In the early hours of 30 April, 1943, one of the most audacious hoaxes of World War Two has just got underway. Its code-name - Operation Mincemeat.

The body of a British naval officer, Major William Martin, has been washed up on a Spanish beach. The dead man is carrying top-secret papers revealing details of a planned Allied invasion, and it’s not long before they fall into enemy hands.

But the plans are false and Major Martin doesn’t exist.

In a daring mission, British naval intelligence has requisitioned a corpse and dressed him in uniform to plant fake information. It works.

But for decades, no-one knew the real name of the man who’d played the biggest part: Major William Martin.

Enter Roger Morgan, an amateur historian. He tells Jane Wilkinson how Operation Mincemeat unfolded and how he uncovered the major’s true identity.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: William Martin's ID card. Credit: National Archives, Kew)

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