Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War. In 1943, the body of Glyndwr Michael was dressed as an officer of the Royal Marines, and items were placed on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain William Martin. Correspondence between two British generals suggesting that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with merely a feint at Sicily, was also planted. The body was taken by the submarine HMS Seraph to the southern coast of Spain and released close to shore, where it was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman. The nominally neutral Spanish government shared copies of the documents with German military intelligence, before returning them to the British. Ultra decrypts of German messages showed that the Germans fell for the ruse. Reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none. The body was buried with military honours in Spain (grave pictured).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1899:

Philippine–American War: Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malolos

1942:

Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas Island without any resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Christmas_Island

1992:

USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_%28BB-63%29

2018:

Nikol Pashinyan began his protest walk, starting in the city of Gyumri, opening the 2018 Armenian revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Armenian_revolution

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

verklempt: 1. (US, colloquial) Overcome with emotion, choked up. 2. (US, colloquial) Flustered, nervous, overwhelmed. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verklempt

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The war continues. Russia is sending new forces to our land to continue to destroy us, to destroy Ukrainians. We must do more to stop the war! The first and most important thing is weapons. Freedom must be armed no worse than tyranny.   --Volodymyr Zelenskyy https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy