December 2018 - The Man Who Never Was
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their regular monthly meeting on Friday 7th December 2018 at Merchistoun Hall. They listened to a mesmerizing talk from Richard Swaine about "The Man Who Never Was."
Richard set the scene of the Second World War. We were suffering with the blitz of heavy bombings, sinking of our ships etc. A terrible hammering and our people were suffering. The Commonwealth World Graves Commission look after 1,700,000 war graves in 154 different countries.
The allies with 160,000 troops had successfully landed in North Africa in 1943 and Stalin & Roosevelt wanted an invasion of Northern Europe but Churchill said absolutely not so they decided on Southern Europe. Sicily was the obvious choice however it was heavily fortified. So they decided that a plan was needed to make the Germans believe that they would be invading Eastern, Europe. The "Thinkers" - Ian Fleming, Charles Cholmondely and Ewen Montague who worked for MI6 were charged with coming up with a cunning plan. They decided that they needed a body to float into southern Spain for the subterfuge! However the body had to have died in the right circumstances - consistent with drowning and couldn't be by being pulled out of rubble or disease because it would be discovered by pathologist. Two conspirators - Sir Bentley Purchase St. Pancras Coroner and Sir Bernard Spilsbury senior pathologist whose job it was to examine every body to find one who had died in the right circumstances.
Richard told the story of a Welsh vagrant, Glyndwr Michael a suicide of 34 years who died of rat poison on 28th January 1943 - was selected as suitable for the deception. The "body" had died in the right circumstances for the plan. In life he was unloved, unlamented but not unnoticed. He was about to give his death but not his life for his country!
The next step was to write a history for this man - he needed a school, a job, an identity card, a ration card, a girlfriend, habits, a photograph, where has he been, what has he done, what was his story. Also a family and friends but what lifestyle should he use. He was to become a drowned British Officer, a courier, flying in an aircraft which crashed. Then they had to decide what to put in his pockets - id card, photograph of his fiancé and a love letter from "Pam" receipt from a jewelers, theatre ticket, bank letter saying he was overdrawn again. A letter from Sir Archibald Nye Chief of Imperial Staff to General Alexander who was commanding the forces in Northern Europe to say that they would not be invading through Sicily but would be further to the East - Sardinia, Crete & Greece.
Glyndwr Michael aka acting Major William Martin of the Royal Marines. He was transported from the Clyde for fourteen days by the submarine Seraph and put in the sea with a life vest and dingy in the bay at Huelva on 30th April 1943 at 04.30 hrs. He was found by a sardine fisherman who unknowingly changed the course of the war. The British knew there was an active German agent in Huelva who was always trying to find out information to report back to HQ. This was a crucial deception.
Psalm 39 was read when the body was lowered into the sea and a coded flash signal was sent to the Admiralty saying (Project) “Mincemeat Completed." The pathologists were satisfied with the body and its condition; they ordered the burial to take place. The British Consul were told to make a fuss and demand that the important massively top secret papers were returned and were not to get into enemy hands so the neutral Spanish returned them to Britain. The local German main agent was Adolph Klaus whose boss Karl Erich Kuhlenthal in Madrid informed the German High Command that a British officer had been found, from a crashed aircraft with top secret papers with him and that they were not going to attack via Sicily. That was the deception and it worked.
The High Command was still suspicious - where was the plane which crashed? The navy put an obituary in the Times saying that Acting Major William Martin RM had died. The Consul sent a letter to Spain thanking them for returning the papers. Field Marshal Keitel Head of Army and Joseph Goebbels Head of Propaganda did not believe it but they were overruled by Hitler. In May 1943 the German High Command moved their infantry, ships and aircraft from Sicily to Greece and Sardinia. It was decided by Churchill and Eisenhower that on 10th July Sicily would be invaded.
In a Catholic graveyard in Spain there is a grave for Major William Martin where flowers are put regularly and a commemoration service by local people is carried out at the grave on the 11th November each year. In 1997 the CWGC went back to the grave and updated it by adding the name of ‘Glyndwr Michael served as Major William Martin RM’ so he has his place as a true hero. He was unloved, unlamented but not unnoticed. There was a film and there are two books ‘The Man Who Never Was’ many years ago and a more recent one, 'Operation Mincemeat’. The Members asked many questions of Richard and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about The Man Who Never Was!
Diane Stoner
Speaker Coordinator