mostly convinces O'Reilly. As a final test, he gives Lucy his north London address, telling her to contact him if she needs anything. He then radios his German contacts that if he does not send another message in an hour he has been arrested. As Montagu, General Coburn (Michael Hordern) of Scotland Yard's Special Branch and police officers are en route to O'Reilly's flat, Montagu realizes why O'Reilly left his address with Lucy and persuades a reluctant Coburn to let O'Reilly go. When no one arrests him, O'Reilly sends a "Martin genuine!" radio message. The Germans then transfer most of their Sicily-based forces to Greece, which helps the Allied invasion of Sicily succeed. After the war Montagu receives several decorations and awards for his wartime service, including the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He visits Spain and leaves his OBE medal at the grave of Major Martin, "the man who never was". Cast Clifton Webb as Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu Gloria Grahame as Lucy Sherwood Robert Flemyng as Lt. George Acres Josephine Griffin as Pam Stephen Boyd as Patrick O'Reilly Laurence Naismith as Adm. Cross William Russell as Joe (Lucy's fiancé) Geoffrey Keen as Gen. Archibald Nye Moultrie Kelsall as the Father Cyril Cusack as taxi driver André Morell as Sir Bernard Spilsbury Michael Hordern as Gen. Coburn William Squire as submarine commander Bill Jewell Allan Cuthbertson as Vice-Admiral Miles Malleson as scientist Joan Hickson as landlady Terence Longdon as Larry Gibb McLaughlin as club porter Gordon Bell as Customs Officer Wolf Frees as Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (uncredited) Ewen Montagu as an Air Vice Marshal (uncredited) Peter Williams as Admiral Mountbatten (uncredited) Historical accuracy Operation Mincemeat involved the acquisition and dressing up of a human cadaver as a "Major William Martin, R.M." and putting it into the sea near Huelva, Spain. Attached to the dead body was a briefcase containing fake letters falsely stating that the Allied attack would be against Sardinia and Greece rather than Sicily, the actual point of invasion. When the body was found, the Spanish Intelligence Service passed copies of the papers to the German Intelligence Service which passed them on to their High Command. The ruse was so successful that the Germans still believed that Sardinia and Greece were the intended objectives weeks after the landings in Sicily had begun. The exact identity of the "man who never was" has been the centre of