In the spring of 1943, the Allied powers faced a monumental strategic problem. They were preparing to invade Sicily, but the island was such an obvious invasion route into Southern Europe that the German High Command had already heavily fortified it.
To trick Adolf Hitler into moving German divisions elsewhere, British intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley devised a covert operation straight out of fiction: Operation Mincemeat.
The British needed to deliver top-secret invasion plans directly into Nazi hands, but in a way that looked completely accidental.
Their plan required a corpse.
British agents located the body of Glyndwr Michael, an impoverished, homeless Welshman who had recently died in London from ingesting rat poison. The medical examiner confirmed the poison left minimal physical traces, meaning the body could easily pass for an airman who had drowned at sea.
British intelligence created an entire fake identity for the dead man, christening him Acting Major William Martin of the Royal Marines.
They packed his pockets with personal letters from a fake fiancee named Pam, receipt stubs for an engagement ring, a letter of overdraft from his bank, ticket stubs from London theaters, and an official military identification card bearing a photo of an officer who looked remarkably similar to him.
Most critically, they chained a leather military briefcase to his wrist. Inside were personal letters between top Allied generals casually revealing that the upcoming Mediterranean invasion would strike Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily merely serving as a minor decoy.
On April 30, 1943, a British submarine quietly surfaced off the southwestern coast of Spain and slipped the body into the tide.
A local fisherman found the floating corpse hours later and dragged it ashore. Spanish authorities, secretly collaborating with German intelligence, allowed Nazi agents in Madrid to photograph every document in the briefcase before returning the papers to the British.
The trick worked with devastating perfection.
German codebreakers forwarded the letters directly to Berlin. Adolf Hitler was so thoroughly convinced by the documents that he overruled Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, ordering elite Panzer divisions, patrol boats, and artillery regiments away from Sicily and down to Greece.
When Allied troops stormed the beaches of Sicily in July 1943, resistance was fragmented and disorganized. The operation saved thousands of Allied soldiers and paved the way for the liberation of Italy.
The fictional Major William Martin was buried with full military honors in Spain, where his headstone stood as a quiet testament to the dead man who won an entire campaign.
Dressing a deceased homeless man in a marine uniform, planting fake love letters in his coat, and successfully tricking Adolf Hitler into moving entire army divisions remains the greatest espionage bluff ever executed. That wraps up Day 18 of Crazy History Facts!
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