According to the article, what was the goal of Operation Mincemeat?

To trick Germany into thinking the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily

To smuggle real invasion plans safely across enemy lines

To trick Germany into thinking the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily

To recover a British officer's body from behind enemy lines

To assassinate a high-ranking German intelligence officer

🕵️ How a dead body helped win World War II

In 1943, the Allies planned to invade Sicily — but the Germans knew that too, since Sicily was the obvious stepping stone into Europe. So British intelligence cooked up one of the strangest deceptions in history: Operation Mincemeat. They took the body of a homeless man who had recently died, dressed him as a fictitious Royal Marine officer named "Major William Martin," and floated him off the coast of Spain.

The corpse carried fake top-secret documents suggesting the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. Spanish officials, though officially neutral, passed the papers to German intelligence. The trick worked spectacularly: Hitler diverted troops and defenses to Greece, leaving Sicily comparatively undefended.

When Allied forces landed in Sicily in July 1943, resistance was far lighter than expected, saving countless lives. The Germans were so convinced by the ruse that even after the invasion began, some believed it was a diversion. Every detail — from theatre-ticket stubs to a fake love letter in the officer's pocket — had been crafted to make a dead stranger seem utterly real.