Operation Mincemeat

How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Ben Macintyre’s Agent Zigzag was hailed as “rollicking, spellbinding” (New York Times), “wildly improbable but entirely true” (Entertainment Weekly), and, quite simply, “the best book ever written” (Boston Globe). In his new book, Operation Mincemeat, he tells an extraordinary story that will delight his legions of fans.

In 1943, from a windowless basement office in London, two brilliant intelligence officers conceived a plan that was both simple and complicated - Operation Mincemeat. The purpose? To deceive the Nazis into thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack Southern Europe by way of Greece or Sardinia, rather than Sicily, as the Nazis had assumed, and the Allies ultimately chose. Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 and the British naval intelligence officer Ewen Montagu could not have been more different. Cholmondeley was a dreamer seeking adventure. Montagu was an aristocratic, detail-oriented barrister. But together they were the perfect team and created an ingenious plan: Get a corpse, equip it with secret (but false and misleading) papers concerning the invasion, then drop it off the coast of Spain where German spies would, they hoped, take the bait. The idea was approved by British intelligence officials, including Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond). Winston Churchill believed it might ring true to the Axis and help bring victory to the Allies.

Filled with spies, double agents, rogues, fearless heroes, and one very important corpse, the story of Operation Mincemeat reads like an international thriller.

Unveiling never-before-released material, Ben Macintyre brings the listener right into the minds of intelligence officers, their moles, and spies, and the German Abwehr agents who suffered the “twin frailties of wishfulness and yesmanship”. He weaves together the eccentric personalities of Cholmondeley and Montagu and their near-impossible feats into a riveting adventure that not only saved thousands of lives but paved the way for a pivotal battle in Sicily and, ultimately, Allied success in the war.

©2001 Ewen Montagu (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Students of the second world war have been familiar with Mincemeat for many years, but Macintyre offers a mass of new detail, and enchanting pen portraits of the British, Spanish and German participants. His book is a rollicking read for all those who enjoy a spy story so fanciful that Ian Fleming, himself an officer in Montagu's wartime department, would never have dared to invent it." ( The Sunday Times, London)

Cliffhanger thrills

Even though you know the ending, this is like a cliffhanger. A fantastic story, well written and well read

Bewitchingly British Spy Story

The author has done a marvellous job in uncovering the remaining details that had been fictitiously substituted by the British government in the release of the original story by Montague.
It is now a story Britain can be proud of admitting to as it highlights the British war departments in their true light of having tremendous agencies that trained the Americans, and many other nations, on how to do spy craft correctly.
John Lee as always delivers the text in his usual fabulous nature with feeling, nuance, and deft.

rue

I Almost unbelievable. If I didn't know this was a true tion. Mo way this could have have worked!story I would have thought this was bad foc

Fascinating read

Like all of MacIntyre’s books, this one does not fail to captivate. John Lee is amazing as always.

Riveting Story Well Told and Read

A very entertaining book about the British deception campaign that was the subject of the 1956 movie "The Man Who Never Was." That movie took great liberties with the facts while Ben MacIntyre uses fresh research to tell the true, totally riveting story. The narration by John Lee is spot on.

Totally enjoyable!

I really enjoyed this. Wonderful reading by John Lee. Great writing by the author and although the "story" moves along swiftly, there's actually a lot of historical detail. What a story! It's rich and full of characters. You'd swear you're listening to some well plotted spy thriller. Highly recommended.

3 for 3 from Macintyre

My husband and I have listened to three of Ben Macintyre’s books over the last year. This is our latest, and it is just as superb as the last two. The true story is fascinating, but Macintyre elevates it even more by his character studies, the rich detail and the weaving of great storytelling with incredible history. We loved this! And when you finish this one, we promise The Spy and the Traitor and Agent Zigzag are just as good. One more thought… John Lee could not be better. He is the narrator for all three of these books, and he will keep you fully engrossed and fully
entertained.

Better than the movie!

I know people always say that the book is better than the film, but in this case it’s just barely so. I am an enormous fan of the 2022 film of the same name, and was inspired to get this book as a result. To my great joy, the book confirms much of the film’s accuracy, and delves into greater depths of the careful planning and tireless efforts to deceive the Nazis and begin the liberation of Europe with as few Allied casualties as possible.

As for the performance, the reader is spectacular, performing terrific accents in Spanish, German, French, Scottish and American dialects, all the while being an Englishman of exceptional tone and diction. This audio book has been a sheer delight. I will be revisiting this often in years to come.

Fast pace detailed story

Amazing story to save lives and deceive the Nazi's. I usually like books with dialogue but this is primarily narration, but it is an excellent read (listen). I had to stop it and re-listen as it moves quickly, and I wanted to keep informed on all the details. The attention to detail in order to decieve was amazing and I applaud the author for his research. Other books have been written and even a movie on another book which I saw(The Man Who Never Was). The movie was not even close to the real story. I highly recommend this if your interests involve the war(s), and spys. It is a precursor to James Bond, as Flemming plays a role in the deception.

Better than fiction

You can get lost in this well told story of a WWII operation you, like me, probably never heard of. Well developed characters, historical context that will expand your WWII knowledge, gripping spy story intrigue of on operation that would be far fetched fiction, and it ends well.

Whats not to love!