Ewen Montagu

Captain Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu , CBE , QC , DL (March 19, 1901 , † July 19, 1985 ) was a British judge , author and intelligence officer .

Life

Ewen Montagu was the second son of Louis Samuel Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling . He attended Westminster School in London. Subsequently, he worked in the First World War as an instructor for machine gunners on a base of the air forces of the United States Navy . After the war, he studied at Trinity College (Cambridge) and Harvard University before being admitted to the bar in 1924.

During World War II , Montagu served in the Naval Intelligence Department of the British Admiralty , where he was in charge of planning Operation Mincemeat , one of the most successful deceptive maneuvers in the war against the German military. He was awarded the Military Order of the British Empire for his role in planning the deception . From 1945 to 1973 he held the post of Judge Advocat of the Fleet. In 1953 he wrote The Man Who Never Was A factual report on Operation Mincemeat, which was filmed three years later under the same title. In the film, Montagu himself plays a Royal Air Force officer who reprimands Montagu (played by Clifton Webb ) at a meeting.

Montagu was from 1954 to 1962 President of the United Synagogue (United Synagogue) in London and Vice President of the Anglo-Jewish Association (Anglo-Jewish Association).

His brother Ivor Montagu was a filmmaker and communist accused of spying for the GRU .

Works

• Ewen Montagu: The Man Who Never Was: World War II's Boldest Counter-Intelligence Operation . Bluejacket Books, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-448-2 . (originally published 1953)
• Ewen Montagu: Courage and achievement: three famous stories . Evans Bros., London 1968, ISBN 0-237-35083-1 .
• Ewen Montagu: The Archer-Shee case: the case on which Terence Rattigan based The Winslow boy . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1974, ISBN 0-7153-6774-9 .
• Ewen Montagu: Beyond Top Secret U . P. Davies, London 1977, ISBN 0-432-09510-1 .