Many readers may have enjoyed the recent release of the new movie Operation Mincemeat. My review discusses the movie’s theme and its relevance for those interested in the situation of Greece in the Second World War.
The subject of the film is that of the real Operation Mincemeat, one of the most successful Allied intelligence deception operations of the War. This involved the delivery of fake Allied European invasion plans into the hands of the Germans. This was done by the use of a dead body – that of a homeless man named Glyndwr Martin who had died after consuming rat poison – recreated as the fictitious Royal Marine Major William Martin, carrying the plans, who is then dropped into the sea off Spain by the Allied submarine, HMS Seraph. The deception was successful, in that the Spanish authorities delivered copies of the plans to the Germans, who believed them. The movie features many well-known actors, including Colin Firth, Matthew MacFadyen and Kelly MacDonald to name a few.
So far so good. As a drama the movie works well. Of course, the story is embellished by the enhancement or creation of love interests and a certain light-heartedness. This is no different to an early dramatization of the story in the 1950’s, The Man Who Never Was. All’s fare in love, war – and drama.
Having said all that, the movie does nevertheless highlight one of the lesser known aspects of the Second World War which had direct consequences for the German occupation of Greece.
Operation Mincemeat was devised to distract the Germans from the planned Allied invasion of Sicily in mid-1943. They did so by the creation of fake Allied invasion plans for a proposed Allied invasion of German-occupied Greece and Sardinia. The aim was to encourage the Germans to shift military resources from Sicily and Italy to the defence of Greece. Evidence suggests that this was a success, with the German military accepting the plans as real and issuing orders accordingly.
Historian Ben McIntyre writes that the Germans did take the fake plans seriously, with evidence of the movement of vital troops and military equipment to Greece. Most significantly, in May the 1st German Panzer Division – some 18,000 men with 83 tanks – was moved from Russia to Greece after being re-equipped, eventually based at Tripolis in the Peloponnese – a deployment in line with the fake plan documents. Crucial German naval forces (including coastal defence vessels) were also retained in the Aegean and the German General Rommel was sent to Salonika to take command of the German defence should the Allies land. On the eve of the Sicily landings, German General Keitel issued an analysis that an Allied invasion of Greece was probable, with it being reinforced from the Middle East. To bolster German acceptance of the fake plan, Allied submarines dropped off agents in Zakinthos to leave behind unmistakable evidence of reconnaissance for a landing, a dummy army – with fake tanks and planes – was assembled in the eastern Mediterranean and Greek partisan activity was increased on the eve of the Sicily invasion.
The subsequent Allied invasion of Sicily in July was a clear success, although the subsequent liberation of Italy would prove more difficult for the Allies, even after Italy changed sides and joined the Allies. This would be followed eventually by the Allied landings at Normandy and the South of France.
The effect of this whole effort on Greece however would not be a good one. The German military maintained significant military forces throughout Greece until late 1944, even launching successful counter-attacks on Allied incursions in the Dodecanese and other Islands in the wake of the Italian surrender in 1943. And of course, the German occupation forces, aided by their Greek collaborators, continued to wage a relentless war against the Greek resistance and civilian population. No doubt the success of Operation Mincemeat supported the continuation and intensification of the German occupation, with its terrible cost in civilian lives and the destruction of Greece’s infrastructure.
One wonders what would have occurred if the deception plan had been real and the Allies had landed in Greece in 1943 instead of Sicily. Like all counterfactuals, we will never know for sure. Would it have succeeded? Would it have visited greater destruction on Greece than that in 1944 when the Germans effectively withdrew? Would it have shortened the whole European war? What implications would an Allied liberation of Greece in 1943 have had for the post-war negotiations between East and West. We will never know.
But back to the movie. It is well put together, in the spirit of “daring operations” movies, a kind of “feel good” movie, with a slight “Ealing” feeling (as a nod to those 1950’s British light entertainment movies made at Ealing Studios). And yet despite the creative additions – no doubt inserted to enliven the script – the movie will no doubt spark interest in the real story behind the drama.
For those interested in finding out more about the real Operation Mincemeat, I can recommend Ben McIntyre’s excellent Operation Mincemeat, the earlier publication, Ian Colvin’s The Unknown Courier and that by one of the two key organisers of the operation, Ewen Montagu’s The Man Who Never Was. An online version of the latter is available on the University of Chicago website.
So sit back and enjoy the movie and maybe have a good read too.
Jim Claven is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author who has been researching the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac story across both World Wars for many years. He can be contacted at: jimclaven@yahoo.com.au Operation Mincemeat is now showing in selected cinemas.