Operation Mincemeat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Italy

British troop were massing in Africa preparing for the invasion of Sicily, Italy (known as Operation Barclay). As the German army watched and prepared to match this invasion with force, the British knew they needed a distraction and fast.

Answer: MI5

Two military intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley crafted the plot, presenting it to Winston Churchill who green lighted the imaginative idea. Together the two men went about picking the perfect corpse, obtaining the right clothing and clues to tell the story they needed the Germans to believe.

Answer: suicide

The body of Glyndwr Michael was used for this plot, the gentleman having taken his own life by ingesting rat poison after a period of homelessness. The British noted he had no next of kin. Glyndwr was renamed Captain William Martin of the Royal Marines and given all the appropriate paperwork to reflect his new identity. Glyndwr's lungs were filled with salt water and he was kept refrigerated as plans were made.

Answer: Oxford University

Due to the war, quality undergarments were rationed. This problem was solved with the unfortunate accidental death of Oxford professor, Herbert Fisher. Fisher had been a stickler for quality and had left behind a collection of undergarments that were of the size and quality appropriate to the faux captain's rank.

Answer: Pam

Jean Leslie, an MI5 clerk, was selected among the military intelligence ladies to become the captain's fictitious fiancée. Dubbed "Pam", her photo was included in the pocket of the captain's uniform together with an engagement ring receipt and love letters written by ladies in the MI6 typing pool.

Answer: feet

The captain's feet had frozen in the refrigeration process making it impossible to put his feet in boots. Thus the team had to place him in front of an electric heater to defrost his feet sufficiently for footwear. Once clothed, the carefully created pocket litter of photos, notes, and records were inserted in his pockets and he was sealed in a canister for transport.

Answer: dry ice

Twenty-one pounds of dry ice were packed around the body and the torpedo canister sealed. The dry ice preserved the body in both its cold and sublimated state, ultimately preserving the body in carbon dioxide. The canister was then loaded about the HMS Seraph's torpedo room and transported off the coast of Spain where the captain was deployed into the water, an alleged victim of a crash.

Answer: eyelash

A single eyelash was placed among the folded messages. In the event the correspondence was read (which it was), the eyelash would be dislodged and the British would know that the message had been successfully intercepted. German agents in Spain carefully removed the letter from the envelope, photographed and forwarded those intercepts to Hitler.

They returned everything to the briefcase to be returned to the British, sans eyelash.

Answer: drowning

The local British consul stationed in Spain, Francis Haselden, was in on the plot as well and instructed to influence the doctors to skimp on their work. During the autopsy, Haselden noted the heat of the day, the deterioration of the corpse and that they should finish quickly and go to lunch.

The Spanish doctors agreed and the death certificate was completed noting "asphyxiation through immersion in the sea" as cause of death.

Answer: Greece

The German leadership, upon intercept of the alleged secret plans, informed Mussolini and began moving forces from other locations in Europe. This included the 1st Panzer Division's recall from France to defend Greece "at all costs." The Germans did eventually notice the British invading the real location, Sicily, but by that time it was too late and Italy folded.