During World War II, the British conducted a bizarre and successful military deception operation—Operation Mincemeat. The Germans were led to believe that the Allies were about to invade Greece instead of landing on Sicily and Sardinia. This caused the Germans to transport a large number of personnel, materials and aircraft to the wrong location, greatly reducing the difficulty of the Allied landing battle to seize Sicily.
April 30, 1943.
Off the coast of Spain near Moorwell, the British submarine "Seraph" quietly surfaced. The hatch opened, and the soldiers opened an aluminum drum, took out a corpse with the rank of major, and threw it into the sea. The propeller stirred up the turbulent waves and pushed the corpse to the coastline not far away.
The body drifted to a small town on the coast of Spain, where it was discovered by local fishermen and reported to the Spanish Navy office stationed in the town.
Spanish naval officers rushed to the port, and they immediately recognized him as a British major officer who had drowned in the sea. Soon, they found the briefcase tied tightly to the body.
As usual, they immediately searched the body's clothes and leather bag, and initially determined that the deceased was Royal Navy Captain (acting major) William Martin, a staff officer of the British Joint Planning Command, code name 09560. In his coat pocket were a bank overdraft note and a demand letter from Lloyds Bank. Major Martin appears to have been newly engaged and carried with him a bill for an engagement ring purchased on credit from Phipps, the international jeweler in Bond Street. Two love letters have been soaked by sea water, but the signatures are still visible: "Love you Nisha" and other words.
The Spanish Navy Office personnel had no doubts about Martin's identity, and a document in Martin's file bag shocked them even more. The document revealed: The Allies were preparing to attack Sicily, but that was an illusion, a strategic feint intended to provide cover for the attack on Sardinia and Greece.
At that time, Spain was a neutral country on the surface, but in fact it had close ties with Nazi Germany. The Spaniards would definitely reveal this top-secret military information to the Germans. This is why the British chose the Spanish coast to dump their bodies. Sure enough, under the instruction of relevant departments, they first reported to the German spy agency in Spain. The all-pervasive German spies immediately photographed all the documents and items on Martin's body. Neither the Spanish Naval Office nor the German spies thought that this was a trap set by the Allies.
The German spies were much more cunning than the men in the Spanish naval office. In addition to checking the letters and items mentioned above one by one, they even found letters from Martin's father and family lawyer. From the sending place and date of the letter to the postmark of the receiving place, everything is verified repeatedly. All of this is of course impeccable. You know, for this set of materials, the British intelligence agency spent a full four months to come up with it, and almost every detail was carefully considered.
In Martin's briefcase, German spies also found a letter from Mountbatten to the American General Eisenhower, and a letter from General Archibald Nye, deputy chief of staff of the British General Staff, to the British commander General Harold Alexander. letter. The letter mentioned that in order to confuse the German army, they planned to use a feint attack on Sicily, Italy, to cover the landing operation in Greece.
Faced with what could be called "top secret" military intelligence, German spies were both excited and confused. But how could such a secret appear in the body of a major officer, and how could his superiors trust him so much? The British had already taken into consideration the reasonable suspicions of the Germans. A letter written by Mountbatten to Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, said: Major Martin is an expert in the application of landing craft and a rare talent. "He was always silent and shy at first, but He certainly has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. He had a better idea of the likely course of events at Dieppe than some of us had anticipated, and he has been doing very well in the trials of the new ships and equipment being built in Scotland. Please wait. Once the attack is over, return him to me immediately.”
At the end of the letter, Mountbatten also added: "Bring me some fresh sardines when he comes back, because sardines are rationed in Britain." The German spy immediately realized that sardines are a specialty of Sardinia. It seems that the British landing point is certain in Sardinia. Not only that, in order to prevent the Germans from performing autopsies on the corpse, they specifically chose the corpse of a man who died of pneumonia and had water in his lungs - a homeless deceased Michael was found in Weil (when he was found , he committed suicide by taking rat poison in a London warehouse one day at the end of January 1943). In this way, if the body is dissected, it will appear that it is a person who drowned at sea.
When the British consul in Huelva was informed that the body of a drowned British officer needed to be claimed, the German spies in Spain had received instructions from their headquarters in Berlin to provide more detailed details to Major Martin. Soon, the German intelligence network attacked frequently: first, spies hiding in London were dispatched. According to Nazi intelligence regulations, spies stationed in London would not be dispatched unless absolutely necessary. But this matter is so important that the intelligence agencies do not hesitate to pay. The dispatched spies quickly obtained the list of dead soldiers published by the British Navy on April 29. Acting Major William Martin was listed among them. His identity and name were exactly the same as those of the corpses found in Spain. Then, the German spies who sneaked into Spain also reported to Berlin: Major Martin's body had been buried in Huelva with formal military rites. Previously, in order to further confuse the Germans, the British intelligence service arranged for Martin's "fiancée" in the UK to send a wreath and a grief-stricken postcard to the funeral. Naturally, the German spies did not let go of all this. They even reported to Berlin the contents of the inscription set up by the British vice-consul in front of Martin's tomb. And this is exactly what the British who "act and do the whole thing" aspire to.
In order to identify the authenticity of these intelligences, the German Intelligence Agency specially ordered Colonel von Rohnner, the chief of the German Intelligence Analysis Section on the Western Front, to be responsible for the identification work. Perhaps the trap designed by the British was too realistic. The rather shrewd Ronner could not find a single flaw and was convinced of the authenticity of the document. Ronner concluded that the intelligence was completely true. The Allied forces' main attack direction was Sardinia and the Peloponnese, and a feint attack on Sicily was also carried out.
Regarding this conclusion, some people in the German high command were also worried about whether the British would change their plans after losing these documents. However, the intelligence agency believed that the British did not know that the Germans had intercepted these documents. When the British deputy consul received the body of Major Martin, all the documents and letters were "returned intact."
Just as Hitler and the German high command were making their final argument, another body washed up by the tide on the coast of a seaside city in Sardinia. The deceased was wearing a British commando uniform. The documents and records on his body proved that he belonged to a group of A small team is scouting Sardinia. In fact, this is another "masterpiece" of British submarines.
All this strengthened the judgment of the German Intelligence Agency. The German high command had to take action. Hitler issued an order to mobilize troops on May 12, 1943:
"After the upcoming fighting in Tunisia, it can be expected that the Anglo-American coalition will attempt to continue rapid operations in the Mediterranean... I ask all German command agencies concerned with the defense of the Mediterranean to cooperate quickly and closely, using all the forces and equipment, and using the few remaining Within the time required, particularly dangerous areas should be reinforced as much as possible. Measures taken against Sardinia and the Peloponnese take precedence over everything else."
On May 14, 1943, Hitler met with Mussolini, revealed the contents of Martin's secret message to him, and said proudly: "I think this is indeed true! This information is too important when we are indecisive. Mussolini said: "I always have a hunch that the Allies will still attack Sicily." Hitler emphasized: "Intuition is not as important as intelligence. We have received reliable intelligence! Intelligence!"
According to this order, the German army quickly mobilized troops to Greece and Sardinia. When Field Marshal Rommel moved his headquarters to Greece, the Head of State's SS Brigade was transferred to Sardinia, and an armored division was taken from the German army in France to reinforce the four Italian divisions stationed on the island. Hitler even approved the withdrawal of two armored divisions from the Soviet front line, preparing to use 320 trains to reach Greece in nine days.
Facing the British who performed "a good show", Hitler fell completely into the trap. The "Meat Mince Plan" achieved such unprecedented success that when the main force of the Allied forces landed in Sicily on the night of July 9, 1943, the German army thought it was a feint attack and did not resist at all. Unexpectedly, the British and American forces attacked so quickly that they captured Sicily in one fell swoop. The German and Italian troops suffered more than 227,000 casualties and prisoners, creating good conditions for the Allied forces to attack across the European continent.
But now comes the problem.
What should the female agents from Broken City do when faced with the mincemeat delivered to their doorsteps?
