The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare vs. the True Story of Operation Postmaster (2024)

THE CAST VS. REAL LIFE

Yes. The covert organization in the movie is loosely based on the true story of the British Army's No. 62 Commando, also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), which was founded by Major Gus March-Phillips (portrayed by Henry Cavill in the film). The covert unit was part of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which was established in 1940 by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to carry out sabotage, espionage and reconnaissance missions in Nazi-occupied Europe. SOE operators utilized unconventional tactics (irregular warfare) and laid the foundation for modern Black Ops warfare, including the British SAS.

During its five-and-a-half years in existence, from July 22, 1940 to January 15, 1946, the SOE consisted of more than 13,000 people who either worked directly for the organization or were controlled by it. Approximately 3,200 were women. Some of the SOE's hundreds of missions included Operation Harling and Operation Anthropoid, the latter of which found Czech soldiers-in-exile assassinating a high-ranking Nazi named Reinhard Heydrich. That story was told in the 2016 film Anthropoid starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was established by Winston Churchill, pictured here firing a Thompson submachine gun in March 1944. Rory Kinnear (inset) portrays Churchill in the movie.

A fact-check reveals that the movie depicts a heavily fictionalized account of Operation Postmaster, carried out by the Small Scale Raiding Force and the Special Operations Executive on January 14, 1942 in the harbor of Santa Isabel on the West African island of Fernando Po, then a Spanish colony in the Gulf of Guinea. Led by Major Gus March-Phillips (represented by Henry Cavill in the movie), the aim of the secret mission was to capture German and Italian ships in the harbor that were being used in the Axis war effort and sail them to Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, Spain was neutral in the war, which made the covert British operation a bold endeavor.

To effectively carry out the real-life mission, an SOE agent planned a party for the officers of the ships in order to distract them while the commandos were overtaking the vessels and making off with them. After subduing the crews, they successfully escaped with two German tugs and the Italian merchant vessel duch*essa d'Aosta.

The Small Scale Raiding Force captured the Italian cargo liner duch*essa d'Aosta during the January 14, 1942 Operation Postmaster raid.

Yes. James Bond creator Ian Fleming was the assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey, and acted as a liaison to Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE). Fleming, who is portrayed by Freddie Fox in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, reportedly based his Bond character on soldier Gus March-Phillips, played by Henry Cavill.

Major Gus March-Phillips was a bit of an author and a poet in his own right. In an interview with Comicbook.com, Cavill said that March-Phillips had even written a book that featured a character who was inspired by his experiences in the SOE. Had he survived WWII, Gus March-Phillips might have even beaten Fleming to the punch of writing a character that was similar to James Bond.

The Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), which was led by Gus March-Phillips, did not have any female members in 1942 and there is no record of Marjorie Stewart being part of Operation Postmaster. At best, it's possible that she may have interacted to some degree with the unit via the broader Special Operations Executive (SOE), which oversaw the SSRF, but that's purely speculation. Marjorie worked in the SOE first as a lift operator before rising to the role of secretary to SOE Controller Patrick Howarth. She met Gus March-Phillips in January 1942. March-Phillips and Marjorie Stewart married three months after Operation Postmaster, on April 18, 1942.

Gus March-Phillips and Marjorie Stewart on their wedding day, April 18, 1942. Photo: The Tatler

While the bones of the real story are present, the Guy Ritchie WWII movie significantly amplifies both the characters and the January 1942 mission known as Operation Postmaster. The movie piles up enough dead Nazis to earn a spot on the mantle alongside Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, though the latter never claimed to be based on a true story, even if some of its characters were very loosely inspired by real people.

A side effect of cinema's superhero era is that normal heroes are often supersized too. A handful of soldiers slaying roughly a thousand Nazis is becoming common, and audiences often welcome such grossly exaggerated interpretations of history. I'll admit, this blood-splattered, adrenaline-infused action flick can make for a good time in the theater, but promoting it as "based on" instead of "loosely inspired by" the true story is far from honest. Yet, if the former label causes people to question what they're seeing more and do their own research into the real Operation Postmaster, then maybe it's not entirely a bad thing.