michaelmaltby
Colonel
Currently reading "The Men Who Defeated the Luftwaffe" USAAF ...... interesting
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Wasn't the need to wear glasses a automatic disqualifyer for a combat pilot in most WW2 era air forces ?
I cannot help wondering what the german AT gunners were thinking looking at the size of the knocked out tank and comparing it to the 37mm guns they had.
Even though the photos bear an inscription stating that the submarine is HMS Seraph, I don't think it is. Either the inscriptions have been added in error, or it's another 'Seraph'.
The pic below shows Seraph, commanded by Lt. Bill Jewell (second from left in the photo), and note the different arrangement of the periscope masts, the radio antennae / net cutter wire support, and the gun aft of the conning tower.
The submarine's name is also painted on the side of the conning tower, along with the bull, taken from a popular cartoon of the period, and there doesn't appear to be a number painted on the side. The colour of the tower also appears a lot darker, as well as the overall shape being different.
It was this Seraph which was used to secretly 'launch' the body of the fictitious 'Major William Martin, RM' ( actually the corpse of a Welsh 'tramp', Glyndwr Michael) off the Spanish coast at Heulva in April 1943, in one of the most daring, and highly successful deceptions of WW2, 'Operation Mincemeat', designed to deceive the Germans and cover the preparations for, and the eventual invasion of Sicily.
Bill Jewel and HMS Seraph also positioned a radio beacon, and remained in shallow water, just off the beach, to guide in the invasion fleet during 'Operation Husky', as well as undertaking a number of other hazardous and secret missions in addition to 'normal' operations during WW2.
The story of this deception was made into a movie in the early 1950's, titled 'The Man Who Never Was', although some of the facts, and names, were changed or omitted, as the true details were still 'Classified' at the time.
The full and extensive, true story has now been revealed in an excellent book, 'Operation Mincemeat', by Ben Macintyre, published in 2010,
and the photo below is one of many included in the book, which is well worth a read.
Coincidentally, I just finished re-reading it last weekend !
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