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Operation Mincemeat, a brilliant deception by British intelligence officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu, aimed to mislead the Wehrmacht about the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. Drawing inspiration from Ian Fleming, the future creator of James Bond, the plan centered on a fictitious Royal Marines major. This fake officer, whose corpse was obtained from a deceased vagrant, was equipped with forged secret documents detailing supposed Allied invasion plans for Greece and Sardinia.

The plan involved preparing the body to appear as if it had drowned, with lungs filled with fluid to simulate death at sea. The corpse was dressed in a uniform and given personal effects, including a letter from his mother and a photo of his girlfriend. Crucially, military papers were attached to the corpse, detailing a false invasion strategy that would target Greece and Sardinia while the real invasion would be of Sicily.

The body was transported in a freezer and then cast into the sea off Huelva, Spain. Spain was officially neutral, but Nazi intelligence operated freely. A fisherman found the body, and Spanish authorities handed over the documents. British intelligence simulated concern through decoded messages, and the Spanish, eager to please, alerted the Nazis. The documents reached Hitler's desk.

When the Allies invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943, German defenses on the island were minimal. The Allied invasion succeeded due to the gullible flattery of the Francoist services. As Cicero noted, "Flattery hurts him who is pleased by it." The Führer, susceptible to this vice, swallowed the entire deception whole.

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Flattery hurts him who is pleased by it.