{"product_id":"machine-gun-training-1915-lieut-h-douglas","title":"Machine Gun Manual (1916)  'Operation Mincemeat' Ewen Montagu","description":"\u003ch3\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMACHINE GUN MANUAL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLieutenant H. Douglas\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHARRISON AND SONS, London, c.1916\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA rare original WW1 edition of \u003cem\u003eMachine Gun Manual,\u003c\/em\u003e written by Lieutenant H. Douglas, undated, but published by Harrison and Sons c.1916. (By the time the 1917 edition was published, the author had been promoted and was now 'Captain H. Douglas’). The book belonged to Ewen Montagu, the creator of 'Operation Mincemeat', one of the most celebrated British secret intelligence operations of WW2. There are ink stamps on the front cover of 'Stuart Montagu' and 'Ewen Montagu'. These stamps are also present on the endpapers, title page and contents pages. Stuart Montagu (1898-1990) was Ewen's elder brother. He was an officer in the Grenadier Guards, commissioned in 1917. Ewen Montagu also served in WW1, as a machine gun instructor - it seems most likely that this book originally belonged to his brother, who passed it on to Ewen when he became a machine gun instructor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEwen Montagu\u003c\/strong\u003e (1901-1985) was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer, and author. He is best known for his leading role in Operation Mincemeat, the critical military deception operation that misdirected German forces' attention away from the Allied invasion of Sicily (\"Operation Husky\"). He was educated at Westminster School before becoming a machine gun instructor during the First World War at a United States Naval Air Station. His brother, Stuart Montagu, was an officer in the Grenadier Guards during WW1. After the war Ewen Montagu  studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Harvard University. He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1920 and was called to the bar in 1924. Montagu was a keen yachtsman, and enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1938. He was assigned to the Royal Navy's East Yorkshire headquarters at Hull as an assistant staff officer in intelligence. During WW2 Montagu served in the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander RNVR. He was the Naval Representative on the secret intelligence XX Committee, which oversaw the running of double agents. Montagu has been portrayed on screen twice relating to Operation Mincemeat. In the 1956 film \u003cem\u003eThe Man Who Never Was\u003c\/em\u003e, he was portrayed by Clifton Webb. In the 2021 film \u003cem\u003eOperation Mincemeat\u003c\/em\u003e, he was played by Colin Firth. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;\"\u003eA highly successful musical, \u003cem\u003eOperation Mincemeat,\u003c\/em\u003e opened in 2019, transferred to the West End in 2023, and opened on Broadway in 2025. In 2014 a BBC television miniseries, \u003cem\u003eFleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond\u003c\/em\u003e, dramatised aspects of Operation Mincemeat, and Ian Fleming's connection to the operation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"box-sizing: border-box;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOperation Mincemeat\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci style=\"box-sizing: border-box;\"\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003ewas a top-secret deception operation carried out by British Intelligence to fool the Germans regarding the true target for the Allied invasion of Sicily. The plan involved the dead body of a 'British Officer' being planted just off the coast of Spain. This body - supposedly a Staff officer who had drowned after his aircraft was shot down - would be carrying secret documents which purported to reveal that the targets for the forthcoming invasion would be Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily only intended as a feint. To ensure that the Germans swallowed the deception, it was necessary to create a detailed false identity for the body, which was that of a homeless labourer who had died after swallowing rat poison.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe secret operation involved dressing this corpse as a Major in the Royal Marines and giving it the false identity of ‘William Martin’. Appropriate identification documents and other papers would give the body a credible personality and background. These included a photograph of Major Martin’s fiancée, a receipt for an engagement ring, a theatre ticket stub, naval identity cards, and other evidence. Early on 30 April 1943, the body of ‘Major Martin’ was launched into the sea from the British submarine \u003cem\u003eHMS Seraph\u003c\/em\u003e and left to drift just over a mile off the southern Spanish coast. Once recovered by the Spanish authorities, the ‘secret’ documents carried on the body were covertly opened, photographed and passed via Nazi sympathisers to German Abwehr intelligence officers in Spain. The Germans acted swiftly on the false information by doubling the number of troops sent to Sardinia, while additional German divisions were also transferred to Greece and the Balkans. The Allied invasion of Sicily was launched on 9 July 1943 and, exactly as the creators of Operation Mincemeat had intended, proved a huge surprise to the German defenders. In just over a month the island was captured by the Allies, with the lack of enemy reinforcements proving to be a deciding factor in the success of the invasion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eMachine Gun Manual\u003c\/em\u003e includes details taken from the official War Office booklets \u003cem\u003eNotes From the Front\u003c\/em\u003e, which were published in 1914 and 1915. It is a guide to the mechanism, handling and maintenance of the standard issue machine guns used by the Allied armies during WW1 -  including the Vickers, Maxim, Lewis, Hotchkiss and Colt. Described on the front cover as ‘A complete manual to machine gunnery, containing details of Maxim, Vickers, Lewis, Colt, Hotchkiss, together with drill (elementary and advanced), fire orders, notes from the front, and a mass of other useful information’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubjects covered for each weapon include: general description of the gun, lists of parts, loading and unloading, stoppages, belt\/magazine filling, stripping and assembling, firing, cleaning and maintenance, action of the mechanism, etc. There are also details of the tactical battlefield use of the guns, deployment in trench warfare, and notes based on front line experience. The manual is illustrated with diagrams and line drawings of the guns and their mechanisms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn very good condition. The cloth-covered card cover shows general signs of wear and use, wear to the spine, and some marks. The binding is good and secure, having been carefully reinforced in a few places with archival paper tape. The text and illustrations are in very good condition. There are ink stamps on the front cover of 'Stuart Montagu' and 'Ewen Montagu'. These stamps are also present on the endpapers, title page and contents pages. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished: c.1916\u003cbr\u003eOrange cloth-covered card cover with black titling\u003cbr\u003eIllustrated with line drawings and diagrams\u003cbr\u003eDimensions: 100mm x 155mm\u003cbr\u003ePages: 122\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Compass Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68300804423831,"sku":null,"price":305.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0275\/6131\/files\/MachineGunManualDouglas-1.jpg?v=1794235511","url":"https:\/\/www.compasslibrary.com\/en-it\/products\/machine-gun-training-1915-lieut-h-douglas","provider":"Compass Library","version":"1.0","type":"link"}