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Operation Mincemeat: how British intelligence fooled Hitler with a dead man

War & conflict

Operation Mincemeat: how British intelligence fooled Hitler with a dead man

12 min

Spies dressed a corpse as an officer and planted fake invasion plans on it, tricking the Nazis about where the Allies would strike — one of the most audacious deceptions in the history of war.

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Show notes

Ian Fleming authored the Trout Memo which used fly-fishing analogies to propose deceptive wartime strategies.

British intelligence used phosphorus poisoning to mimic drowning because it bypassed standard medical examinations.

Pocket litter including a diamond ring receipt and an overdraft letter built a believable identity for the corpse.

A St. Christopher medal was placed on the body to discourage invasive autopsies by Spanish authorities.

The briefcase was chained to a trench coat to ensure it remained attached to the body during deployment.

Hitler diverted the First Panzer Division to Greece after Spanish intelligence covertly photographed the planted documents.

In this episode

  1. 1Intro1 min
  2. 2The Trout Memo and the Macabre Idea2 min
  3. 3Finding Glyndwr Michael3 min
  4. 4The Handcuffed Briefcase3 min
  5. 5Swallowed Rod, Line, and Sinker3 min
  6. 6Outro1 min

Sources

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Operation Mincemeat: how British intelligence fooled Hitler with a dead man — Fylom