Purbeck Dorset
Registered Charity No 1075342
Presentation at the next Meeting Points
Thursday, 28th March 2019
Thursday, 28th March 2019
First: Refreshments followed by U3A News,
with the Presentation starting at about
10:30
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Please refresh your browser (usually F5) if you still see details of the previous presentation.
Meeting starts at 10:00 am
at Harman’s Cross Village Hall
at Harman’s Cross Village Hall
Each year, thousands of commemorations took place throughout the world to honour all those who have lost their lives in war. However, there is one grave, on its own in a Spanish cemetery, which is largely forgotten but marks a death that turned the fortunes of the allies in the last war. Strangely, the person honoured is a civilian and who did not give his life but his death for his country.
He was quite simply, ‘The man who never was’.
Following Operation ‘Torch’ in 1942, the allies had secured all of North Africa and hundreds of thousands of troops based between Alexandra and Algeria, the next ‘big’ question was how to invade Europe, from the South, when and where?
The ideal ‘push’ would be through Italy with Sicily as the bridgehead, but this island was highly reinforced with German divisions and airstrips.
- An amazing wartime deception -
Operation Mincemeat
The Team that made Operation Mincemeat
'The man who never was' deception possible
'The man who never was' deception possible
How the Royal Navy was crucial to the safe and
effective transportation of the body to Spain
effective transportation of the body to Spain
Later that year, a very risky deception was proposed by MI5 and Naval Intelligence, coded named “Operation Mincemeat”. The aim was to deceive the German High Command into believing that the invasion would be through Sardinia and Greece.
But what kind of deception and how?
How was the secret kept for so long?
How is the grave marked today?
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In the past three years Richard has given this 45 minute talk to U3A and Probus organisations in Portsmouth, Emsworth, Havant, Chichester, Petersfield, Rowlands Castle, Solent (Fareham) and Midhurst – and now Purbeck!