Operation Mincemeat
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During World War II, Operation Mincemeat was a highly successful Allied deception plan against Axis Forces. On April_30, 1943, the submarine HMS Seraph, under the command of William Jewell (October 24 1913 - August 18 2004), put into the sea, off the coast of Huelva, Spain, a dead man in a life jacket, a rubber boat, and a broken paddle. Fake identification identified the man as Royal Marine Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. A briefcase attached to the body contained fake letters suggesting that the Allies planned to invade Sardinia and Peloponnese, Greece, rather than the more obvious Sicily.
Local fishermen discovered the corpse floating offshore. Spanish authorities sent copies of the documents to German Intelligence who passed them on to the German High Command. Since the Germans believed the documents to be genuine, this information quickly reached Hitler who, on May 12, demanded that "measures regarding Sardinia and the Peloponnese take precedence over everything else." As a result, German military forces and invasion preparations were diverted from southern Sicily to Sardinia and Greece. Operation Husky commenced on July 9, with the Allies attacking the southern tip of Sicily. The Germans remained convinced for two weeks that the attack on Sicily was a diversion for larger Allied attacks on Sardinia and Greece. Allies took Sicily by August 7. Mussolini was stripped of his power on July 25.
The fictitiously named "Major Martin" was buried in Huelva, Spain, a few days after being found, with full military honours and a wreath from his supposedly heartbroken girlfriend in London. The brief-case was then returned to the British authorities, apparently unopened; however, the Spanish had copied the papers for the Germans.
A fairly complete, factual account of Operation Mincemeat was published in 1954 under the title "The Man Who Never Was," written by Ewen Montagu, the officer responsible for obtaining the body, the fake letters, and numerous other personal documents (e.g., an ID, a photograph of and love letters from a fake fiancée named Pam, a bank overdraft, etc.) for creating a believable person. A movie with the same title was released in 1956.
The real name of the person/body remained secret, but in 1997 it was reported that he was a homeless Welsh alcoholic named Glyndwr Michael. The body was buried as Major Martin in a cemetary in Huelva, Spain.
See also
Barclay, Trojan Horse, Warehouse, Waterfall, and Withstand.