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)

Operation Mincemeat is a great book

I enjoyed this book and the way it was read by Mr Lee. The story is facinating and I would be likely to listen to it a second time.

Enthusiastic and engaged vocal performance!

The voice actor adds to an amazing story. The author starts us out through the idea conception and all the way through execution. It was a plot that should have failed, and could have failed, anywhere at a dozen key points but it didn't.

Each of these end up creating plot twists and turns. Far from a dry recitation of WWII the author varies the story tempo and pitch to keep us completely enthralled.

Knew of the operation but never the full story

A great Audible to listen to! John Lee did an outstanding job narrating the story.

Pretty incredible

I watched the Netflix movie of the same name, which got me interested in finding out whether or not there was a book describing the events of this operation. I was pleased to find this book, and even more pleased to find it narrated by John Lee. If you are interested in WW2 spies and behind the mainstream scenes, do listen to this one. It is just incredible. Well researched, amazing.

Great story especially for WWII buffs

What made the experience of listening to Operation Mincemeat the most enjoyable?

Just such a great story. Fantastic in its design, the deception was so absurd that it somehow worked.

World War II: Suspense and Spy Craft

Operation Mincemeat tells the unique and true story of WWII spy work and deception that helped the Allies win the war. Even if you are not a WWII "enthusiast", the details of the extraordinarily brilliant and clever undertaking, revealed by the masterful John Lee will capture you!

James Bond! Jewish bankers! MI5! Corpse soldiers!

All of these things plus a male intelligence officer who knows how to walk in high heels and put on lipstick!

It's one of those books that feels like going to a really good outdoor carnival and learning something mind-blowing and true from the Roma fortune teller there. LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!

Great story.

I enjoyed it and recommend it for those interested in WWII, military history, and/or deception.

From fiction to reality

Very interesting. I never really thought about how much the stuff in our pockets says about us.. let alone how to create a person by putting stuff in his pockets. These guys were amazing men, they saved a lot of lives. I suggest this book if you like WWII history or spy stories. As with most Amazing stories, what makes this one so fascinating is the fact that it really happened.

great detail

a lot of very nice mini biographies and great detail. I will read other books from this author