The Man Who Never Was
April 30, 1943
On the morning of 30 April 1943, a Spanish fisherman found the body of a British officer floating off Huelva, a briefcase chained to his coat. The officer, 'Major William Martin' of the Royal Marines, had never existed. He was the centrepiece of Operation Mincemeat, one of the strangest deceptions of the Second World War.
A body with no next of kin
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) says British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a homeless man from south Wales who died in London on 24 January 1943 after swallowing rat poison. Wikipedia gives the same cause. A coroner had been asked to look out for a suitable body with no next of kin.
Building Major Martin
The BBC says intelligence officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu gave the body a detailed false life, down to letters from a fiancée and receipts, as the CWGC also describes. Wikipedia says the planted papers included correspondence between two British generals suggesting the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily only a feint. The real target was Sicily.
Into the sea
The body was carried by submarine and released off the Spanish coast, where, the planners hoped, it would reach German intelligence. Wikipedia names the submarine as HMS Seraph. The CWGC says the body was found at about 9:30 am on 30 April 1943, a Spanish post-mortem recorded drowning, and Major Martin was buried in Huelva with full military honours.
Did it work?
The BBC says the German military intelligence service fell for it and a copy of the letters reached Hitler. Wikipedia says forensic checks showed the papers had been read and that intercepted German messages showed the Germans believed the ruse. How much it shifted German forces is debated, but it is widely regarded as a success. Glyndwr Michael's grave in Huelva now records both names, the CWGC says.