Churchill's Secret Corpse (1/4)

Churchill's Secret Corpse (1/4)

Operation Mincemeat was perhaps the most daring and ingenious espionage ploy of the Second World War, in which Britain's MI5 planted fake war plans on a phony corpse and let it wash up on the shores of the Axis powers ...

Using modern forensic methods and the latest historical research, this documentary answers for the first time  great forgeries of history: who carried them out, and under whose orders? What methods did they use? What motivated them and what ends were they pursuing? And what were the results?

With the help of forgeries, spies have altered the course of history. Spies act out of political conviction, out of hubris or out of pure calculus of power. They develop treacherous plans or ingenious ideas in order to gain an advantage, exert influence or save people - sometimes out of sheer necessity. During the cataclysm of World War II, their work changed the course of the war and destroyed lives - while saving others. Historian Tabea Golgath, an expert on the Nazi era, is particularly interested in the world of espionage and forgeries. Step by step, with the help of a profiler, she uncovers a true story that sounds too far-fetched even for a spy novel: In January 1943, the Allies were planning to invade Sicily. Britain and the United States wanted to destroy the military bases of the Axis and gain control over the Mediterranean. Britain's MI5 developed a daring plan to fool the Nazi regime and divert attention from the invasion of Sicily, with the help of forged documents and a deliberately placed corpse. This audacious undertaking was called Operation Mincemeat.