Chapter 17 02. "Meat Mining Action" with false ones

In January 1943, at a secret meeting held by the British and American Allies in Casablanca, a decision was made that when the North African campaign was completely over, the Allies would capture Sicily as a springboard to enter Europe. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and its strategic location is very important.Germany and Italy stationed heavily on the island, with 13 divisions and more than 1,400 aircraft, totaling 360,000 troops.Facing the huge German and Italian defenders, the Allied forces will definitely pay a huge price for storming Sicily.It would be best to have a way to fool Hitler and make him make a wrong judgment: the goal of Sicily is too obvious, and it is difficult for the Allied forces to attack here to achieve unexpected results, so the Allied forces plan to land in other areas along the coast of southern Europe.If the Allies abandon Sicily, they may choose two places to land: one is Greece, which is convenient for advancing to the Balkans; the other is Sardinia, which is convenient for attacking southern France.If he succeeds in fooling Hitler, he will relax his vigilance in Sicily, which will benefit the Allied offensive.As a result, the amazing "Operation Mince Meat" in World War II was brewed.

Just half a month after the Casablanca meeting ended, Lieutenant Colonel Marciel and Lieutenant George of the British Naval Intelligence Office were wondering how to lure Hitler into thinking that the Allied forces were going to attack Sardinia and relax their vigilance in Sicily. ?The two brothers thought of a trick, which was to use dead bodies to defraud.Then, Marciel and George were alone in the soundproof room, thinking about every detail of the plan.They initially planned to get a dead body, disguise the dead body as a British navy lieutenant commander, and bring a top-secret information--the top-secret information that the Allied forces are going to land in Sardinia and Greece, and then let the body be found off the coast of Spain. Spaniards found.Because although Spain is a neutral country, it secretly leans towards Germany, and the Spaniards must tell the Germans after they get the dead body.If the Germans believed the intelligence, the deception would have been successful.The key is to find such a dead body.

After Lieutenant Colonel Marshall drafted the report on the dead body scam, it was sent to the Fifth Directorate of Military Intelligence.After reading it, the director approved a few words: "The plan is feasible, send it to No. 10 Downing Street as soon as possible." No. 10 Downing Street is the Prime Minister's Office, and it was approved soon, and named this operation "Operation Meat Mince". . "Operation Meat Mining" has the following essentials for implementation: 1. The corpse is about 35 years old, without trauma, with a small amount of water in the lungs, and the field uniform of the major of the landing team, without a cap, and wearing an orange life jacket (easy to salvage).

2. Calculate the tide, use the submarine to transport the body to the sea off the port of Bilbao, Spain, and discard the body. 3. Tie the file bag containing the confidential documents on the inner belt of the corpse to make the illusion of a plane crash protection file. 4. Put the corpse into a special container filled with ice, weighing 180 kg.The outside of the container was painted with the words "optomechanical" to inform the submarine crew that a new weapon was to be tested. 5. Those who know this plan in advance are limited to the Chief of Intelligence and the submarine captain at the Gibraltar Naval Port.

6. After the implementation of the plan, call back: "The Meat Mining Project" has been implemented. In the implementation of "Operation Meat", the most difficult thing is what kind of secret letter is carried by the corpse.Germans won't believe it if they don't act skillfully, but if they play too much, it's too real, and it's easy for Germans to think it's a trap.This is the same as students cheating. Don't copy it according to 100 points. If you copy 100 points, the teacher will not believe it. How to do it?The British used their brains and resorted to a housekeeping skill that the British Empire has practiced for three hundred years, which is fraud.Finally, the British spy agency came up with a good idea. General Peard, the then deputy chief of staff of the British General Staff, wrote a letter to General Alexander stationed in North Africa. This is not an official document but a private letter, but in it The secret was leaked: Allied forces would land in Sardinia.In this way, the German High Command will regard this letter as extremely precious material.However, the letter cannot directly state that it is going to land in Sardinia, it would be too false to write this.

After Marsil drafted and submitted the sample of the secret letter, the General Staff feared that the plan would be discovered by the German army, but it still reported it to Prime Minister Churchill.Churchill was very interested and told them to do it boldly. It doesn't matter if they lose. If they succeed, we will pick them up. If they fail, they will attack.When Churchill said this, the subordinates relieved the pressure. Marciel quickly found a corpse. This buddy died of pneumonia. People who died of pneumonia had fluid in their lungs. If an autopsy was performed, it would look like a person who died of drowning.Then after camouflaging the body, stuff it into a submarine.When this submarine landed in North Africa, it had carried out the mission of secretly transporting American General Clark. Captain Pearson had experience in performing intelligence missions. Marciel felt that he was a talent and could be used.The submarine dived for ten days and arrived at the scheduled sea area.

After arriving at the place, Captain Pearson gave an order, and the container containing the corpse was moved up by four officers and placed on the deck. The corpse was named "Major Martin".The captain told the four officers with a serious face, what you saw tonight must be forgotten tomorrow. This matter is related to whether the British Empire can win the war. Anyone who leaks the news will be punished by military law.Only these five people on the submarine knew about it, and the rest of the sailors were locked in the cabin and prevented from coming up.The four officers suddenly understood the importance of the matter. The captain had never distrusted the brothers, but now he locked them up.

Then, the silver-white container containing the corpse was opened, and the officers were shocked when they saw it. It was not an optical instrument or a secret weapon, but a corpse in military uniform.Under the captain's whispered order, the body slid into the sea, and "Major Martin" was about to go out to complete the mission. Three days later, on April 30, 1943, a Spanish fisherman found a dead body floating on the sea, salvaged the dead body, dragged it to the beach of a small town, surrounded by hundreds of fishermen and children .After the Spanish military police examined and photographed the body, it was sent to the hospital for an autopsy.The autopsy report said that the person fell into the sea alive and drowned, with a small amount of seawater in his lungs. It is estimated that the body drifted on the sea for three to five days.

The British deception was initially successful and did not arouse the suspicion of the Spaniards. The Spaniard saw that it was "Major Martin", identified himself, and notified the British consul of the matter.Of course, due to Spain's close relationship with Nazi Germany - which is why the British dumped the body here, the Spaniards notified the German spies in Spain at the same time as the British. The German spies took the first step and secretly photographed all the documents on "Major Martin" before the British consul claimed the body.The photocopies of the documents were quickly sent to Berlin, Germany for identification.After the Berlin authorities received the report, while identifying it, they instructed the spies to provide more detailed details.

Five days later, London received a report from the British embassy in Spain, saying that the British vice-consul in the port of Bilbao had claimed the body of Martin, a marine major who had been drifting at sea, and that the body had been buried. carry. London immediately issued an order to the embassy, ​​saying that the personal belongings carried by "Major Martin" must be notified to the Spanish authorities to find out their whereabouts, but be careful not to let the Spanish authorities know the importance of the documents. The embassy quickly called back, saying that the Spanish government had handed over "Major Martin"'s paper bag and other relics in good condition.

As soon as the file bag arrived in London, the British Intelligence Agency immediately inspected it. Finally, from the doubt that the clip on the paper was dry, it was found that the file had been disassembled by the Germans using salt water to soften the paper and photographed and copied.Because the body had been soaked in seawater, the clip should be wet. Lieutenant Colonel Marsil immediately reported to his superiors that the implementation of the "Minced Meat Project" was completed. At the same time, the British Naval Notary Service entered the name of "Major Martin" on the Register of the Dead. The "Times" on May 28 published a list of dead soldiers, including "Major Martin", and also issued an obituary. After various negotiations by the British Embassy in Spain, the body of "Major Martin" was buried in accordance with official military ceremonies. His fiancée also sent a wreath and attached a grief-stricken mourning postcard.The British consul also erected a simple white marble tombstone for "Major Martin". The British figured it out, and German spies were indeed extremely active in Spain.The German spies got the documents of "Major Martin" by accident. It was like a treasure. Think about it, it is not so easy to get the top-secret personal letter from the Deputy Chief of Staff of the British Army to the Commander of the British Army in North Africa.Therefore, the German side carefully studied the secret documents and the items carried by "Major Martin". How considerate was the British intelligence agency for "Major Martin"?In his wallet, there are photos of his fiancée, receipts for buying wedding rings, and movie ticket stubs, everything looks real.But the Germans are very shrewd and meticulous. Such a big piece of information fell from the sky, just like a million dollars fell on my head. I have to consider whether I can take the money.So I really want to believe that this is true, but I am worried that I will be fooled. How to do it?The German spies lurking in the UK are highly dedicated to their work, and they have resorted to a unique trick in the espionage industry called "dead time".The spy went directly to the "fiancee" of "Major Martin". Of course, this fiancee was arranged by the British in advance, and she was a powerful actor.The spy claimed to be a comrade-in-arms of "Major Martin" and came to express condolences to the major's "fiancée".If this "Major Martin" is fake, then this spy has exposed his identity. There is no "Major Martin". If you say you are a comrade in arms of "Major Martin", you are throwing yourself into a trap.This spy is very sacrificing and is using his own life as a bet to verify whether "Major Martin" is true or not. The "fiancee" of "Major Martin" performed very well, said thank you for coming to condolences, and acted very sad.The German spies believed it was true, saying that "Major Martin" was indeed a real person, and what was said in the secret document was true. In this way, the German intelligence service completely believed the content of the secret document. As a result, the German intelligence service submitted a report to Hitler: the reliability of the document is beyond doubt. Hitler was very happy, and clearly pointed out in an order on May 12: first of all, the defense of Sardinia and Peloponnese (located in southern Greece, known as the Morea Peninsula in ancient times) should be strengthened. On May 14, Hitler met with Mussolini, revealed to him the contents of the "secret documents", and said complacently: "I think this is indeed true." There is always a premonition that the Allied forces are still going to attack Sicily." Hitler said emphatically, "The premonition is not as important as intelligence. We have obtained reliable information! Information!" Mussolini managed to be wise, but he The boss became the air. The next day, Hitler held a war conference.He ordered: to complete the assembly and deployment of Sardinia and Peloponnese by June 30. On Hitler's order, Field Marshal Rommel was sent to Greece to form an army group.At the same time, Hitler sent the SS to Sardinia and drew armored troops from Sicily to strengthen the defense of Corsica. In this way, the defense of Sicily, the real place where the Allied forces were going to land, was weakened, and "Operation Meat" was a great success. When German Field Marshal Rommel moved his base camp to Greece, the Allied forces were concentrating on landing on Sicily.This is definitely a surprise for the German army. Because of the success of Operation Mincemeat, Hitler misjudged where the Allied forces might land.However, Marshal Kesselring, the commander-in-chief of the German southern front, was not fooled. He still realized that the Allied forces were likely to land from Sicily, so he sent the German Goering Armored Division and the 15th Armored Infantry Division to Sicily to strengthen the island's defenses. On July 9, 1943, the Allied fleet assembled on both sides of the island of Malta.Just as the Allied forces were preparing to land in Sicily, the weather changed suddenly, with howling winds and raging waves, the German and Italian defenders relaxed their vigilance. At 2:40 am on the 10th, the Allied Airborne Forces first launched an attack. 5,400 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States and the 1st British Airborne Division set off from Tunisia on 366 transport planes and gliders to Sicily.At 3:45 in the morning, the 160,000 American and British landing forces commanded by Patton and Montgomery, divided into 3,200 warships and transport ships, and under the cover of 1,000 aircraft, landed in the southwest and southeast of Sicily.The Italian defenders were demoralized and offered only token resistance.By noon, Patton's and Montgomery's troops had successfully boarded their respective target beachheads and consolidated their beachhead positions. On July 11, the Sicilian defenders under the command of Lieutenant General Guzzoni began to counterattack.However, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not worth mentioning, and the counterattack mainly relies on the German army.The German 15th Armored Division was transferred to the east bank to prevent Montgomery's army from advancing northward; the German Goering Armored Infantry Division and two Italian motorized infantry divisions launched a counterattack against the US troops commanded by Patton.The German Air Force dispatched 481 planes to frequently bomb the Allied beachhead forces, and the Allied planes came to intercept them.The fierce fighting lasted for a day, and the German tanks almost advanced to less than two kilometers from the US beachhead.General Patton personally went to the front line to direct the U.S. forces to fight back. Allied naval cruisers even bombarded German tanks with 203 mm main guns, which could directly blow German tanks to pieces.In the evening, the German army lost a large number of tanks and was forced to retreat.U.S. forces took advantage of the situation to capture the city of Jerah. On the 12th, Montgomery's British Eighth Army also captured Syracuse. After the failure of the first counterattack by the German and Italian troops, Marshal Kesselring saw that the situation was over, so he had to fight with the Allies to delay the time, and planned to retreat to Calabria, Italy through the Strait of Messina.Hitler approved Kesselring's plan. On July 13, Montgomery commanded the Thirteenth Army to storm Catania.The German army put up tenacious resistance and firmly controlled the coastal road from Catania to Messina.Montgomery's frontal attack was frustrated, so he had to transfer the 30th Army to bypass the west side of Mount Edna and attack Messina with the support of the US Seventh Army. Patton was not willing to let Montgomery sing a one-man show. He divided his troops into two groups. On the one hand, Bradley led the US Second Army to support the British army in central Sicily, and on the other hand, General Keyes led a temporary army to go straight to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. On July 22, the Italian army in Palermo surrendered without a fight. Patton was very proud, and Eisenhower was also happy for the American victory.At this time, Montgomery's advance was disadvantageous, and 6 divisions could not deal with 3 German divisions. Patton saw that Montgomery was hindered, so he decided to turn his assists into the main attack, and took Messina before Montgomery. On August 10, the German and Italian troops retreated to the vicinity of Messina. Since the allied navies did not cut off the Strait of Messina, 40,000 German troops and 70,000 Italian troops completed their retreat to mainland Italy in 6 days and 7 nights. The march to Messina turned into a race between American and British armies. At 6:30 am on August 17, the vanguard of the US military marched into Messina. At 10:30, Patton drove into the city in a command car.Only an hour later, a group of British troops also entered the city.A British officer walked up to Patton, shook Patton's hand and said, "This is an interesting contest. I congratulate you on your success." All resistance on the island ceased that day, and the Sicilian landings came to an end.Since then, the Allied forces have been traveling freely in the Mediterranean Sea, opening the door to landing in Europe.