Operation Mincemeat features a young Ian Fleming drafting James Bond, but the inspiration behind the spy story goes far beyond the call of duty.
Espionage series and films are undoubtedly thrilling and nail-biting, but they can have an even greater sense of tension when those secret operations are actually based on real-life historical missions.
Yesterday, May 11th, Netflix US released Operation Mincemeat, a Colin Firth-led movie about the incredible ruse that the allied forces played on Hitler’s Axis army in Southern Europe.
With tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives on the line, as well as the fate of occupied Europe, Operation Mincemeat shines the light on countless heroes that have until now, remained mostly in the shadows…including James Bond author, Ian Fleming.
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Operation Mincemeat | Official Trailer
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Operation Mincemeat | Official Trailer
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Ian Fleming’s integral part of Operation Mincemeat
As a film, Operation Mincemeat is outstanding and is an easy recommendation for any movie lover who enjoys stories of war, espionage or high-ranking politics.
From the fictional Billy and Pam, to the very real Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, the film brings much-deserved awareness to the men and women who successfully waged a secret war against the Nazi war machine.
One of the members of the Twenty Committee who organised Operation Mincemeat was none other than the legendary British author Ian Fleming, who is best known for creating the James Bond series and at the time, was working as Rear Admiral John Godfrey’s personal assistant.
Despite never being officially confirmed, historian Ben Macintyre notes that the original plan for deceiving the Axis forces in Operation Mincemeat, known as Number 28, “bore all the hallmarks” of the young Lieutenant Commander Fleming – a point noted in the movie.
As the movie continues, Fleming can be seen writing a “spy story” whenever he gets a moment of peace in the hectic war rooms of London; even drafting a copy as the team waited on word of the operation’s ultimate success.
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Ian Fleming was a distinguished naval intelligence officer and, as is the case with many iconic stories of espionage, was inspired by the people and events he experienced during the second world war.
Within the first couple of minutes of the Operation Mincemeat movie, the characters talk about how Godfrey (Fleming’s boss at the time) was known as M. This was because Godfrey is the only person who is as terrifying as his mother and eventually, ‘M’ became famous in its own right as being the name as James Bond’s boss from the notorious espionage series.
However, the film goes further into hinting about how the allied ruse inspired various aspects of the Bond series. When discussing the objects that should be in the pocket of the dead man, Fleming plays with a watch that has rotating saws on the side…
A spy getting gadget advice from a mysterious engineer in a basement with experimental technology plastering the walls…this is surely the clearest indication that this could have been the inspiration behind Bond’s gadget-inventing colleague, Q!
Despite these ‘Easter Eggs’, the most fascinating aspect of Operation Mincemeat’s impact on Fleming and consequently, the James Bond series, is actually not even part of the movie.
In 1940, several years before Operation Mincemeat took place, Fleming was put in charge of devising a plan to place allied forces within Spain after a possible alliance with Germany. Fleming’s plan was ultimately shelved as the Nazis didn’t occupy Spain which acted neutral during this stage of the war; as noted several times during the recent movie.
The name of this shelved mission…Operation GOLDENEYE!
Yes, the name of (debatably) the best James Bond movie was originally an operation created by author Ian Fleming during World War 2…it also became the name of his Jamaican home where he wrote most of the Bond novels.
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Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang goes Hitler’s plans
If you ever have a free afternoon or even just a few spare minutes on your commute to work, spend that time researching Ian Fleming.
Not only was he one of the most interesting personalities of his generation of military strategists, but his life both pre-and post-war is certainly worthy of your attention. However, arguably his most surprising achievement is the fact he created the Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang story!
Fleming published the children’s novel in 1964 for his son Caspar, which was then loosely adapted into its own movie in 1968 with the help of another famous author, Roald Dahl, as the head of screenplay.
Ian Fleming certainly had a legacy to rival any author in history; however, his participation in Operation Mincemeat and the other special missions carried out by the British Navy intelligence team is a legacy unmatched…Fleming ultimately helped make Hitler’s plans for Europe go Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang itself.
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By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
In other news, Operation Mincemeat: As Ian Fleming drafts James Bond, Goldeneye and gadgets are uncovered
