The Musuem
Floor Plan
 

The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - World War II

April 1943 : Operation Mincemeat ...


Ewen Montagu's bestseller 'The Man Who Never Was'


When the story was serialised in the Sunday Express in 1953, DW kept the cuttings


One of the most famous deceptions in which DW and LCS were involved was 'Operation Mincemeat'. This was the plan devised by Flight-Lieutenant Cholmondeley of MI5 and developed by Lieutenant-Commander Ewen Montagu, to drop the dead body of an apparently senior officer off the coast of Spain carrying secret papers that would indicate that the Allies were planning to invade Greece and Sardinia later that year, rather than Sicily, as was actually the case.

Because deception was the special province of LCS, the plan had to go through Bevan's team, and it was Bevan who went to Churchill's bedroom and explained the pros and cons of the scheme.

The story first became public in 1950 in a novel by Duff Cooper called 'Operation Heartbreak', and Montagu was then allowed to publish a fuller account under the title 'The Man Who Never Was' in 1953. An immediate bestseller, it was filmed in 1956 with Clifton Webb playing Montagu. Montagu himself had a cameo role, playing an Air Marshal in the meeting of the Chiefs of Staff.

References : 'The Deception Planners' Chapter 13
Phil Baker p 422.
Craig Cabell Chapter 25.
Tina Rosenberg Chapter 8

Provenance:Private Collection