'Operation Mincemeat' Turns a Great Operation into Middling Mincemeat
The Western World still holds up World War II as the last "good" war, making it endless fodder for television and movies. The era that launched modern technology endlessly fascinates us, from mainstream mega-hits like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List to PBS dramas like World on Fire and Atlantic Crossing. But some World War II stories feel like they were made for adaptation, like the one behind Operation Mincemeat. Sadly, Netflix's retelling isn't close to Oscar-worthy, but the story itself is so wild, and the actors A-list enough that the film carries on just fine, despite its limitations.
Operation Mincemeat isn't a joke; it was the actual codename for one of U.K. intelligence's wildest plans ever devised. Germany had caught wind of Operation Husky, the Allies' plan to invade Sicily, forcing the Nazi regime to focus their air and naval powers in the Mediterranean ahead of D-Day. So Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming (who went on to become famous for inventing James Bond) and his boss Rear Admiral John Godfrey (the inspiration of Bond's boss M), came up with a so-crazy-it-just-might-work scheme.
Their idea? Disguise a dead body as a made-up Naval officer, plant fake messages on him revealing Husky was all a feint, wash it up on shore, and hope Hitler bought it. The body was a random homeless man found in a U.K. morgue; an entire history was invented for his new identity, the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. Just to make sure everything didn't seem too convenient, the body was dumped on the neutral shores of Spain, a government riddled with fascist sympathizers. They were only too happy to slip the Germans a piece of intelligence to prove how loyal they would be when the time came.
