They forgot to mention the father of forensic science, Sir Bernard Spilsbury who after
viewing many possible cadavers for this mission to be able to deceive the Germans he picked the right body.
Apart from that, the programme was a treat and curiously enough, it demonstrates how
the human mind concentrates in details rather than the overall picture about what was really happening when it comes to deceit. The Germans knew how crucially important it was to control Sicily if they wanted to avoid an allied invasion yet at the last minute and after viewing some purported papers contained in a corpse that appeared from nowhere, as the speculation was that the body may have come out of an airplane crash (but no airplane wreckage nor other corpses were seen nearby) others said it came from a sunken ship but again, there were no signs of a ship being sank there either, nor other bodies to make this tale more believable. I mean.. this is only ONE body that comes from nowhere which has purported 'classified' 'Secret' information which is, by all reasoning too good to be true. ie (plans for an invasion) According to the papers found in the corpse, the allies were going to invade from Greece (a highly improbable proposition to do) as this meant the allies would have had to bypass Sicily first in the narrow stretch of the Mediterranean Sea, where they would have been spotted right away by the Germans from Sicily on their way to Greece and cornered right there. Common sense tells you, there is no way the allies could have made it much further into Greece before being ravaged in Sicily first, yet the Germans moved their troops from their safe strategic position in Sicily to Greece only because they believed the papers that came from a corpse that came from nowhere. Common sense and reasoning should have told them: In whose interest was it to move German troops from Sicily? It wasn't in Germany's interest since this would be leaving the door wide open for an allied invasion from Sicily, which is exactly what happened.
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Yes Maria, that's a good point - no other bodies found floating in the sea. You would have thought that the Germans would have smelled a rat and not fallen for it. Of course, the final decision was Hitler's and by this time his judgement was proving itself distinctly fallible, yet you would have thought that ultimately the deception should have failed. One reason that it succeeded might be, that it was such an improbable deception to attempt. There were a number of things that could have gone wrong, any one of which would have scuppered the whole operation. Perhaps the Germans thought, "If we were in Britain's shoes, we'd never devote time and resources to something like this.So it must be genuine."
A Conspiracy! where many, many people with different special expertises came together to carry out a determine secret plan. From the submarine captain who studied the coordinates, where exactly he could let go the body for it to be picked up by the currents to reach the neutral Spanish shores and not to Portugal; to choosing the right cadaver for it not to raise the slightest suspicion that this was a hoax! to the girl-friend who posed for the picture and the person who wrote the love letters, to the uniform experts who dressed the body, it was by all accounts an elaborate hoax but it was still a conspiracy. Yes, it was quite amazing how many things could have gone wrong that didn't. Lady luck played a great part, down to the Spanish authorities who wouldn't let go of the papers in their possesion, to the curious Germans who turned to the services of their trusted German spy in Spain to retrieve the papers from the Spanish authorities. This last unforseen bit, gave the conspiracy much more credibility. In a word, good luck, had a lot to do with it.
Its quite amazing when you think it thankfully worked, it was incredibly daring and improbable and too many things could have gone wrong but the people involved knew what was at stake and succeeded. It amounts to a miracle. I cannot imagine how our world would be today had this plan not gone ahead.
Yes, fortunately Hitler was in charge, because Goebbels had doubts. Hitler played a crucial role re the D DAy landings too, overruling Rommel who had a much better idea where the landings would take place. This illustrates the weakness of one man rule. Having a single person in charge in an emergency is all very well, but when people are frightened to even contradict him and argue their point, the road to defeat looms.
Yes, you are right, Hitler had the power but not the knowledge and even today, its amazing how politicians can overrule and even dismiss the generals or any other expert's advice, as you say, it only leads to disaster.
Operation Mincemeat is the Trojan Horse of our times. The story is quite unbelievable and Sir Ian Flemming was amongst the ones that conceive the plan although there were others too whose identities have been kept secret.
I think there is something about totalitarian regimes which stifles the mind. If you look at the German attempts to design an atomic weapon, they were left toiling in the rear, even though they had Heisenberg on their side.
I used to notice this in the days of the cold war, when the iron curtain countries like Russia and East Germany just didn't have the imagination even to play good football - watching them required matchsticks to prop my eyes open.
Yes,very true. It has to do with the censure where no one can do anything for fear of being in the wrong side of the regime, so even though there are good ideas, no one dares to put them forward. In Spain, authors were put in jail if they had written a book which had been interpreted by the censure as a criticism to the Franco regime, even if the setting was another era, they were quick to turn them into analogies. So in an atmosphere of fear where anything and everyone is under suspicion. Imagination is stifled
Yes, when people are forced to speak in code then words are scrutinised and the subtlest of nuances can be viewed as criticism, even if it is quite accidental. So we get a Monty Python situation. In Stalin's Russia they eventually installed a bell at the party conferences, because after the glorious leader's conference speech everyone had to get to their feet to applaud, and the trouble was, no one wanted to be the first to stop clapping and sit down in case he was shot as a critic. So after a set number of minutes, a bell was rung and everyone sat down at the same time.
That is so funny if it wasn't true! Did you see the nobel prize for China? an empty chair but I have my suspicions that this was designed to embarrass the Chinese government. I can forsee the Chinese giving a prize to the students protesting for their right to be educated in England as they are serving a prison sentence.
Ha, I bet there's a few thousand rush hour commuters who have written to ask if the empty chair might somehow be placed on a train.
Well, the Chinese keep saying how touchy they are about criticism, since they have an Eastern dislike of losing face. They ought to take a lesson from our politicians - they don't mind losing face at all. Since they all start with two faces, they can spare one.
That is so funny, funny! Yes, indeed. Not only two faced but multi-faced. The expenses scandal springs to mind. I think only one has been charged with the expenses scandal. The others seem to have escaped.
Hi Maria
If memory serves, there are four who've been charged - maybe 3 MPs and one peer, not sure. I think that one has pleaded guilty.
But the latest is that MPs in general carried on with their dodgy claims after the scandal was exposed, to the extent that the auditor has refused to sign off the MPs' expense claims.
Thank you for keeping me up to date with the expenses scandal Robert. Maybe the one who has pleaded guilty, will just do some light community work, pay a small fine and that will be it. A slap in the wrist. It won't make the headlines either, maybe it will just appear in a little note, buried on page eight in the newspapers. On the other hand, the Wickyleaks owner has now been granted bail, after an enormous amount of money was paid by a friend. We will see what happens next.
I don't know whether I can discuss the wikileaks guy because it might be sub judice. But as for the MPs' expenses, they're in the same situation as the European Union now - their accounts haven't been signed off. I knew at the time that when they said they'd fixed the problem, all that would happen would be that new dodges would be introduced.
Hello Maria and Robert,
just a quick hello on Christmas Eve to wish you both a Very Happy Christmas and a great New Year!
The snow and your pictures of the house look magical Maria ..
I know it is very cold ..our news is full of your weather woes!
Not too many Quality Street tomorrow Robert ..
love to you both,
Victoria
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Victoria.
Oh, I would never overindulge in chocolates, cakes etc. It's never been known. Never. Well, not often anyway....
Hello Victoria good to hear from you, I hope that you had a great time over Christmas and enjoyed the celebrations to welcome the New Year, sorry I had not answered sooner as I had not read these last messages.
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