OPERATION MINCEMEAT THE GREATEST INTELLIGENCE VICTORY OF WWII

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

Jon Hagadorn

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1943, following the Battle of Tunisia, the Allies planned to attack Italy through Sicily- but Sicily was extremely well defended by Germany and the cost of men and materials could prove disastrous. We needed to make Hitler believe that the attack would come through the Greek islands and the Balkans. British intelligence, with the help of Lt. Commander Ian Fleming, who later would become the author of the James Bond novels- had what looked like a wild idea- to find a fresh corpse, give him an official identity and papers, and arrange to have him wash up on a beach in Spain, appearing to have died in a plane crash. It would take a mighty effort to fool the Nazis- but if it did- many thousands of death could be avoided.... ANDROID USERS- 1001 True Stories with Brian Tremblay https://open.spotify.com/episode/1EOZTL42pg0szYdYV7mwMC?si=SCPAOiSgQiyo0ZSO_OFDyw&nd=1&dlsi=012b3f28347743d5 1001 Greatest Love Stories with Erica Tippett https://open.spotify.com/show/5sUUFDVTatnGt7FiNQvSHe 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rzDb5uFdOhfw5X6P5lkWn 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rO7HELtRcGfV48UeP8aFQ 1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories & The Best of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4dIgYvBwZVTN5ewF0JPaTK 1001 History's Best Storytellers (Now Playing Archives Only: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QyZ1u4f9OLb9O32KX6Ghr 1001 Ghost Stories & Tales of the Macabre on Spotify https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-ghost-stories-tales-of-the-macabre/id1516332327 APPLE USERS New! 1001 True Stories with Brian Tremblay https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-true-stories-with-brian-tremblay/id1726451725 Catch 1001 Stories From The Old West- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-stories-from-the-old-west/id1613213865 Catch 1001's Best of Jack London- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-best-of-jack-london/id1656939169 Catch 1001 Radio Crime Solvers- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-radio-crime-solvers/id1657397371 Catch 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-heroes-legends-histories-mysteries-podcast/id956154836?mt=2 Catch 1001 Classic Short Stories at Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-classic-short-stories-tales/id1078098622 Catch 1001 Stories for the Road at Apple Podcast now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-stories-for-the-road/id1227478901 Enjoy 1001 Greatest Love Stories on Apple Devices here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-greatest-love-stories/id1485751552 Catch 1001 RADIO DAYS now at Apple iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-radio-days/id1405045413?mt=2 Enjoy 1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories and The Best of Arthur Conan Doyle https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-sherlock-holmes-stories-best-sir-arthur-conan/id1534427618 1001 History's Best Storytellers at Apple Podcast (Now Playing Archives Only: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-historys-best-storytellers/id1483649026 1001 Ghost Stories & Tales of the Macabre at Apple Podcast (Playing Archives Only) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-ghost-stories-tales-of-the-macabre/id1516332327 8043 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the Oh, Welcome back everyone to
0:33.1	one, the one thousand one heroes legends histories and mysteries podcast this is your
0:37.8	host John Hagenorn and today's story Operation Minse Meat the brilliant World War II plan that deceived the The Hitler into believing the Allies were going to invade Greece rather than Sicily in
0:54.7	1943. A bold plan which succeeded mightily, allowing the Allies to capture Sicily and
1:01.6	move northward through Italy on their way to the heart of Germany's power.
1:05.9	Keep in mind that its Operation Torch was launched in North Africa. Planning was underway for the next move.
1:13.0	Once North Africa was secured,
1:15.0	the Allies would have much easier access to the soft underbilly of Europe,
1:19.0	as Churchill put it.
1:21.0	The big problem for the Allies was Sicily. Sicily was the first option.
1:27.2	Control of Sicily would open the Mediterranean Sea to Allied shipping and allow the
1:31.5	invasion of continental Europe through Italy.
1:35.1	The second option was to go into Greece and the Balkans, to trap the German forces between
1:40.1	the British and American invaders and the Soviets.
1:44.6	At the Casablanca Conference in January of 1943, Allied planners agreed on the selection
1:49.8	of Sicily, cod named Operation Husky, and decided to undertake the invasion no later than July
1:56.6	of that year.
1:58.7	There was concern among the Allied planners that Sicily was an obvious choice. Churchill is reputed to have said
2:05.0	everyone but a bloody fool would know that it's Sicily and that the buildup of
2:10.7	resources for the invasion would be detected.
2:14.0	It was going to be extremely costly to invade there because it was so well defended by the Germans.
2:19.8	But to any reasoning military mind, it couldn't be skipped or avoided and the Germans
	...

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