Description
Object description
HMS Seraph's badge which took part in the Operation Mincemeat deception.
This was a deception operation in which a corpse wearing the uniform of a Royal Marine Major was launched by HMS Seraph off the Spanish coast. Fake documents in a briefcase attached to the mythical ‘Major Martin’ were intended to mislead the German High Command about Allied plans for Operation ‘Husky’, suggesting that Greece not Sicily was the target. The deception worked. A message was sent to Churchill which read, ‘MINCEMEAT swallowed.’
Physical description
A shield shaped metal badge with a seraph's head and pair of wings displayed. The badge has a red background, the seraph image, wings, and twisted rope bordering the badge are all embossed and gilt-coloured. The back of the badge has the markings 'SERAPH'.
Label
HMS Seraph was a third group 'S'-class
submarine built as part of the War Emergency/
1941 Programme by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow.
Seraph was operational in 1942.She displaced 842
tons and her main armament was 13 x 21"
torpedoes launched from 6 bow and one stern
torpedo tubes.
Captain The Hon. Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu CBE QC DL (19 Mar 1901- 19 Jul 1985)
Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu, second son of the 2nd Baron Swaythling, was born in 1901 and educated at Westminster, Trinity College Cambridge and Harvard University. He was called to the Bar in 1924 by the Middle Temple taking Silk ( KC) in 1939. During the Second World War Montagu, commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the RNVR, served with Naval Intelligence where he concieved and implemented the now celebrated 'Operation Mincemeat' a major deception plan to persuade the German High Command that Allied Forces were to launch what became known as 'Operation Husky' via Sardinia rather than Sicily. For his contribution to the success of this deception plan, he was appointed OBE in 1944 (CBE 1950).
Montagu subsequently wrote a highly successful account of 'Mincemeat' which was published as 'The Man Who Never Was ' (London 1953). An equally successful film of the same name, followed in 1957 with the American actor Clifton Webb playing the role of Montagu. From 1945 to 1973 Montagu was Judge Advocate of The Fleet. Heis other Judicial appointments included Recorder of Devizes (1944-51); Recorder of Southampton (1951). He was a JP (1947) and a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire (1953). He was Deputy Chairman of Hampshire Quarter Sessions (1948-51) and Chairman from 1951. A Member of the General Council of the Bar from 1948, he was elected a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1948. Montagu died in 1985. The IWM holds a small number of items formerly owned by Montagu and related to 'Operation Mincemeat' (Ref: EPH 3244; MAR 585-586). The basic details of 'Mincemeat' are as follows: A civilian corpse in a Royal Marine uniform with faked ID-"Major Martin" - was dropped into the sea off theSpanish coast from the submarine HMS "Seraph" (Lt Jewell)in late April 1943."Major Martin" carried forged secret papers implying that imminent Allied invasions would strike at Sardinia or Greece The corpse was handed over to
the Germans and successfully deflected attention
from the invasion of Sicily, which took place in July
1943.
Label
HMS Seraph badge. The submarine Seraph played a key role in Operation ‘Mincemeat’. This was a deception operation in which a corpse wearing the uniform of a Royal Marine Major was launched by HMS Seraph off the Spanish coast. Fake documents in a briefcase attached to the mythical ‘Major Martin’ were intended to mislead the German High Command about Allied plans for Operation ‘Husky’, suggesting that Greece not Sicily was the target. The deception worked. A message was sent to Churchill which read, ‘MINCEMEAT swallowed.’
History note
HMS Seraph was a third group 'S'-class
submarine built as part of the War Emergency/
1941 Programme by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow.
Seraph was operational in 1942.She displaced 842
tons and her main armament was 13 x 21"
torpedoes launched from 6 bow and one stern
torpedo tubes.
Captain The Hon. Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu CBE QC DL (19 Mar 1901- 19 Jul 1985)
Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu, second son of the 2nd Baron Swaythling, was born in 1901 and educated at Westminster, Trinity College Cambridge and Harvard University. He was called to the Bar in 1924 by the Middle Temple taking Silk ( KC) in 1939. During the Second World War Montagu, commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the RNVR, served with Naval Intelligence where he concieved and implemented the now celebrated 'Operation Mincemeat' a major deception plan to persuade the German High Command that Allied Forces were to launch what became known as 'Operation Husky' via Sardinia rather than Sicily. For his contribution to the success of this deception plan, he was appointed OBE in 1944 (CBE 1950).
Montagu subsequently wrote a highly successful account of 'Mincemeat' which was published as 'The Man Who Never Was ' (London 1953). An equally successful film of the same name, followed in 1957 with the American actor Clifton Webb playing the role of Montagu. From 1945 to 1973 Montagu was Judge Advocate of The Fleet. Heis other Judicial appointments included Recorder of Devizes (1944-51); Recorder of Southampton (1951). He was a JP (1947) and a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire (1953). He was Deputy Chairman of Hampshire Quarter Sessions (1948-51) and Chairman from 1951. A Member of the General Council of the Bar from 1948, he was elected a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1948. Montagu died in 1985. The IWM holds a small number of items formerly owned by Montagu and related to 'Operation Mincemeat' (Ref: EPH 3244; MAR 585-586). The basic details of 'Mincemeat' are as follows: A civilian corpse in a Royal Marine uniform with faked ID-"Major Martin" - was dropped into the sea off theSpanish coast from the submarine HMS "Seraph" (Lt Jewell)in late April 1943."Major Martin" carried forged secret papers implying that imminent Allied invasions would strike at Sardinia or Greece The corpse was handed over to
the Germans and successfully deflected attention
from the invasion of Sicily, which took place in July
1943.
