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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

33. Mincemeat’s Consequences

British troops landing in Sicily. Wikimedia

By the end of June, 1943, Hitler had ordered the crack 1^st Panzer Division transferred from France to Greece. Another two panzer divisions were sent from the Eastern Front to the Balkans. The total number of divisions in Greece was raised from one to eight, and in the Balkans from eight to eighteen. Sicily was stripped of torpedo boats, which were sent to Greece, to defend an assault that did not arrive. What did arrive was a massive Allied invasion of Sicily, on July 9^th, 1943.

Glyndwr Michael’s grave in Huelva, Spain. Wikimedia

The precise impact of Operation Mincemeat’s deception is unknowable. What is known is that the Allied invasion of Sicily went smoother than expected. The British had anticipated 10,000 killed and wounded in the first week, but suffered only a seventh of that. Naval planners expected the loss of 300 ships, but only 12 were sunk. The campaign was expected to last 90 days, but was won in 38. As to “Major William Martin”, he was buried in Huelva. In 1997, a postscript was added to his grave, finally identifying his real name, Glyndwr Michael.

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.