“Fleming found he had a love for espionage, and combined with his support for all things British, provided purpose to his life. But after WWII ended, he found himself at loose ends, and took a job with a newspaper. He hated the drudgery that went with the position, and often found himself daydreaming while admiring a picture of Jamaica near his desk. After several vacations to the island, he decided to move there permanently and, drawing on his family’s income, built a home for himself. He called it ‘Goldeneye.’ Fleming told friends he had always wanted to write a spy novel…and now with time on his hands, he did exactly that.”
Ian Fleming: The Man Behind the Most Famous Spy — CIA Website (May 2018)
During location filming in Jamaica, Ian Fleming gives Sean Connery some first-hand pointers.
May 28 2020 — Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Before writing the series, Fleming authored some fantastic pieces of disinformation during WWII.
“Operation Mincemeat” is a true masterpiece! They really knew how to write ‘Fake News’ back then! In comparison, the amateurs who wrote the script of the “Skripal Affair” or the “Lockerbie Case” should be ashamed of themselves. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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James Bond was the brain child of British author Ian Fleming. Born to a wealthy family in 1908, Fleming was an undisciplined student, and often clashed with his teachers even when earning high marks for his schoolwork.
“After applying for a job with the Foreign Office and failing the entrance exam, his family connections landed him a job with Reuters News Agency.
After that, he tried his hand at banking and stockbroking with unsatisfactory results.It wasn’t until World War II broke out that Fleming found his true calling.
Although he never saw combat, he held a series of important desk jobs, and was part of a team which traveled to the United States to meet with Colonel “Wild Bill Donovan” and helped write the blueprint for the new Office of the Coordinator of Information, which turned into the Office of Strategic Services.
This, of course, was the organization which preceded the creation of the CIA.” [CIA Website]
For sure, Fleming wrote good novels. But in my opinion, his best work was a disinformation piece he wrote during WWII.
They knew how to write ‘Fake News’ back then!
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat was a successful British disinformation strategy used during the Second World War.
As a deception intended to cover the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily, two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as Captain (Acting Major) William Martin.
Correspondence between two British generals which suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was also placed on the body.
Part of the wider Operation Barclay, Mincemeat was based on the 1939 Trout memo, written by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Division, and his personal assistant, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming.
With the approval of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the overall military commander in the Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the plan began with transporting the body to the southern coast of Spain by submarine, and releasing it close to shore.
It was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman. The nominally neutral Spanish government shared copies of the documents with the Abwehr, the German military intelligence organisation, before returning the originals to the British.
Forensic examination showed they had been read, and decrypts of German messages showed the Germans fell for the ruse. Reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia both before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none.
The true impact of Operation Mincemeat is unknown, although Sicily was liberated more quickly than anticipated and losses were lower than predicted.
The events were depicted in Operation Heartbreak, a 1950 novel by the former cabinet minister Duff Cooper, before one of the agents who planned and carried out Mincemeat, Ewen Montagu, wrote a history in 1953.
Montagu’s work formed the basis for the 1956 British film The Man Who Never Was. [Wikipedia]
Ian Fleming life
REFERENCES
Ian Fleming: The Man Behind the Most Famous Spy — CIA Website (May 28 2018)
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On this Day — Happy Birthday to Ian Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964)
On this Day — Remembering Ian Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) : Father of James Bond & Master of Disinformation
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