Operation Mincemeat - The Man Who Never Was

The Man Who Never Was

Duff Cooper was a diplomat who had held several top level posts during the war. In 1950 he published a spy novel, Operation Heartbreak. The key plot device was floating a corpse into Spain with false documents to deceive the Germans. Cooper had come up with the idea on his own but, naturally, many of those concerned with Mincemeat (including Germans and Spaniards) became concerned and started talking. The 'flap' attracted the attention of the British press and wild rumours began to circulate. At this point the British security services decided that the best response was to publish the story. Ewen Montagu took a week-end off from his busy legal practice and wrote the book The Man Who Never Was. It was an immediate best-seller and was made into a movie of the same name two years later. The movie added some fictitious elements for drama, such as a German agent in London verifying "Major Martin"'s background with Montagu and his colleagues one step ahead of him. The submarine used in the film wore pennant number P219, that of HMS Seraph, she was indeed still in commission in 1954/55.

In 1977, Montagu published a second book, Beyond Top Secret ULTRA, in which he recounted his secret war work. It could not be revealed earlier, as it involved both Ultra and the Double Cross System. In Chapter 13 he gives a short version of the Mincemeat story, including some details not in The Man Who Never Was.