WAS THE SOMERTON MAN CASE A TACTICAL DECEPTION?

 

TACTICAL DECEPTION CLASSIC

From this image, the explanation of just what a 'Tactical Deception' it becomes instantly obvious. Militarily and from a warfighting perspective, such a deception relates to a variety of moves, maneuvers, and ruses designed to get a specific response from the enemy.

There have been many examples throughout history from the Toran Horse at Troy to the US and UK Ghost Armies of WW2 which employed amongst other things, inflatable tanks and aircraft.

AN INTELLIGENCE DECEPTION

Deceptions are not limited to events in the field of battle. In the intelligence world concealments and deceptions are par for the course. But mist would have similar objectives:

I think the mage sums it up quite nicely.

Now we have an idea of the likely objectives, let's look at an example of an intelligence deception that was to become known as the 'Haversack Ruse' which took place in Gaza om 1917.

Enter Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, he proposed a plan to General Allenby that was enthusiastically welcomed and given the go-ahead. Essentially, the 'ruse' was to have an officer who was supposedly on a reconnaissance mission to contrive to be chased by a Turkish patrol, he faked being wounded and dropped his haversack which contained plans that deceived the Turks into believing that there was to be a main attack at Gaza and that a second attack at Beersheba was only a feint. The haversack was filled with all the normal planning and meeting notes plus a large sum of British money and a letter supposedly from the officer's wife. The Turks bought it and the subsequent campaign as an outstanding success. Allenby was able to deliver a Christmas present to Lloyd George.

Note that the XX and XX1 Corps were the attacking forces.

THE XX COMMITTEE

Fast forward now to WW2 and the involvement of MI5 in the renowned deception operation known as Operation Mincemeat. In this operation, a dead body of a man, a Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who had died after eating food laced with rat poison, was dressed in the uniform of a British Army Captain, (Acting Major) by the name of  William Martin. The body was ejected from RN Submarine, the SERIPH. Martin carried with him secret documents suggesting that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia with a feint attack on Sicily.

The image to the left is that of Glyndwr Michael prior to being dumped in the ocean off Spain to be picked up by Spanish fishermen who dutifully handed the body and the documents over to Spanish officials who in turn passed them on to German intelligence.

Of note here is that pockets of the man were filled with 'pocket litter' (Known in intelligence circles, pocket litter is material, including notes scribbled on scraps of paper, that accumulate in an individual's pockets. It can include identity cards, transportation tickets, personal photographs, and similar material) to make him look as genuine as possible. It included the photograph and a letter from his 'fiancee' 'PAM' who was in fact an MI5 employee by the name of  JEAN LESLIE.

MI5 had gone to incredible lengths to make sure that the body and its accompanying documents looked as genuine as possible including the preparation and freezing of the body and even followed up with newspaper items n the death of Captain Martin. 

It all sounds familiar, doesn't it?

What about the XX Committee?  This was the MI5 B1 Division group charged with organising and implementing the plan for Operation Mincemeat. The XX was a nice touch given the history of Beersheba and of course a double-cross :) But wait, there's more!

Heading up MI5 B 1 division in 1943 was Guy Liddell of the Liddell Diaries fame. Guy, in 1948, was also Deputy Director of MI5 and it was he that kept in constant contact with ROGER HOLLIS, being his boss, whilst he enjoyed an extended trip to Australia which ended, believe it or not, around Christmas 1948.

At various times both Guy Lidell and Roger Hollis were accused of spying for Russia bit these accusations were later dismissed as unfounded. Interestingly, Roger Hollis was introduced at one time to Richard Sorge, a well-known Russian Master spy, by a left-wing American journalist.

There is a very interesting Russian TV series on YouTube about Sorge and his activities

You can read an account of Operation Mincemeat HERE