I recently finished reading Ben MacIntyre's Operation Mincemeat, a fascinating book about an Allied deception during the Second World War. I heartily recommend it.
I drew three things from the book, each rather different, each of value.
The Operation Itself
The contents of the book itself are interesting. In brief, Operation Mincemeat was an operation by MI6 (of James Bond fame) where false & misleading documents were placed on a corpse which was then permitted to fall into Axis hands by means of a pretend aircraft wreck off the coast of Spain. The documents misled the German war machine to concentrate defensive power in Greece while leaving the first Allied objective against Axis-controlled Europe, Sicily, underdefended.
The cast of characters behind the deception is varied and interesting, with one name -- Ian Fleming -- standing out. James Bond's post-war adventures did not arise from a vacuum. Every person involved brought something to the table. It was a wonder they were able to work together at all.
Movement Beneath the Surface
While the invasion of Sicily appeared to be a straightforward triumph of overwhelming force applied to a weak point, it occurred in conjunction with a hidden world of secrets and lies. Far from being unique this was the rule rather than the exception. I have read only a little of all there has been written about this part of the Second World War and surely there is more to be unveiled, if it ever will be.
If this is done in war, why not elsewhere?
Operation Mincemeat was masterminded by a small group of men with limited resources, constraints on time, no opportunity to iterate or learn from failures, and handicapped by technology inferior to our own.
How much more can entire industries accomplish with an abundance of time, talent, and funding, approval if not instigation by government either official or actual, and content to make incremental improvements of their craft?
As the book repeatedly stated, Operation Mincemeat was effective not just because it passed useful falsehoods well but because it affirmed fears that Hitler already had about Allied designs against the critical resource producing Balkans.
The MI6 team had to work with the situation given them. They had to discern Hitler's fears and feed them for the team's own ends. How much more freedom of action does an agency have when it can create fears to feed?
A Final Point
This book presents as the final popular treatment of Operation Mincemeat. It tells a compelling story that readers want to believe. How do we know it is true? It would be consistent with the subject if the book itself served as a cover for things to be hidden. We can never know.
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