A dead vagrant's body fooled Hitler into abandoning Sicily

In 1943, British intelligence dressed the corpse of a homeless man who died from rat poison as 'Major William Martin,' planted fake invasion plans on him, and let him wash ashore near pro-Axis officials in Spain. German command took the bait, diverting troops to Greece and Sardinia while the real target, Sicily, fell with lighter resistance that July.

— Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory — Bloomsbury, 2010
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