10 Insane Plans You Won't Believe The Military Tried

6. Operation Overlord€™s €œDecoy Dummy€

D-Day is one of the greatest military coups in the history of combat, the Allied invasion of Normandy only worked because so many people managed to keep it a secret. There were hundreds of casualties on either side, but the surprise assault on the German-controlled Western front was a huge factor in defeating the Third Reich.

The secrecy surrounding the operation was unparalleled at the time €“ which, considering the amount of spies and leaks that go on during wartime, is saying a lot. So worried were the Allied forces that word would get out to the Germans, they cooked up a bonkers plan to trick them into thinking they had a completely different operation planned.

Fake plans for a different attack were stuffed in a briefcase and handcuffed to the arm of a dead man, whose body was then tossed off the coast of Spain with papers identifying him as an Axis spy. Low and behold, the Weekend At Bernie's-style prank actually worked, with the fascist forces not prepared for the D-Day landings at all.

 
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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/