"Martin was carrying papers, cuffed to his wrist in a briefcase, suggesting that the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia, not Sicily. Spain was officially neutral, but a few Spanish officials sympathetic to the Nazis allowed German agents to discreetly photograph the documents before Spain quietly passed the documents to the British. Those British officials appeared to be in a state of panic over the lost briefcase."
"In reality, Major William Martin never existed. The body was that of Glyndwr ("Glendure") Michael, a Welsh drifter who died from consuming rat poison. You probably recognize this as Operation Mincemeat. British intelligence developed this incredible ruse, with American approval, and painstakingly developed a plan for the body to wash up near Huelva Spain and provided background and a personal story for Michael that allowed the body to pass convincingly as a Royal Martine officer who perished at sea while delivering sensitive documents."
Operation Mincemeat involved planting forged documents on a corpse to mislead German intelligence about Allied invasion targets. The corpse posed as Major William Martin and washed ashore near Huelva, Spain, where sympathetic officials allowed German agents to photograph the documents. British intelligence, with American approval, created a detailed backstory for Glyndwr Michael so the body would convincingly appear to be a Royal Marine officer. German acceptance of the deception led Hitler to divert forces away from Sicily, resulting in lighter resistance during the Allied landing and contributing to the collapse of Axis defenses in southern Europe.
Read at The Cipher Brief
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