Karl-Erich Kühlenthal

Major Karl-Erich Kühlenthal (1908 in Koblenz – October 25, 1975) was a German spy during World War II. He was one of the most senior Abwehr agents in Spain.

In 1943 Kühlenthal went about attempting to find important British documents found on the body of Major William Martin, who had been washed up in Spain after a possible plane crash. In fact, the documents were false and the body that of Glyndwr Michael, a homeless Welsh man. These were part of Operation Mincemeat, a plan to convince the Germans that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. It is not certain if Kühlenthal was convinced by the documents, some of his relatives being Jewish, but he passed the documents onto his superiors who "swallowed mincemeat whole."

References

• Macintyre, Ben (2010). Operation Mincemeat. The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-9868-8.

External links

• History of Dienz family (in German) Does not cover Kühlenthal's spy activities.