The Credibility Of Operation Mincemeat During World War II

In April 1943, Operation Mincemeat was conducted off the coast of Spain by the Allies of World War II with the goal of misleading the Nazis. The plan consisted of dressing the corpse of a man to appear to be the fictitious Allied courier, William Martin, and attaching a briefcase to his wrist. The waterlogged body of a British Royal Marine quickly caught the attention of the Nazis, who worked with the Spanish military to access the information hidden in the briefcase. Inside the case, they discovered correspondence to a British officer in Tunisia detailing the Allies’ secret plan to invade Sardinia and Greece in the near future. The documents would have been a major intelligence gathering for the Germans had they not been fake and purposely planted along with the cadaver by a Royal Navy submarine. In July 1943, the Nazis were caught unawares by the Allies’ invasion of Sicily and Italy rather than Greece, where Hitler had sent tank divisions along with additional personnel. Operation Mincemeat was considered a success and the oddest covert operation of World War II (Andrews, 2014).

Its efficacy was clearly proven by the transfer of German troops to Greece ordered by Hitler prior to invasion of Sicily and Italy, the downfall of Benito Mussolini, and the Allies’ victory over the Axis Powers. Though some may not consider it as much of a feat as taking down Hitler, dethroning Mussolini, at least temporarily, allowed for the Allied Powers to gain the upper hand and begin what would eventually lead to the ending of the war, the freeing of millions of victims of camps, and a whole new set of world problems, specifically in