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A Memorable History of Deception and Spy Capers

Khalid Elhassan June 7, 2020 34 min

Operation Mincemeat - World War II — Items recovered from Major Martin and his briefcase. BBC

19. A Playboy to the End

Dusko Popov in his later years. Warfare History Network

Popov and the Operation Fortitude’s deception paid off in a big way. His part in the intricate Allied deception helped convince the Germans to keep part of their army waiting to defend against an invasion that never came, instead of rushing to counter the D-Day invasion. That gave the Allied beachhead in Normandy a vital breather. It was used to consolidate, reinforce, and eventually break out of Normandy and chase the Germans out of France.

After Paris was liberated, Popov was sent there to establish a British intelligence network. With Yugoslavia turning communist after the war, there was no future for the Serb playboy Popov back in his home country. So he stayed in the West, where he prospered as a businessman. Popov was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his wartime exploits – a nice accompaniment to the medals given him by the Germans during the conflict – and eventually became a British citizen. A playboy to the end, he died in 1981, after years of heavy smoking and drinking, and many, many, women.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.