The Man Who Never Lived

During the spring of 1943, the outcome of World War II might have hinged not on a war, but on a modest London morgue. A small group of British intelligence officers stood before a locked door around a corpse — the corpse of a man who never even lived. His name was Major William Martin of the Royal Marines. He was dressed in a neat uniform, carried a new ID card, and had his love letters tucked into the breast pocket of his jacket. But there was a twist:

Major William Martin never existed.

This is the true — and virtually unbelievable — account of how a dead man rescued thousands of lives and altered the course of the war by fooling Hitler himself.

A Body, a Plan, and a War

Early in 1943, the Allies were planning to invade southern Europe, and the target in their sights was Sicily. But so were Hitler's. He had garrisoned the island and turned it into a death trap. To avoid the Allies making huge casualties, British intelligence needed to trick the Nazis into thinking that the invasion was going elsewhere — and to have an audacious plan ready to make it work.

Enter Operation Mincemeat.

The scheme, dreamed up by British Naval Intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, was akin to sheer audacity: place fake documents on a corpse, send it off the coast of Nazi-occupied Spain, and hope that the Germans would believe that the contents were real. If it worked, the ruse would cause Hitler to divert his troops away from Sicily — potentially saving the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers.

But how do you acquire a believable corpse for an impersonating officer?

The Man from Nowhere

British officials searched for weeks and finally found an unclaimed body — a Welsh man by the name of Glyndwr Michael, who died after swallowing rat poison. Pathologists and embalmers stabilized the body, dressed it in complete military gear, and established a background.

They baptized him Major William Martin, invented a fake bride named "Pam," filled his pockets with cinema ticket stubs, a tailor's receipt, and even an overdraft notice from a bank — all details painstakingly arranged to render him plausible.

The most critical element, however, was the handcuffed briefcase on his wrist. It held secret papers on an Allied strike on Greece and Sardinia — and not Sicily.

A Delivery to the Enemy

On April 30, 1943, at dawn, a British submarine off the coast of Huelva, Spain, brought the corpse to the surface and threw it overboard. Early the next morning, Spanish fishermen stumbled upon it and, not surprisingly, took it in to turn it in to the authorities. Since Spain was technically neutral but pro-Nazi Germany, the British had the hope that the documents would land on Hitler's desk, They did.

The Germans, convinced of the existence of "Major Martin," moved troops, aircraft, and tanks to Greece and Sardinia. Sicily was poorly defended. When the Allies invaded in July 1943, they encountered much less resistance than expected and captured the island at a lower price. Operation Mincemeat had worked — wonderfully.

Aftermath and Secrets

Major William Martin" was buried in accordance with full military honors in Spain, Huelva. The grave still bore his alias name. Years passed and the entire account of the operation was still a secret. The Glyndwr Michael's family, the man whose corpse was used, were also oblivious to what role he had in changing the history of the world.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that the full details emerged. Today, historians recognize Operation Mincemeat as one of the most brilliant deceptions in the history of warfare.

Why You’ve Never Heard of This Story

Perhaps it's the fact that spy books are one step away from the radar, or perhaps the fact that the idea of a dead body impersonating a hero is the stuff of a novel. Yet, this true story has been the basis for books, documentaries, and even a feature film. And yet, there are many who have never heard of it.

In a savage, noble, and haphazard war, it was a quiet falsehood —handwritten notes, a hazy photograph, a name never anybody's — which rewrote the pages of history.

Major William Martin didn't survive, but in death he changed the world.