Operation Mincemeat: The Dead Man Who Fooled Hitler
How British intelligence used the body of a homeless man and a fake identity to deceive Adolf Hitler and save ninety thousand lives during World War II.
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How British intelligence used the body of a homeless man and a fake identity to deceive Adolf Hitler and save ninety thousand lives during World War II.
Full transcript of Operation Mincemeat: The Dead Man Who Fooled Hitler
A lethal dose of rat poison once saved ninety thousand lives. In 1943, a homeless man named Glyndwr Michael died in a cold London warehouse. His lungs were filled with fluid, but British intelligence saw an opportunity. They needed a corpse to fool the world's sharpest forensic doctors. They dressed him as a Royal Marine officer, creating a completely fake identity. To make the deception flawless, they filled his pockets with everyday items. A photo of a fake fiancée, theater tickets, and a key. Finally, they chained a black briefcase containing fake invasion plans to his wrist. A submarine slipped into the dark ocean, releasing the body off Spain. German pathologists inspected the body, ruling it a genuine drowning. Hitler swallowed the bait completely, redirecting ninety thousand troops to Greece. When the Allies invaded Sicily, the beaches were virtually unguarded. The ultimate weapon of World War Two wasn't a bomb. It was the tragic, poisoned body of a man who never knew he saved Europe.