During World War II, the British carried out a bizarre and successful military deception operation - Operation Mincemeat. It convinced the Germans that the Allies were about to invade Greece instead of landing in Sicily and Sardinia. This led to the Germans transporting large numbers of people, supplies and aircraft to the wrong locations, greatly reducing the difficulties of the Allies in seizing the landing war in Sicily.

April 30, 1943.

On the coast of Spain near Moore Fisher, the British submarine "Six-winged Angel" quietly surfaced. The cabin door opened, and the soldiers opened an aluminum barrel, carried out a body with the rank of major and threw it into the sea. The propeller stirred the surging waves and then pushed the body to the coastline not far away.

The body floated to a small town on the coast of Spain, and was found by local fishermen and reported to the Spanish Navy office stationed in the town.

Spanish naval officers rushed to the port, and they immediately recognized that this was a British major officer drowned in the sea. Soon, they discovered the briefcase tied tightly to the body.

According to convention, they immediately searched the body's clothing and leather bags, and initially determined that the deceased was a staff officer of the British Joint Plan Command, Royal Navy Captain (acting Major) William Martin, codenamed 09560. In his shirt pocket, there was a bank's overdraft note and a letter from Lloyds Bank. Major Martin seemed to have just been engaged and carried a bill to purchase engagement rings from international jeweler Phipps on Bond Street. Two love letters were soaked in sea water, but the signings were still visible: "Love You Nissa" and other words.

The Spanish Navy Office staff had no doubt about Martin's identity, and a document in Martin's file shocked them even more. The document revealed that the Allies were preparing to attack Sicily, but that was an illusion, a strategic feint aimed at covering the attack on Sardinia and Greece.

At that time, Spain was a neutral country on the surface, but in fact it was secretly close to Nazi Germany. The Spanish would definitely disclose this top-secret military intelligence to the Germans. This is why the British chose to throw the body on the Spanish coast. Sure enough, at the instructor of the relevant departments, they first reported to the German spy department in Spain. The omnipresent German spies immediately took pictures of all the documents and items on Martin. Neither the Spanish Navy Office nor the German spies expected that this was a trap laid by the Allies.

German spies are much more cunning than those in the Spanish Navy Office. In addition to checking the letters mentioned above, they even found letters from Martin's father and family lawyers. They repeatedly verified the letters from the place where the letters were sent, dates to the postmarks of the place where the letters were received. Of course, this is impeccable. You must know that for this set of materials, the British intelligence department took four months to create them, and almost every detail was repeatedly pondered.

In Martin's briefcase, German spies also found a letter from Mountbatten to General Eisenhower in the United States, as well as a letter from General Achebald Nai, deputy chief of staff of the British General Staff to General Harold Alexander, commander of the British army. The letters all said that in order to confuse the German army, they planned to cover the landing operations against Greece with a feint attack on Sicily in Italy.

Faced with military intelligence that can be called "top secret", German spies were both excited and confused. But how could such a secret appear on a major officer, and how could the boss trust him so much? The British had long considered the reasonable suspicion of the Germans. A letter written by Mountbatten to the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Andrew Cunningham, said: Major Martin is an expert in landing craft and a rare talent. "He was always silent and shy at first, but he did have two tricks. He was more accurate in Diep's possible trends of the situation than some of us expected, and he had always performed well when testing the new large ships and equipment in Scotland. As soon as the attack was over, he would return him to me immediately."

At the end of the letter, Mountbatten also attached a sentence: "When he comes back, I bring me some fresh sardines, because sardines are rationed in the UK." The German spies immediately realized that sardines are a specialty of Sardinia. It seems that the landing point below the British was sure of Sardinia. Not only that, in order to prevent the Germans from dissecting the body, they specially chose a male corpse who died of pneumonia and had water in their lungs. In Will, a homeless deceased Michael (when he was discovered, he committed suicide by taking rat poison in a warehouse in London one day at the end of January 1943). In this way, if the body is dissected, it will be felt that this is a drowned person at sea.

When the British consul in Huelva was told that there was a drowning British officer's body that needed to be claimed, the German spy in Spain had received an order from the headquarters in Berlin to provide more detailed details to Major Martin. Soon, the German intelligence network frequently attacked: the spy who hid in London first dispatched. According to the Nazi intelligence regulations, the spy in London would not dispatch until it was absolutely necessary. But this was of great importance, and the intelligence agency spared no expense. The spy sent quickly got the list of dead soldiers announced by the British Navy on April 29, and the acting Major William Martin was among them.

The name was exactly the same as the corpse found in Spain. Then, the German spy who infiltrated Spain also reported to Berlin that Major Martin's body had been buried in Huelva at the official military ceremony. Previously, in order to further confuse the Germans, the British intelligence department also arranged for Martin's "fiancee" in the UK to send a wreath and a grief postcard for the funeral. The German spies naturally did not let go of all this. They even reported to Berlin by the inscription set up by the British Vice Consul in front of Martin's tomb. This was exactly what the British people who "made a full set of plays" wanted.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! In order to distinguish the authenticity of these intelligences, the German Intelligence Agency specially ordered Colonel von Ronner, the head of the German Intelligence Analysis Section of the Western Front, to be responsible for the identification work. Perhaps the trap designed by the British was too realistic, and Ronner, who was quite smart, could not find any flaws and believed in the authenticity of the documents. Ronner's conclusion was that the intelligence was completely true, and the main attack of the Allied forces was in Sardinia and Peloponnese, and at the same time, a feint attack on Sicily.

In this conclusion, some people in the German Command were worried about whether the British would change their plans after losing these documents. However, the intelligence agencies believed that the British did not know that the Germans intercepted these documents. When the British Vice Consul brought back Major Martin's body, all the documents and letters were "returned to Zhao intact".

Just as Hitler and the German Command were making their final argument, a tide rushed over another body on the coastline of a coastal city in Sardinia. The deceased was wearing a British commando uniform, and the documents and records on his body proved that he belonged to a small team that was reconnaissance of Sardinia. In fact, this is another "masterpiece" of British submarines.

All this strengthened the judgment of the German Intelligence Agency. The German Command had to take action. Hitler issued an order to mobilize the troops on May 12, 1943:

"After the coming battle in Tunisia, it is expected that the British and American coalition forces will continue to act quickly in the Mediterranean... I ask all German command bodies related to the Mediterranean defense to work quickly and closely, using all their troops and equipment, to strengthen particularly dangerous areas as much as possible in the short period of time. Measures taken against Sardinia and Peloponnese should be preceded by everything."

On May 14, 1943, Hitler met with Mussolini, revealed the contents of Martin's secret documents to him, and said proudly: "I think this is true! When we are indecisive, this intelligence is too important." Mussolini said: "I always have a premonition that the Allies still want to attack Sicily." Hitler emphasized and said: "Intuition is not as important as intelligence, we have obtained reliable intelligence! Intelligence!"

According to this order, the German army quickly mobilized troops to Greece and Sardinia. When Field Marshal Rommel moved his base to Greece, the head of state SS Brigade was transferred to Sardinia, and an armored division was drawn from the German army stationed in France to reinforce the four Italian divisions stationed in the island. Hitler even approved the withdrawal of two armored divisions from the Soviet front and prepared to use 320 trains to arrive in Greece in 9 days.

Facing the British who performed "A Good Show", Hitler completely fell into the trap. The "meat filling plan" achieved unprecedented success, so when the main force of the Allied forces landed in Sicily on the night of July 9, 1943, the German army thought it was a feint attack and did not resist with all their might. Unexpectedly, the British and American allied forces attacked quickly and captured Sicily. The German and Italian troops suffered more than 227,000 casualties and were captured, creating good conditions for the Allied forces to attack the entire European continent.

But now the problem is here.
Chapter completed!