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A deadly deception. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Lebe.

And this is Ghost Town, we've talked through lots of outlandish military and spy operatives,

but none might be as insane or honestly as successful as Operation Mincemeat,

a British intelligence initiative that is, simply put,

a kind of weekend at Bernie's meets James Bond. Born from the mind of some high-ranking

military officials, it truly helped change the course of World War II, and in doing so, employed some of the most

ridiculous and in-depth measures known in counterintelligence history. Introducing Operation

Mincemeat, a British deception operation you will not soon forget.

Operation Mincemeat began soon after the start of World War II, on September 29, 1939,

to be exact. On that day, the British director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey,

circulated a document that he had authored called the Trout Memo. In essence, it was a document

that compared the deception of an enemy in wartime

with fly fishing. Here's an excerpt. Quote, the trout fisher casts patiently all day.

He frequently changes his venue and his lures. If he has frightened a fish, he may give the

water a rest for a half an hour,

but his main endeavor is to attract fish by something he sends out from his boat, is incessant.

...