Pirate Flag That Changed The Course Of WWII
(From the Daily Mail, Nov. 1, 2013)
It was one of the most audacious missions of World War Two that saw false information about Allied plans to invade Italy planted into the hands of a German intelligence officer.
And today a Jolly Roger flag from HMS Seraph - which had a crucial role in the clandestine mission known as 'Operation Mincemeat' - has emerged, 70 years after the famous event.
In April 1943 the senior crew of the Royal Navy submarine dropped the body of a Welsh tramp, dressed up as a uniformed commando, a mile off the Spanish coast.
False identity papers showed the corpse to be that of Major William Martin of the Royal Marines and attached to his wrist was a briefcase containing secret bogus plans.
The highly-sensitive papers falsely stated the Allies planned to invade Italy through Greece and Sardinia.
As planned, when the body washed ashore in southern Spain the documents ended up in the hands of a local German intelligence officer.
As a result the German high command diverted troops to Sardinia and Greece - away from Sicily where the Allies successfully invaded two months later.
It gave the Allies a foothold on Hitler’s fortress in Europe for the first time since Dunkirk.
The extraordinary deception was later the basis of the film The Man Who Never Was.
To mark the special operation the flagman on HMS Seraph added a dagger emblem to the submarine's Jolly Roger to go alongside five others for clandestine missions.
It was tradition for Royal Navy submarines to have its own skull and cross bones after a World War One Admiral famously compared submarine warfare to piracy.
Emblems were added to the flags each time the submarine sunk an enemy or completed a mission.
One of the other daggers on the flag signified a bizarre special operation which involved the entire crew speaking in American accents to appease an English-hating French general they were rescuing.
General Henri Giraud refused to board a British craft and so the sub hoisted the Stars and Stripes and pretended to be American.
The HMS Seraph's Jolly Roger was kept by a junior rating, whose role was to update it, after it was replaced by a new one in 1944.
He handed it on to his son who has now made it available for sale at auction and is estimated to fetch £10,000.
Auctioneer Steven Bosley, of Bosleys of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where the flag is to go on sale said: 'It is rare for these Jolly Rogers to come on the open market because most of them went to the submarine captain or ended up at a museum.
'It is hard to value it because they are so rare but this one does carry a premium because of the association with Operation Mincemeat.
'The flying of a Jolly Roger on a submarine is a British tradition that still goes on today and whenever an operation has been completed a new emblem is stitched on to it.
'The provenance for this one is excellent. The vendor’s father served aboard HMS Seraph as a junior rating but it was his remit to look after the Jolly Roger and update it.
'A new Jolly Roger was taken into service when the submarine had a new captain in March 1944 and this one was preserved by the vendor’s father who took it with him on leaving the vessel.'
HMS Seraph was chosen to take part in Operation Mincemeat because of its previous success with special operations.
Its commander, Lieutenant Bill Jewell, knew the truth of the operation but he had to tell his men the canister carrying the body of the dead tramp, whose real name was Glyndwr Michael, contained a meteorological device.
At 4.30am on April 30, 1943, HMS Seraph surfaced a mile off the Spanish coastal town of Huelva, and Lt Jewell and a few senior officers gently pushed the body into the sea.
It was found washed up by a fisherman at 9.30am and was reported to German agent Adolf Clauss.
As well as the ‘top secret’ documents, love letters from the body's pretend fiancee were also placed on his body to give the deception more credence.
After the war HMS Seraph was broken up. Its conning tower was preserved as a memorial at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, US.
It is the only shore installation in the US where the Royal Navy ensign is allowed to be permanently flown.
The Jolly Roger flag, that measures 31ins by 48ins, is being sold by Bosleys on November 6.
It was one of the most audacious missions of World War Two that saw false information about Allied plans to invade Italy planted into the hands of a German intelligence officer.
And today a Jolly Roger flag from HMS Seraph - which had a crucial role in the clandestine mission known as 'Operation Mincemeat' - has emerged, 70 years after the famous event.
In April 1943 the senior crew of the Royal Navy submarine dropped the body of a Welsh tramp, dressed up as a uniformed commando, a mile off the Spanish coast.
False identity papers showed the corpse to be that of Major William Martin of the Royal Marines and attached to his wrist was a briefcase containing secret bogus plans.
The highly-sensitive papers falsely stated the Allies planned to invade Italy through Greece and Sardinia.
As planned, when the body washed ashore in southern Spain the documents ended up in the hands of a local German intelligence officer.
As a result the German high command diverted troops to Sardinia and Greece - away from Sicily where the Allies successfully invaded two months later.
It gave the Allies a foothold on Hitler’s fortress in Europe for the first time since Dunkirk.
The extraordinary deception was later the basis of the film The Man Who Never Was.
To mark the special operation the flagman on HMS Seraph added a dagger emblem to the submarine's Jolly Roger to go alongside five others for clandestine missions.
It was tradition for Royal Navy submarines to have its own skull and cross bones after a World War One Admiral famously compared submarine warfare to piracy.
Emblems were added to the flags each time the submarine sunk an enemy or completed a mission.
One of the other daggers on the flag signified a bizarre special operation which involved the entire crew speaking in American accents to appease an English-hating French general they were rescuing.
General Henri Giraud refused to board a British craft and so the sub hoisted the Stars and Stripes and pretended to be American.
The HMS Seraph's Jolly Roger was kept by a junior rating, whose role was to update it, after it was replaced by a new one in 1944.
He handed it on to his son who has now made it available for sale at auction and is estimated to fetch £10,000.
Auctioneer Steven Bosley, of Bosleys of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where the flag is to go on sale said: 'It is rare for these Jolly Rogers to come on the open market because most of them went to the submarine captain or ended up at a museum.
'It is hard to value it because they are so rare but this one does carry a premium because of the association with Operation Mincemeat.
'The flying of a Jolly Roger on a submarine is a British tradition that still goes on today and whenever an operation has been completed a new emblem is stitched on to it.
'The provenance for this one is excellent. The vendor’s father served aboard HMS Seraph as a junior rating but it was his remit to look after the Jolly Roger and update it.
'A new Jolly Roger was taken into service when the submarine had a new captain in March 1944 and this one was preserved by the vendor’s father who took it with him on leaving the vessel.'
HMS Seraph was chosen to take part in Operation Mincemeat because of its previous success with special operations.
Its commander, Lieutenant Bill Jewell, knew the truth of the operation but he had to tell his men the canister carrying the body of the dead tramp, whose real name was Glyndwr Michael, contained a meteorological device.
At 4.30am on April 30, 1943, HMS Seraph surfaced a mile off the Spanish coastal town of Huelva, and Lt Jewell and a few senior officers gently pushed the body into the sea.
It was found washed up by a fisherman at 9.30am and was reported to German agent Adolf Clauss.
As well as the ‘top secret’ documents, love letters from the body's pretend fiancee were also placed on his body to give the deception more credence.
After the war HMS Seraph was broken up. Its conning tower was preserved as a memorial at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, US.
It is the only shore installation in the US where the Royal Navy ensign is allowed to be permanently flown.
The Jolly Roger flag, that measures 31ins by 48ins, is being sold by Bosleys on November 6.
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