James Bond and WWII

Spanish authorities buried "William Martin" where he washed up, in the town of Huelva. More than fifty years later the British government added an inscription honoring the contribution of homeless Welsh laborer Glyndwr Michael whose body was used for the deception.

A bit morbid but an ingenious bit of espionage dreamed up by Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, that may have changed the course of World War II.

From NPR...

Early in 1943, Allied forces were massing along the coast of North Africa, preparing to make a push across the Mediterranean. They’d settled on strategically important Sicily as a target… but they needed to convince the Germans that they were aiming somewhere else.

How did they do it? With a great deal of imagination, and the dead body of an unfortunate Welsh laborer who’d died from eating rat poison.

Listen to the full story below.