mincemeat,” Reminiscences of Sir David Scott, Churchill Archives, DKNS II, p. 2.
32 “It was a real thrill”: Ewen Montagu, unpublished account, October 7, 1976, Montagu Papers.
33 “Spring was on the way”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 3.
34 “trim dive”: Ibid.
35 “A final exchange of ‘Good Luck’”: Ibid.
36 “Monotony never really set in”: Ibid.
37 “We were never short of meat”: Ibid.
38 “John Brown’s Body”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 169.
39 “our pal Charlie”: Terence Robertson, The Ship with Two Captains: The Story of the “Secret Mission Submarine” (London, 1957), p. 124.
40 “epitome of what a submarine captain”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 4.
41 “At that time, the chances of returning”: Ibid.
42 “I realised with a bit of a shock”: Ibid.
43 “bashed-in sort of face”: John Parker, SBS: The Story of the Special Boat Service (London, 1997), p. 19.
44 “Your American gum”: Robertson, Ship with Two Captains, p. 92.
45 “a happy augury for the future”: Terence Robertson, The Ship with Two Captains: The Story of the “Secret Mission Submarine” (London, 1957), p. 92.
46 “a two-fisted fighting man”: N. L. A. Jewell, as told to Cecil Carnes, Secret Mission Submarine: Action Report of the HMS Seraph (London, 1944), p. 101.
47 “We’ll fight an army on a dare”: Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 82.
48 “always conspicuously”: Citation for Distinguished Service Cross.
49 “I think we can do it”: Robertson, Ship with Two Captains, p. 106.
50 “sink on sight any vessel”: Ibid.
51 “Put me ashore, give me a gun”: Ibid., p. 110.
52 “constant strain”: Ibid., p. 112.
53 “one grabbed a large”: Ibid.
54 “broken nose”: Ibid.
55 “a lithe, graceful look”: Ibid., p. 124.
56 “We were told that we were not”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
57 “unmistakable sounds”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
58 “We knew that at least”: Ibid.
Chapter Fourteen: Bill’s Farewell
1 “I rushed home”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.
2 “absurd”: Ewen Montagu, The Man Who Never Was (Oxford, 1996), p. 167.
3 Bill Martin’s death: TNA, CAB 154/67.
4 “We were terribly agitated”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.
5 “as a joke”: Montagu, The Man Who Never Was, p. 167.
6 “gathered from every part”: John Fisher, What a Performance: A Life of Sid Field (London, 1975), p. 85.
7 “definitely ‘a find’”: Ibid., p. 99.
8 “the loudest laughter we”: Ibid., p. 100.
9 “all his jokes are clean”: Ibid.
10 “I’m going to get pickled”: Ibid., p. 96.
11 “an adequate ration of gin”: Ibid., p. 85.
12 “If an Air Raid Warning”: Ibid.
13 “When you feel unhappy”: Ibid., p. 103.
14 “The laughs came like the waves”: Ibid., p. 88.
15 “The weather was warm at last”: David Scott, “The Man That Never Was: Operation Mincemeat,” Reminiscences of Sir David Scott, Churchill Archives, DKNS II, p. 3.
16 “were such that strangers”: Obituary of Michael Luke, Independent, April 19, 2005.
17 “mystery suffused with a tender”: Ibid.
18 “very cheerful evening”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 167.
19 “Considering Bill and Pam are engaged”: Ibid.
20 “It would be different”: Ibid.
21 “They kept looking at their watches”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.
22 “I had to go and take”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, April 23, 1943, Montagu Letters.
23 “smitten”: Jean Gerard Leigh, interview with the author, March 5, 2008.
24 “I am glad that Verel”: Ewen Montagu to Iris Montagu, June 29, 1943, Montagu Letters.
25 “We were all very excited”: Pat Davies, interview with the author, October 4, 2009.
26 “One patriotic Greek managed”: Thaddeus Holt, The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War (London, 2004), p. 368.
27 “hygiene in the Balkans”: Ibid.
28 “no major operation could be”: Ewen Montagu, unpublished critique of Constantine Fitzgibbon, Secret Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (London, 1976), Montagu Papers.
29 “the peak of the Deception effort”: Holt, Deceivers, p. 366.
30 “if they should suspect”: Ewen Montagu, memo, March 31, 1943, TNA, W0 106/5921.
31 “I had to take the can”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.
32 “Intelligence, like food”: John Godfrey, “Afterthoughts,” TNA, ADM 223/619, p. 91.
33 “with instructions to burn”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
34 “Operation known as Mincemeat”: Telegram from T. A. Robertson, MI5, to DSO Gibraltar, April 22, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.
35 “something of a shock”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 4.
36 “sailors had been sleeping”: Ibid.
37 “the vital need for absolute secrecy”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 451.
38 “Isn’t it pretty unlucky”: Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 170.
39 “a close range reconnaissance”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 4.
40 “easy, even enjoyable”: Ibid.
41 “The operation had to be carried”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 31, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
42 “an onshore wind”: Ibid.
43 “The next day turned out to be ideal”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 4.
44 “arrange total bombing restrictions”: Memo, April 15, 1943, IWM, 97/45/1, folder #1.
45 “no known defensive dangers”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
46 “We were just about to surface”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
47 “A large number of small fishing boats”: N. L. A. Jewell report, April 30, 1943, cited in Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 168.
48 “landing some pseudo-secret instruments”: N. L. A. Jewell, operational orders, March 3
1, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/464.
49 “crept in a little closer”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 4.
50 “some little stink”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
51 “I doubt if any of them”: Ibid.
52 “I had seen bodies before”: Ibid.
53 “The blanket was opened up”: TNA 223/794.
54 “We seemed to be practically”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
55 “what I could remember”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
56 “With some relief”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
57 “He virtually assured success”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 453.
58 “Because it had been designed”: Ibid.
59 “riddled by fire”: Ibid.
60 “He did this with his usual skill”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
61 “a hell of a time”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
62 “Daylight was fast approaching”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
63 “It then disappeared, finally”: N. L. A. Jewell, Audiotape 12278, 1991, IWM.
64 “it was seen to sink”: N. L. A. Jewell Report, April 30, 1943, cited in Montagu, Man Who Never Was, p. 168.
65 “We dived and set course for Gibraltar”: Scott, “Man That Never Was,” p. 5.
66 “Mincemeat Completed”: TNA, ADM 223/794.
67 “Parcel delivered safely”: Terence Robertson, The Ship with Two Captains: The Story of the “Secret Mission Submarine” (London, 1957), p. 117.
Chapter Fifteen: Dulce et Decorum
1 “G VI R and the royal crown”: IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
2 “which had penetrated the muscles”: Ibid.
3 “should telephone to him at Madrid”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
4 “would say that he could not talk”: Ibid.
5 “a separate series in his personal cipher”: Ewen Montagu to Fitzroy McLean, March 30, 1977, IWM 97/45/1, folder #5.
6 “energetically”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 445.
7 “Soup Bowl”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro del Villar, Huelva en la Guerra Mundial (Huelva, Spain, 1996), p. 411.
8 “examined the names on the envelopes”: IWM, 97/45/1, folder #2, Appendix III.
9 “react swiftly”: Copeiro del Villar, Huelva, p. 422.
10 “Well, your superior might not like”: Ibid.
11 “attitude, in refusing the briefcase”: Ibid.
12 “of an English pattern”: Telegram to von Roenne from FHW, May 22, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 207.
13 “There are clearly two”: Ibid.
14 “On the first incision being made”: Edward Smith (former head of Reporting Organisation Section, NID) to Ewen Montagu, June 5, 1969, IWM.
15 “remarkable presence of mind”: Ibid.
16 “Since it was obvious the heat”: Ibid.
17 “On receiving this assurance”: Ibid.
18 “The young British officer fell in the water”: Copeiro del Villar, Huelva, p. 414.
19 “nibbling and bites by fish”: Ibid.
20 “The shininess of the hair”: Ibid.
21 “doubt over the nature of the liquid”: Ibid.
22 “He seemed very well dressed”: Isabel Naylor, interview with the author, June 3, 2009.
23 “identical”: Telegram to von Roenne from FHW, May 22, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 207.
24 “that a bald patch on the temples”: Ibid.
25 “either the photograph was taken”: Ibid.
26 “With reference to my phone message”: Unsigned telegram 012210 sent at 20.30 on May 1, 1943, TNA, ADM 223/794.
27 “so that the action for suppressing”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 457.
28 “the suppression of the signal”: Ibid.
29 “taken into naval custody”: Ewen Montagu to Cyril Mills, November 11, 1983, Montagu Papers.
30 “The Spanish navy is not in German”: Ewen Montagu to “C,” June 21, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
31 “a rigid disciplinarian”: Copeiro del Villar, Huelva, p. 422.
32 “suffocating heat”: Ibid., p. 414.
33 “as a mark of respect”: Federico Clauss, interview with the author, June 2, 2009.
34 “W. Martin, aged between 35 and 40”: Copeiro del Villar, Huelva, p. 420.
35 “Class Five”: Ibid.
Chapter Sixteen: Spanish Trails
1 “do everything necessary”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
2 “Notwithstanding his great desire”: Ibid.
3 “These three persons are in command”: Ibid.
4 “intimate friend”: Ibid.
5 “nursed a profound antipathy”: Jesús Ramírez Copeiro del Villar, Huelva en la Guerra Mundial (Huelva, Spain, 1996), p. 286.
6 “did not dare to ask the naval judge”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
7 “In Huelva, Don Adolfo”: Federico Clauss, interview with the author, June 2, 2009.
8 “neither copied nor photographed”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
9 “I am glad to say the naval”: Alan Hillgarth to Ewen Montagu, June 9, 1943, IWM, 97/45/1, folder #1.
10 “Some of papers Major Martin”: Department of Naval Intelligence to NA, telegram 04132, May 4, 1943, TNA, W0 106/5921, p. 32.
11 “Carry out instructions”: Telegram 869, May 4, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #1.
12 “kept on such a plane”: Ewen Montagu, “Draft Proposal for Compiler of MI5 History,” July 24, 1945, IWM, 97/45/1, folder #1.
13 “searching but discreet”: Ibid.
14 “Rumours are extremely easy”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/478.
15 “select from among his acquaintance”: Ibid.
16 “sincerely anti-war”: TNA, ADM 223/876.
17 “I managed to make the Minister”: Alan Hillgarth, report, TNA, ADM 223/490.
18 “that the Minister of Marine”: Alan Hillgarth, May 5, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
19 “Vice Consul Huelva saw body”: NA [naval attaché] to Department of Naval Intelligence, May 5, 1943, 1823, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
20 “Secret papers probably in black”: Department of Naval Intelligence to NA [naval attaché], telegram 071216, May 7, 1943, TNA, W0 106/5921, p. 33.
21 “Normally you would be getting”: Ewen Montagu to NA [naval attaché] Madrid, telegram 870, May 6, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #1.
22 “Understood and acted on throughout”: IWM 97/45/1, folder #1.
23 “promised to obtain copies”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
24 “discreet inquiries whether any”: Alan Hillgarth memo, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
25 “As the local Germans were not able”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
26 “summoned to Villarreal de San Antonio”: Ibid.
27 “very pro-German and in German pay”: Ibid.
28 “This individual”: Ibid.
29 “to do everything possible to obtain”: Ibid.
30 “Urging him to use the utmost”: Ibid.
31 “accurate information regarding”: Ibid.
32 “either because they were afraid”: Ibid.
33 “Either because of the junior rank”: Ibid.
34 “forwarded, unopened”: ABW 2282/43 CAB 154/101.
35 “only scanty information”: J. H. Bevan, memo, May 3, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/67.
36 “Mincemeat was found by”: Ibid.
37 “We sweat away, 11 of us”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.
38 “It is requested that I may”: Undated note, Montagu Papers.
39 “I always was a selfish shit”: Ewen Montagu to “Ginger,” July 6, 1943, Montagu Papers.
40 “I have never been able”: Ibid.
41 “If I had made a slip in the preparation”: Ibid.
42 “Official procedure is always”: NA [naval attaché] to Department of Naval Intelligence, May 5, 1943, 1823, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
43 “i
nformed that they had not”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
44 “Again they failed”: Ibid.
45 “an official of the [Cádiz] Marine”: ABW 2282/43, CAB 154/101.
46 “did not dare approach”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
47 “an assiduous worker for the Germans”: Ibid.
48 “that he had heard about the body”: Ibid.
49 “many privileges and facilities”: Ibid.
50 “unable to obtain any fresh”: Ibid.
51 “certain high officials in the police”: Ibid.
52 “Great interest was aroused”: Ibid.
53 “Groizar fostered this interest”: Ibid.
54 “One can’t imagine”: Stanley G. Payne, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany and World War II (London, 2008), p. 150.
55 “in the hope that he will come to Spain”: Andros report, IWM 97/45/1, folder #2.
56 “approaches were made by the Germans”: Ibid.
Chapter Seventeen: Kühlenthal’s Coup
1 “Red Indians”: Macintyre, For Your Eyes Only, p. 32.
2 “a Spanish Staff Officer”: Abw Telegram Nr 2282/43, Spain to FHW, May 15, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/101, p. 203.
3 “with whom we have been in contact”: “Appendix to Operation Mincemeat,” TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 459.
4 “my Spanish agent in the General Staff”: Ian Colvin, The Unknown Courier (London, 1953), p. 95.
5 “case officer”: Abw Telegram Nr 2282/43, Spain to FHW, May 15, 1943, TNA, CAB 154/101, p. 203.
6 “Those seals held the envelopes”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 453.
7 “It was possible to extract”: Report of Special Examiners, May 21, 1943, IWM 97/45/1, folder #5.
8 “The Spaniards had, very intelligently”: “Appendix to Operation Mincemeat,” TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 459.
9 “They seemed to me to be”: Colvin, Unknown Courier, p. 95.
10 “A short white-haired man”: Ibid., p. 34.
11 “These letters mentioned”: Ibid., p. 95.
12 “the strategic considerations”: Ibid.
13 “I took them to the basement”: Ibid.
14 “there was no trace whatever”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 453.
15 “the importance attached to them”: Colvin, Unknown Courier, p. 96.
16 “left Madrid hurriedly for Berlin”: Most Secret Source message, April 7, 1943, TNA, KV2/102.
17 “all the effects and papers”: TNA, ADM 223/794, p. 453.