Invasion of Italy. Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael , a tramp who died from eating rat poison , dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain Acting Major William Martin.
Correspondence between two British generals that suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia , with Sicily as merely the target of a feint , was also placed on the body.
Eisenhower , the plan began by transporting the body to the southern coast of Spain by submarine and releasing it close to shore, where it was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman.
The nominally neutral Spanish government shared copies of the documents with the Abwehr , the German military intelligence organisation, before returning the originals to the British. Forensic examination showed they had been read and Ultra decrypts of German messages showed that the Germans fell for the ruse.
German reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none. The full effect of Operation Mincemeat is not known, but Sicily was liberated more quickly than anticipated and losses were lower than predicted.
