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Operation Mincemeat - naval ID card of Major Martin
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Operation Mincemeat - naval ID card of Major Martin
Fake naval identity card of Major William Martin. His body was found washed up on shore in Spain on 30th April 1943 carrying sensitive documents, an elaborate and successful deception by British forces in World War Two (codenamed Operation Mincemeat) to convince German high command that the Allies were planning to attack Greece and Sardinia in 1943 rather than Sicily, the actual objective. The ID card actually shows a photograph of MI5 officer Ronnie Read. Date: 1943
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Media ID 14126802
© Mary Evans / The National Archives, London. England
1943 Deception Fake False Hoax Identity Intelligence Major Martin Mincemeat Operation Reed Ronnie
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EDITORS COMMENTS
This photograph showcases a fascinating artifact from the annals of World War Two history: a fake naval identity card bearing the name and image of Major William Martin. The card, an essential component of the elaborate deception codenamed Operation Mincemeat, was used to mislead the German high command in 1943. The British intelligence services, seeking to conceal their plans to invade Sicily, devised a clever ruse. They planted the body of a deceased man, dressed in a Royal Marines uniform and carrying sensitive documents, on the shore of Huelva, Spain. The body was identified as Major Martin, and the documents revealed a supposed new Allied strategy to attack Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. The identity card in this photograph, however, is not that of Major Martin. Instead, it bears the likeness of MI5 officer Ronnie Reed. The use of Reed's image was a crucial aspect of the deception, as the Germans would believe that the documents had been in the possession of the deceased officer before his death. The success of Operation Mincemeat is a testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the British intelligence services during World War Two. The deception led the Germans to divert their forces to the wrong locations, allowing the Allied invasion of Sicily to proceed largely unopposed. This photograph serves as a reminder of the pivotal role that intelligence and deception played in the outcome of the war.
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