Operation Mincemeat was a masterclass in military misdirection devised by British naval intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley. To divert Axis forces away from Sicily—the true target of the upcoming Allied invasion of southern Europe—the officers obtained the corpse of Glyndwr Michael, a destitute Welshman who had died from swallowing rat poison. They created an elaborate fictitious identity for him: 'Major William Martin' of the Royal Marines.
They filled his pockets with convincing personal items, including love letters from a fictional fiancée named Pamela, a receipt for an engagement ring, theater stubs, and an overdue bank overdraft notice. Most importantly, they chained a briefcase to his wrist containing forged secret letters indicating that the Allies intended to invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. The British submarine HMS Seraph released the corpse off the coast of Huelva, Spain, where sympathetic Spanish officials turned the documents over to German military intelligence (the Abwehr).
Fooled completely by the ruse, Adolf Hitler ordered vital panzer divisions moved to Greece, allowing Allied forces to invade Sicily with far fewer casualties than anticipated.