"I was Monty’s Double: Meyrick Edward Clifton James" Topic
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| Tango01 | 29 Sep 2015 9:36 p.m. PST |
"In April 1944, Lieutenant-Colonel John Jervis-Reid was perusing the News Chronicle newspaper when he came across a photograph of Meyrick Edwards Clifton James dressed as Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. James had been briefly appearing in a stage show as the famous British military commander, a late addition to the production which had not proved overly popular with the public. However, what struck the colonel was the incredible resemblance between this amateur actor and the professional soldier. The seed of one of the Second World War's most unusual deception plans had been sown. The Security Service – better known as MI5 – devised a plan to use James in an attempt to fool the Germans in the lead up to D-Day, which was now less than two months away. It was intended to make the Germans believe that Monty was in fact not in England but elsewhere, such as North Africa. British intelligence knew that the Germans were expecting Monty to command the British land forces during the invasion of France, and if he was believed to be out of the country the invasion would be viewed as not being imminent. The plan was codenamed Operation Copperhead, itself part of the wider Operation Bodyguard, which aimed to persuade the Germans that a major Allied thrust would come in the south of France before the north, thus necessitating the need to divert troops and military assets away from actual intended point of the attack. James himself was born in 1898 in Perth in Western Australia. During the First World War he served in the Royal Fusiliers, seeing action during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. However, acting was James' real love, but he struggled to find work and only played minor roles in lesser-known productions over a twenty-five year period. When the Second World War broke out, he again joined the army, this time being posted to the Army Pay Corps as a second-lieutenant in Leicester. He continued to enjoy the dramatics as best he could, spending time with his local army drama and variety group…"
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