The year is 1943 and the Allied Forces are preparing for a naval assault on "Europe's soft underbelly" as they targeted Sicily. Italy had for the longest time been considered incompetent not just by the United Nations but also by their own German allies, who by this point percieved them to be more of a liability than support. Hence, the Germans had sent reinforcements across Southern Europe - something which the Allies did not want.

And so "Operation Mincemeat" was drawn up: a disinformation mission tasked with providing the Germans with proof of Allied plans to invade Greece rather than Sicily. The operation was executed by the submarine HMS Seraph and William Martin, a drowned British officer tasked with delivering the top secret "plans" right into the hands of the Germans under the guise of a aeroplane accident.

There however never was a "William Martin"; said figure was a British invention. The man who never was was in reality Glyndwr Michael, a homeless Welshman who had died in the streets of London after consuming poisonous bread. The identity of this posthumous war hero was only revealed in 1996 by the Historian Roger Morgan, however his body was buried much earlier than that under his faux name with full military honours.

The operation had turned out a success, as when the body was recovered from the coast of non-belligrent nation of Spain, the German Abwher relayed the information as the truth and so German reinforcmenets moved out from Sicily into Greece, bracing for an imminent invasion. Opertation Mincemeat is accredited to having saved thousands of lives but also a lot of time, helping to bring the war to a faster end. As Churchill put it: "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

Operation Mincemeat has been subject to a film of the same title, set to release in cinemas on the 15th of April.