I was Monty's Double!

Discussion in 'General' started by adamcotton, Sep 12, 2009.

  1. Staffsyeoman

    Staffsyeoman Member

    "I Was Monty's Double" was Operation Copperhead. The raid in the film is a pure lift of Geoffrey Keyes' commando raid to kill or capture Rommel (and never happened), and the operation did not fool the Germans one iota. James was also troublesome - as he complained a lot, drank and smoked despite being told not to for the duration of the operation. One part that is true is about his being paid as a Field Marshal for the duration of the operation (nowhere near as long as the film implies).
     
  2. redtop

    redtop Well-Known Member

    Tex Banwell 10th .Bn..Parachute Regiment was also one of Monty's Doubles

    Keith Deamer (Tex) Banwell, a British Army World War II escape artist whose many exploits included serving as a double for Field Marshal Montgomery and twice facing a Gestapo firing squad and living to tell about it, died on July 25 in a hospital in North London. He was 80.

    His death was reported in London yesterday by The Daily Telegraph and confirmed by Geoffrey Picot, a longtime friend.

    Mr. Banwell's death-defying exploits -- some of which were recounted by Leo Heaps in his book ''The Grey Goose of Arnhem'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977) -- began in 1942. He was captured during a British raid on Tobruk, Libya. British forces there were seeking to dislodge Field Marshal Rommel, who was shoring up Mussolini's crumbling North African empire.

    With a friend, Mr. Banwell managed to steal a German vehicle and return to the safety of British lines. On a subsequent raid on Crete, he told friends, he was taken prisoner at Candia, also known as Iraklion.

    He was put under the personal supervision of Max Schmeling, the 1930's world heavyweight champion, who was serving in the Wehrmacht.

    Mr. Banwell and a few of his comrades managed to slip away from their captors and steal an assault landing craft. With the help of Cretan fishermen, they made their getaway. But the craft ran out of fuel and drifted for nine days before reaching the North African coast.


    It took Mr. Banwell 12 weeks in a British hospital to recover fully. When he had done so, someone noticed that he bore a striking resemblance to Montgomery.

    So Mr. Banwell was sent to Cairo to meet him. Given the appropriate clothing, insignia and general's badges, he was then sent on trips around the Middle East to confuse enemy spies.

    However, since Mr. Banwell was taller than Montgomery, he was told that he must never leave the Field Marshal's car.
     
    brithm likes this.
  3. ChrisR

    ChrisR Senior Member

    A couple of files at The National Archives -

    KV 2/3123 - Ignacio MOLINA PEREZ. As an intelligence officer on the staff of the Spanish military governor of Campo de Gibraltar, MOLINA PEREZ acted as a liaison point with the British authorities in Gibraltar during the Second World War. He was also a German agent and was believed to have been the unconscious channel through which the deception operation COPPERHEAD (the impersonation of General Montgomery) was achieved.

    WO 219/2219 - Plan Copperhead: preliminary arrangements
     
  4. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Deleted - wrong thread.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2022

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