The British tramp who “tricked” Hitler and caused the end of WWII

When talking about a specific event culminating in the Second World Warwithout a doubt, we have mentioned the atomic bombs of hiroshima Y nagasaki. Little is known about the event which we will discuss below, this being a fundamental factor for the outcome of the most important war conflict in history.

The event has to do with “The Man Who Never Was”his body was found by a fisherman in Andalusia, Spain on April 30, 1943. His credentials identified him as a major William Martinoa British Royal Navy officer who acted as a courier between London and Allied headquarters in Algiers.

Among his belongings they found letters, photos and receipts, crumpled letters, as if Martin had read them over and over again. In her purse he carried a briefcase containing classified documents and a “personal and secret” letter: plans for the invasion of Greece by Allied troops in North Africa. everything was fake. The historian’s book Ben Macintyre about the deception, entitled “Operation Mincemeat”, came to the cinema hand in hand Warner Brothers.

The imposter

“Glyndwr Michael He is perhaps the unlikeliest hero of the entire Second World War,” Macintyre said. Adding: “He fled Wales for London to escape dire poverty during the Great Depression of the 1930s. His father committed suicide after the collapse of the mine work.

The author of the book claimed that Michael’s body was found in a shed in the King’s Cross area of ​​London and according to the forensic report he had taken his own life by taking poison.

Operation minced meat

The delicate Operation Mincemeat (minced meat) was a strategy planned by the British secret services, the objective was to convince the Germans that the Allied landing in Sicily would take place in Greece and the island of Sardinia.

The deception had been concocted in the previous months by the British officers Charles Coldmondley Y Ewen Montagutwo men Winston Churchill turned to when he needed to solve a problem with unconventional solutions.

the two officers they used the body of a hand-picked British man and taken to Spain in a submarine so that the information in the briefcase would get to the Germans via the Spanish. The whole story (including the crumpled letters, unpaid bills from Martin) had been concocted to sound believable without being too perfect.

The coroner had been advised of the need to find a body whose injuries were not inconsistent with a fall from a malfunctioning parachute aircraft.

With the remains in the care of Constables Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu, the transformation of Glyndwr Michael into Commander William Martin began.

By late 1942, Sicily was the obvious place to launch an operation, as control of the island meant control of shipping in the Mediterranean. Cholmondeley and Montagu set to work on details that would make the hoax more believable to the Germans. They gave their fake officer a believable identity and history.starting with the name William Martin and a common surname in the Royal Marines.

The alleged soldier held the rank of Captain, which they considered high enough to carry secret documents, though not important enough to be known to the enemy. Then they chose some everyday items that anyone would have on their person: keys, stamps, cigarettes, matches and a St. Christopher medal. All the documents were written with a special ink that doesn’t flow in water.

Ewan Montagu spent months creating the identity of the fake officer. But Ben Macintyre, author of the book, said the most compelling part of the puzzle was Martin’s girlfriend, a young woman named Pam — actually a British intelligence officer named Jean Lesley. Everything was ready.

The moment of deception

Cholmondeley and Montagu prepared the body and loaded it into a container filled with dry ice for the journey. The vehicle was driven by a pre-war motorsport champion. In Scotland the submarine HMS Seraph was waiting. It took 10 days to reach the delivery point.

On April 30, 1943, a Spanish sardine fisherman found the British officer allegedly drowned near Huelva. The plan worked. After the body fell into the hands of the Spanish authorities, the spy Adolf Clauss informed the Germans of the find.

German military intelligence fell into the trap and a copy of Martin’s letters with plans for an allied operation in Greece They ended up on Adolf Hitler’s desk.

At the same time, members of the British Secret Service celebrated by banging on tables and jumping up and down when the message to Hitler was intercepted by Enigma codebreakers at the Bletchley Park military installation.

The British followed up their deception with an easily intercepted telegram from the Spanish, demanding the return of Martin’s briefcase as soon as possible: “They swallowed the minced meat”, reads the note in which Churchill was informed.

Sure enough, the plan worked.

Within 38 days of the Allied invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943, the island had been captured. Soon after the fall of Italy, bringing down the regime of Benito Mussolini.

As a result, the Germans transferred 90 thousand soldiers from Sicily to Greece. Soon after, in early June, the Allies attacked Sicily. Which caused the beginning of the end of the war.

Incredibly Glyndwr Michael was a hero after his death. The man was buried in Huelva with full military honors.

More than 70 years after this incredible story, it remains to be established who “the man who never was” really was. For now his tombstone, which is located in the La Soledad de Huelva cemetery, appears with the name of Glyndwr Michael.

A few months ago “Martin” was honored with the participation of local authorities and Isabel Naylor, daughter of an Englishman who, following her father’s tradition, brought flowers to the grave for 68 years.