In the early hours of April 30, 1943, off the coast of Spain near Moorewell, a British submarine named Angel quietly surfaced. A group of soldiers emerged from the submarine and opened an aluminum cylinder. In the barrel was a corpse with the rank of major, and the soldiers tied a leather briefcase to the corpse, which was thrown into the sea, and the rough waves quickly pushed the body toward the coastline not far away.
The mysterious mission being carried out by this submarine search is the famous "Meat Stuffing Operation" in the history of World War II, which is also one of the most classic spy war cases.
After the decisive Allied victory in North Africa, the commanders of the Joint Planning Staff shifted their focus to Europe, with the next operational target being Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean.
Sicily is strategically important in its strategic position. For the Allies, the acquisition of Sicily would make the Mediterranean transport lines safer and increase the pressure on Italy. On this small island of only 25,000 square kilometers, the German and Italian troops built ten airfields and defended 360,000 troops. If Sicily were to be stormed, the Allies would have to pay a heavy price. Therefore, the Allied combat command took the "meat stuffing operation" that confused the Germans.
The body with the briefcase was pushed by the waves, constantly approaching the coast, and finally washed up on the beach near a small town on the Spanish coast. The fisherman Julian found the officer's body and reported it to the Spanish naval office stationed in the town. As is customary, they searched the clothes and purses of the deceased.
According to the information on the body, it was preliminarily determined that the deceased was William Martin, a staff officer of the British Joint Planning Command, codenamed 0956. Martin's identity seemed to be of little doubt, but they were shocked by a document found in his briefcase, which showed that the Allies planned to pretend to attack Sicily in order to cover the attack on Sardinia and Greece.
Spain was nominally a neutral country, but had close ties to Nazi Germany. Sure enough, as the British expected, the German spies who learned the news rushed to the beach to conduct repeated verifications. German spies discovered Mountbatten's letter to Eisenhower in the United States. All the letters mention that in order to confuse the Germans, the Allies intended to cover the landing plans against Greece by pretending to attack Sicily, Italy. In fact, this is a chain of evidence that british spies spent four months to create.
The German spies were both excited and confused by the intelligence, and the British had long taken into account the suspicions of the Germans.
Therefore, the briefcase also contained a letter from Mountbatten to the Mediterranean Fleet, in which he said that Major Martin was an expert in the application of landing craft, a rare talent. At the end of the letter, Mountbatten added: "When he returns, please bring me some fresh Martin fish." Martinfish were a specialty of Sardinia, which in turn made the German spies realize at once that the next landing point for the British would definitely be in Sardinia.
German intelligence quickly obtained a list of fallen soldiers published by the British Navy on 29 April, and Wilhelm Martin was on the list. The names shown on the list matched the bodies found in Spain perfectly. In order to discern this information, the German Intelligence Service ordered Ronner to take charge of the identification. But the British trap made Ronner unable to find a flaw, and he was convinced to draw the conclusion that the information was completely true, and the Allies would adopt a feint attack plan on Sicily.
The Germans were counted. On May 12, 1943, Hitler issued an order to move troops, and when the main Allied forces landed in Sicily, the Germans thought it was an Allied feint and were not prepared for defense. The British and American forces seized the opportunity and attacked quickly, capturing Sicily in one fell swoop. The battle caused more than 200,000 Casualties or captures of German and Italian officers and men, creating conditions for the Allies to attack the entire European continent.