(guns firing off)
- [Voiceover] At the height of the Second World War,
the Allied Forces were planning a secret mission
to invade Nazi-occupied Sicily.
In order to confuse the Germans,
they devised an audacious and utterly bizarre plan,
a plan which hinged on the ultimate success
of one man,
a man who was already dead.
On April 30th, 1943, a Spanish fisherman
discovered the body of a British soldier
off the coast of Spain.
The dead soldier had a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.
The Nazis got a hold of the body
and examined the man and his possessions.
What they uncovered astounded them.
The dead soldier carried letters
which described critical details
of the Allies’ plan to invade Greece.
Nazi officials, including Hitler himself,
were convinced they had stumbled upon
the greatest military intercept of the Second World War.
The only issue for the Nazis was the dead soldier
and all of the details outlining the pending invasion
were a fantastical ruse designed to foil the German army.
The idea was conceived by a group
within British intelligence
which included Ian Fleming.
Yep, the guy who wrote James Bond.
To pull it off, the team had procured the body
of a 34-year old man who had died the month before.
They gave the guy a uniform, a fake passport,
theater tickets, a picture of a girlfriend,
and even loose tobacco to make him appear real.
They drove from London to Scotland,
and they put it on a submarine.
Two days later, the body was placed
in the ocean where it was later found.
Hitler was so convinced that he moved
the bulk of his forces to Greece
in preparation for the pending invasion,
an invasion that never came.
So when the allies landed in Sicily
they encountered a whole lot less resistance,
occupied Southern Italy,
and ultimately changed the course of the war,
thanks to one dead man and a crazy plan.
(marching music)