In April 1943, a fisherman near the Spanish port of Huelva pulled a body from the sea. The man was dressed in a British officer's uniform, had a locked suitcase chained to his wrist, and in his pockets were documents that would alter the course of World War II. The body was part of a secret British deception operation known as Operation Mincemeat, designed to mislead Nazi Germany about the Allied invasion plans in the Mediterranean. The British military had spent two months searching for a suitable corpse for the operation. They ultimately selected the body of Glyndwr Michael, a Welsh man with no known family or connections. This ensured that no one would question the body’s presence or claim it. The corpse was dressed as Major William Martin, a Royal Marine officer, complete with identification papers and documents that gave him a fabricated background. A black suitcase, locked and chained to his wrist, contained the most important part of the deception: detailed plans for an Allied attack on Greece and Sardinia—both under German control at the time. Huelva was chosen as the location for the body’s "wreckage" due to the area's strong marine currents, which would carry the body back to shore, and the presence of a German consulate nearby. Additionally, local Spanish officials were known to have close ties to Germany, making them likely to report the discovery. When the body was found, the Spanish authorities retrieved it and opened the suitcase. They shared copies of the documents with the German intelligence agency, the Abwehr, before returning the originals to the British. Later scientific analysis confirmed that the documents had been read before their return. The deception worked. German forces moved reinforcements to Greece and Sardinia, leaving Sicily—where the real Allied invasion, known as Operation Husky, was planned—unprotected. The Allied forces landed in Sicily on July 9, 1943, and the operation succeeded more quickly than expected, with fewer casualties than anticipated. Although the exact impact of the deception is still debated, the operation is widely credited with creating a two-week delay in the German response, giving the Allies a critical advantage. The story of Operation Mincemeat was popularized in 1953 by Ewen Montagu’s book, The Man Who Never Was, which described the operation without revealing all its secrets. The identity of the corpse remained unknown until 1996, when researcher Roger Morgan discovered Glyndwr Michael's name in declassified archives. In recognition of his posthumous service, the British government later added an inscription to his tombstone in Huelva, honoring the man who helped turn the tide of the war.