10 Weirdest WWII Stories You Probably Haven't Heard

What's the best way to fool the enemy? Clearly, the obvious answer is to resurrect a homeless man from the dead and make him a Captain in the Royal Marines, or so the Allied commanders thought. The Allies were planning to invade Italy via Sicily but there was a big problem: Sicily was full of Germans. Any direct invasion would be a bloodbath, so a new plan was required.

The plan was to have the body of a dead British officer wash up on a Spanish beach (Since Spain was mostly pro-Nazi) carrying battle plans indicating the invasion was going to take place in Greece. But a dead body was needed, not exactly a tall order in the height of the war. The problem was finding one that didn't have battle related injuries.

Britain's saviour come in the form of a homeless Welsh man called Glyndwr Michael, who had died after eating rat poison. His body was dressed up, in quite superb detail, as Captain William Martin of the Royal Marines, complete with the fake battle plans.

Now the fix was in, the Royal Navy deposited the body close to the Spanish coast. When a fisherman found the body, local officials leaked the plans to German spies. When Hitler was presented with this, he fell for it hook, line and sinker (guarantee his generals felt differently!) and ordered his forces to be moved from Sicily to Greece. Surely the Allied generals could not believe their luck!

The Allied invasion took place as planned in Sicily, and proved to be a success. Hitler was so furious at being duped, that when other battle plans were found, he decided that they were all fake. A man who had been abandoned by society turns out to be its saviour - now that is a comeback.