Been thinking about WWII intelligence for next book on grand strategy. Have decided Operation Mincemeat is the best example of a intelligence ‘success’ that was actually a disaster
For those who don’t know, Mincemeat was the planting of intelligence to convince the Germans that the western allies were not going to invade Sicily: history.com/.amp/news/what…
The argument is that Mincemeat convinced the Germans to move some troops out of Sicily which made for an easier invasion. Celebrations all around!
Actually; the Germans would not have been able to stop any Sicily invasion, moving troops out of Sicily simply kept down their losses, in that way it helped them.
On a larger scale, Mincemeat makes the taking of Sicily a little easier, which is a catastrophe for the western allies. Convinces them to invade Italy, which was not agreed before
Opens up the wasteful and unnecessary two year, bloody struggle in Italy, which makes almost no difference in allied victory, while causing untold suffering
Operation Mincemeat the disastrous success and an example of everything that is wrong in WW2 history.
What say you? @James1940 @Alan_Allport @JonathanBoff @AdrianGregory20 @HGWDavie @mark4harrison @ProfGSheffield and everyone else?
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