The American Revolution was about more than just America. It was a worldwide event. America did not fight alone. They got help from every part of the globe.

And we don’t just mean Marquis de Lafayette and Casimir Pulaski. Countless soldiers from all over the world stood up and fought with America, and without them, the United States never would have won its independence.

10Crispus Attucks
The Slave Who Was The First Casualty Of War

The first man to fight and die in the War of Independence was born in America, but most of his fellow Americans didn’t think of him as a countryman. His name was Crispus Attucks, and he was a runaway African slave.

Attucks was working as a sailor, even though there was a price on his head. His master wanted him back, and he was willing to pay anyone who would drag him back into slavery. Nobody tried it, and if someone had, the American Revolution might never have happened.

Attucks and his fellow seamen were in a pub when a British soldier walked in. Attucks and his friends didn’t take kindly to the British presence, and they started taunting the soldier. Staring down a hulking 6’3″ man, the soldier got nervous. Seven of his friends, other British soldiers, rushed in to help. In short time, things got out of hand, and the British opened fire.

Attucks fought back. He grabbed a soldier’s bayonet and knocked him over, but the British gunned him down before he could do any more. Four other men in that bar would die before the massacre was over.

History has debated whether Attucks was a hero or just a violent drunk, but it can’t deny his impact. He was the first to die in the Boston Massacre, a moment that would spark the American Revolution.

9Von Steuben
The Prussian Who Trained The American Army

The Americans who fought for Independence weren’t all seasoned veterans. Before Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben came in from Prussia, they were using bayonets to skewer meat more often than they were using them to skewer their enemies.

Von Steuben crossed the ocean to teach the Americans how to fight. He was the Inspector General of the American Army, in charge of drilling the soldiers and organizing their training, and he barely spoke a word of English. Von Steuben would bark at people in Prussian, his secretary would translate it into French, and then another secretary would translate that into English.

It was complicated, but it worked. He taught the American army how to fight and how to use bayonets, and that made a huge difference in the war.

In 1779, General Wayne used Von Steuben’s lessons to take Stony Brook. He and his men took a fort protected by 750 men without firing a single shot. They won the battle entirely with bayonets. Without filling the night with the sound gunfire, they were able to launch a sneak attack the British didn’t expect. Thanks to Von Steuben, Stony Brook was taken.

8Tadeusz Kosciuszko
The Polish War Hero Who Tried To Free The Slaves

Tadeusz Kosciuszko was one of the chief engineers for the US Army. He planned the defensive strategy in Saratoga, a moment that turned the war in America’s favor. He built the military fort at West Point, which, today, is the site of the US Military Academy.

The real story for Kosciuszko, though, happened after he died. He became close friends with Thomas Jefferson, and when he died, he trusted the president to carry out his final wishes. Every penny he had, he said, should be used to free and educate African slaves.

Thomas Jefferson was almost 75 years old, so he passed the job on to someone else. That man didn’t want the responsibility of trying to get white people to educate black people, though, and he passed it on, too. Eventually, Col. George Bomford was put in charge of it, and he decided to blow the money on himself instead.

By the time Col. Bomford died, only $5,680 of Kosciuszko’s $43,504 was left. His will made it into the hands of the Supreme Court, and they just threw it out. Despite his wishes, not a single penny was put toward freeing slaves.

7De Galvez
The Spanish Governor Who Secretly Supplied The American Army

Bernardo de Galvez was the governor of Louisiana, which, at the time, was a Spanish colony. He wasn’t exactly invested in the cause of democracy, but he was deeply involved in the cause of messing with England.

And so, when America went to war with England, he started sending them everything he could. He promised them all the weapons and medicine he could get them, warning them, “It must appear that I am ignorant of it all.”

Spain entered the war in earnest in 1779, and De Galvez didn’t have to hide it anymore. He could fight, and he did. Within a year, he’d chased the British out of Mobile, Alabama. The year after that, he chased them out of Florida.

6Moses Hazen
The Man Who Led A Canadian Regiment For America

Canada was a British colony during the Revolutionary War. They were, quite directly, America’s enemies, which makes it surprising that some of them fought alongside America. The Americans sent out political tracts and messengers to try to get Canadians to switch sides, and some of them did. A ragtag group of Canadians, most of them French, joined the American army.

The American army had two Canadian Regiments. The first group of turncoats, appropriately enough, was commanded by Benedict Arnold. They tried and failed to take over Quebec and then spent the rest of the war stationed in New York.

The Second Canadian Regiment, commanded by Moses Hazen, was a bit more successful. Hazen was a Canadian himself, and he led his army through some of the most important battles in the war. That included the Siege of Yorktown, the battle that ended the war.

When the war ended, Moses Hazen and the Canadians who fought with him no longer had the option to return home. They had to give up everything they’d known to fight for American Independence and had to live, from then on, in the United States.

5Antonio Barcelo
The Spaniard Who Fought The Biggest Battle Of The War

We usually think of the American Revolution as a war on American soil, but it was more than that. The Spanish and the French took the fight straight to the English. In fact, the biggest and longest battle of the whole war took place in Europe.

It was on Gibraltar, a tiny, 3-square-mile island that happened to be in an important strategic location. On June 24, 1779, a fleet of French and Spanish ships tried to take it, and they kept trying for more than three years.

Their best attack was the brainchild of Antonio Barcelo. He set up a fleet of small ships loaded with cannons called “floating batteries” and sent them against the British. It didn’t work. The British held them off, but it was the closest they got.

The siege didn’t end until the peace treaty was signed. Antonio Barcelo and his men failed, but even if it was a waste, 3,000 Spanish soldiers gave their life fighting in Gibraltar.

4Goetschius
The Dutchman Who Led A Guerrilla Army

In its early years, there were a lot of Dutch settlers in the United States. They had their own community, one that seemed separate from the rest of America, and when the Revolutionary War started, that let them do things the Americans couldn’t.

After the British took New Jersey, John Mauritius Goetschius formed a guerrilla militia of Dutch farmers and struck back. They would attack and raid the British under the cover of night, and then, when morning came, pretended to be nothing more than farmers.

They might have been farmers, but they were capable of a lot more than they seemed. That became clear when, in 1781, Washington sent his army to take Fort Lee from the Loyalists. By the time the American troops had made it to their destination, the Loyalists were gone. Goetschius and his Dutch guerrillas had already taken the fort on their own.

3Tewahangarahken
The Native Chief Who Fought For The Us

No one could be more American than the Native Americans, but they weren’t treated that way. They played a role in American Revolution, though, and it’s one that’s often overlooked.

Most, if they picked a side, went with the British. That only makes sense: Part of the reason the Americans wanted independence was so that they could move into native land.

The Oneida tribe, though, refused to believe that the Americans had any intention of hurting them. Their main contact with Europeans had been through a missionary named Rev. Samuel Kirkland, and he had been good to them. And so, when they knew that Kirkland’s people needed their help, they raised up their arms and fought alongside them.

The Oneida tribe worked as guides, harassed British sentries, and even joined some of the battles. They were good at it, too. In the Battle of Oriskany, their War Chief Tewahangarahken single-handedly took out nine British soldiers.

Despite that, they still had to struggle to convince America they were on their side. At one point, they sent them six prisoners from another tribe and a rescued American soldier. The Americans had asked for scalps instead, but they sent along a letter that apologetically explained, “We do not take scalps.” They ended it, “We hope you are now convinced of our friendship toward you and your great cause.”

2Rochambeau
The French General Who Made The British Surrender

The decisive battle of the American Revolution came when George Washington led a troop of American soldiers into battle against the British at Yorktown. Washington, though, was not alone. He was joined by an even bigger army of French soldiers and ships, led by Comte de Rochambeau.

The Siege of Yorktown ended in the British surrender. Lord Cornwallis was the leader of the English soldiers there, but he refused to stand in front of his enemy and surrender—instead, he sent his deputy, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara.

O’Hara offered the sword of surrender to Rochambeau, but Rochambeau refused it. This, he believed, was America’s war. He insisted that the English surrender to George Washington instead.

Washington, too, refused the sword. He made O’Hara surrender to his second-in-command, Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln had been overwhelmed by the British in Charleston and was denied the honors of a proper surrender. Washington wanted to see he got to experience one firsthand.

1Hyder Ali
The Indian Sultan Who Fought The British

The last battle of the American Revolution wasn’t on American soil. It was in India. In the 18th century, communication was far from instant, and so the men fighting on the other side of the world had no idea it was over.

India had been a battleground for the American Revolution for the last five years of the war. When France declared war on England, the British East India Company started attacking their colonies there. Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore in India, took the side of the French and led the fighting there.

When Hyder Ali died in 1783, the British started making serious advances on French India. They moved their forces to Cuddalore, a city on the Bay of Bengal, and very nearly took it. The French, however, managed to send a fleet in time to fight them off.

That French fleet kept the battle going. An army of French and Mysorean soldiers fought across India, struggling to hold back the British. Then, on June 29, 1783, word finally came in that the war had been over for eight months. The last fighters of the American Revolution put down their arms and went home, a whole world away from the country they had liberated.

Ever wondered whether Japanese Samurai could beat Spanish Conquistadors? Or if the Roman Legion could fight an ancient Chinese army, or if an army of War Elephants would stand a chance against modern artillery?

Some of those “who would win” battles that we love to wonder about do not have to be imagined—they have played out in real life. Scattered throughout history, there are moments when fighters and armies that no one would ever have expected to meet, stared each other down across a battlefield. And only one side walked out alive.

10Japanese Samurai vs. Spanish Conquistadors

In 1582, a group of Spanish Conquistadors found themselves face to face with a band of armored, katana-wielding Ronin Samurai.

The Spaniards had been trading in the Philippines when Japanese pirates started raiding the countryside. Determined to protect their trade partners, 40 Spanish men moved out against the Japanese pirates. They spotted an incoming ship, engaged it in battle, and boarded the ship —and there, they found a group of Samurai waiting for them.

The Samurai wielded katanas, backed by Japanese pirates carrying muskets. The Conquistadors had pikemen, backed by Spanish Musketeers. For the first time in history, European pikes clashed with Japanese steel.

Winner: Decisive Spanish Victory

The Samurai did not stand a chance. The Conquistadors had stronger armor that they could not penetrate, and the Musketeers backing them up were better shots, with more reliable weapons. Not only did they beat the Samurai, but the 40 men went on to fight off a fleet of ten Japanese ships commanding thousands of men.

When it ended, the Spanish leader, Juan Pablo de Carrion, threatened to bring over 600 more men if the Japanese did not leave the Filipinos alone. The Japanese, without firing another shot, ran for their lives and stayed as far away from the Philippines as they could.

9War Elephants vs. Artillery

In 1825, a desperate Burmese commander, struggling against the encroach of the British Empire, sent out his best hope against the British artillery: an army of war elephants.

The Burmese commander, Maha Bandula, had just managed to repel a British attack against his base in Danubyu. He had won a rare chance to turn the tide in a war against an army with superior technology, and he took it. Bandula launched a counter-attack, led by his best soldiers, his cavalry, and 17 battle-trained elephants.

In ancient times, it would have been an unstoppable force—but now they were fighting against an army with guns and artillery, in an ultimate battle of the old world against the new.

Winner: Decisive Artillery Victory

The war elephants did not even make it to the enemy lines. As soon as they came close, the Burmese forces were blown away by a hail of rockets and shells. The elephants died before they could do any damage at all, and the cavalry could not even make it into range.

After the battle, the British attacked again and, this time, Bandula and his men had to evacuate. The Burmese fought as hard and as long as they could, but war elephants were simply no match for British artillery.

8Viking Raiders vs. Native American Warriors

When the first Vikings landed in the New World, in the tenth century A.D., they came face-to-face with a native tribe. It did not go well. The two sides scuffled and argued and, in short time, the world saw all-out battles between Vikings and Native Americans.

Thorvald, the son of Erik the Red, got into fights with the locals in Newfoundland, who were likely Inuit. One argument went sour, and Thorvald ended up kidnapping and killing eight people. After that, the Vikings were clear enemies—and Native Americans became determined to chase them off.

Winner: Eventual Native American Victory

One-on-one, a Native American Warrior probably would have lost to a Viking, but they were a bit smarter about it. They chased away Thorvald by taking a hide-covered boat down a fjord, launching a volley of arrows at the Vikings, and then paddling away before they could strike back. The Vikings tried to take cover, but one of the arrows got Thorvald and killed him.

After Thorvald died, the Native Americans managed to chase away the Vikings altogether. They built a catapult and put a Viking town under siege, killing two of the Vikings within and chasing the rest away. Under the threat of constant harassment from Native Americans, the Vikings, in time, gave up and left the New World behind.

7Shaolin Monks vs. Pirates

In 1550, a motley crew of Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese pirates, using Western weapons, found themselves against an unlikely opponent. A group of Shaolin Warrior Monks had stepped down from their monastery—and they were ready to pit their Kung Fu against the pirate’s guns.

The pirates had been ravaging the Ming kingdom for years and, desperate, the Emperor called on a 1000-year-old Shaolin Monastery for help. The monks there were unparalleled masters of Kung-Fu, but they usually fought with staffs, while the pirates had advanced Portuguese guns and cannons. It was a battle of training against technology—whether sheer devotion to martial arts could overpower European weapons.

Winner: Decisive Shaolin Monk Victory

The monks fought the pirates in four battles and won three of them—but the best example is the Battle of Wengjiangag. There, 120 monks faced against 120 pirates—and the monks slaughtered their enemies. The pirates only managed to kill four monks before they were run down and massacred. Nearly every single one of the 120 pirates died, often beaten to death with iron staffs.

6Tiger vs. Lion

The ultimate battle for the King of the Jungle has been fought more than once. In nature, tigers and lions will usually leave each other alone—but pitted before an audience, that can change. Both the Romans and the Indians have had the big cats of the jungle fight before the eyes of a roaring crowd.

The Romans did it first, in the first century A.D., and the Indians copied them in the 19th century. In India, the fight was arranged by the Gaekwad of Baroda, who was so sure that the lion would win that he put down a 37,000 rupee bet.

Winner: Decisive Tiger Victory

Both times, the tiger won—and not even by a small margin. A witness to the Roman fight said, that not only did the tiger kill the lion, but she ripped it to shreds. And, in India, the Gaekwad of Baroda had to pay up his 37,000 rupee bet.

In nature, though, the animals would not have fought. The tiger “attempted nothing of the sort while she lived in the depths of the forest,” the Roman poet Martial wrote after watching the fight, “but since she had been among us, she has acquired great ferocity.”

5The Mongolian Horde vs. European Knights

After the Mongolian Horde had swept through Asia, laying every person who stood in their way into the dust, they did not stop fighting. They pressed on into Europe—and there, went head-to-head with armored European Knights.

The Mongolians fought a whole war against the Europeans, but we will focus on the Battle of Liegnitz in 1241. Here, 70,000 Mongolian warriors, under the command of the grandson of Genghis Khan, brought their army against the Kingdom of Poland and the Knights Templar. Polish knights with lances and broadswords went head-to-head with Mongolian horsemen and their bows and arrows.

Winner: Decisive Mongolian Victory

The Europeans were not ready for Mongolian tactics. The Mongolian horsemen would feign attacks and fake withdrawals, slowly draining their enemies with a barrage of arrows while keeping a safe distance from their swords. The Knights, who were used to just charging and battering whoever was closest, did not know how to deal with it.

The Mongolians had killed 25,000 people before the battle was over. They managed to fill nine sacks full of ears torn off their enemies, and they cut the Polish Duke’s head off and paraded it around on the tip of a spear.

4Warrior Monks vs. Samurai

In 1180, the Japanese Prince Mochihito, after a failed attempt to steal the throne, hid out in a Buddhist temple. An army of samurai warriors was after him, and he had only one hope to stave them off: the temple’s warrior monks.

The samurai charged the temple and attacked, and the monks had to fight them off. These monks were not just using staffs—they had bows, swords, and daggers, but they were up against a whole army of armored samurai.

Winner: Short-Lived Warrior Monk Victory

The Warrior Monks managed to hold them off—and the stories left behind about their victory are so incredible that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Legend has it that one of the monks stopped an incoming arrow by slicing it in half in mid-air, while another single-handedly killed 26 samurai.

Their victory, though, did not last. Even if they held off the first attack, the samurai came back—and this time they brought 10,000 soldiers with them. The monks did not stand a chance against that many people. The monastery was captured and burned to the ground, and Prince Mochihito was killed.

3Roman Legionnaires vs. The Chinese Army

In 36 B.C., a Roman legion went missing. There is some dispute about what actually happened to them, but according to one theory, they went out east and ended up finding themselves amongst the Mongolian Huns. They thought they had found refuge. Soon, though, the Chinese Han army was at their gates—and, for the first time in history, Roman soldiers were face-to-face with Chinese warriors.

The Chinese soldiers would have had an infantry and a cavalry, trained in the Chinese art of deception and war—but the Roman legion had its shields. Chinese witnesses record seeing 145 foreign soldiers holding their long, rectangular shields close in an impenetrable tortoise formation.

Winner: Technical Chinese Victory

The Han Chinese won—but it was not really a fair fight. There were only 145 Romans there, and though they were backed by the Mongolian army, the Chinese had them drastically outnumbered. The Roman fighters, though, held their own well enough to make an incredible impression on the Chinese. When the battle was over, the Han Chinese enlisted every surviving legionnaire into the Han army.

2Viking Raiders vs. The Islamic Caliphate

Viking raiders wreaked hell upon Europe—but in 844, their attacks made it far enough south to come face-to-face with another type of enemy: the Islamic Umayyad Emirate.

Islam, at this time, was spreading across the world, and a huge part of modern Portugal and Spain were ruled by an Islamic dynasty. They were led by the Syrian Abd al-Rahman, who first got word that Vikings were coming when his men spotted nearly 100 Viking ships off the coast of Lisbon. Viking raiders were coming—and, for the first time, they were against the armies of Muhammad.

Winner: Eventual Islamic Victory

The Islamic fighters won—eventually. Early on, though, it did not go particularly well. The Vikings crushed Lisbon and burned much of it to the ground. Then, for a month, they rampaged their way through Portugal, slaughtering the men and forcing the women and children into slavery.

The tide of battle turned, though, when the Islamic Army started using war engines. Once reinforcements and equipment came from their capital, Corboda, they actually stood a chance. They got vengeful. They took no prisoners. They burned the Viking ships and everything they owned, and every Viking they could get their hands on was killed.

1A Roman Emperor vs. A Killer Whale

Okay, this fight probably never occurred to anybody—but it happened. In the writings of the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder, he records seeing something incredible: “A killer whale was actually seen in the harbor of Ostia, locked in combat with the emperor Claudius.”

A ship had capsized and filled the harbor with leather hides. The leather lured in a hungry whale, who got stuck in the shallows and caused havoc by splashing about. Claudius decided that this was an opportunity for one hell of a show—so he invited the whole Roman public to watch him fight a whale.

Winner: Technical Roman Victory

Claudius did not play fair, of course. He brought out a whole crew of ships and surrounded the whale to ensure he did not end up getting killed by an animal in front of the crowd. Even then, the Romans did a lot worse than you would expect.

The cornered whale blew water out of its spout and overturned a boat, sinking it and everyone on board. After that, every Roman on every boat just started hurtling lances and spears at it. They killed the whale, but it was hardly the one-on-one fight the public was promised—and, if you are counting casualties, the whale won.

On the morning of April 30, 1943, off the southwest coast of Spain, a local sardine fisherman made the gruesome discovery of a lifeless body floating in the water. The dead man, who appeared to be a soldier with a black briefcase chained to his waist, was quickly brought ashore and handed over to the authorities.

Later, documents found in the attache case revealed top secret plans about a large-scale Allied invasion of Greece and Sardinia. The information eventually landed on the desk of German leader Adolf Hitler, who reacted decisively. However, there was just one problem: The discovery was a fake.

Code-named Operation Mincemeat, which was part of a much larger disinformation campaign called Operation Barclay, the subterfuge was designed to mislead the Germans about the Allies’ intended attack on Sicily. The morbid ruse became one of the most bizarre chapters of World War II, highlighted by a message to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stating, “Mincemeat swallowed. Rod, line and sinker.”

10 A Critical Turning Point

British Intelligence played a significant role leading up to the attack on what Winston Churchill referred to as the “soft underbelly of Europe.” The Mediterranean invasion (“Operation Husky”) became the largest amphibious operation in history to date, deploying 160,000 Allied troops—and one cadaver.

After recent victories in North Africa, Allied top brass shifted their focus to Germany’s stranglehold on Europe. The strategic location of Sicily was deemed the next logical stepping-stone—and the enemy knew it. But the use of a modern-day Trojan horse helped divert the enemy away from the island and allowed the Anglo-American force to launch a two-pronged attack.

Led by General George Patton’s Seventh Army in the west sector and General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the east, the successful campaign advanced Allied objectives on the continent and affected the outcome of the war.^[1]

9 Ian Fleming Helped To Inspire The Plan

Prior to achieving acclaim as the author of the popular James Bond spy novels, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming worked in British Intelligence. As the assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey (the basis for Bond’s MI6 boss “M”), Fleming helped to pen a report known as the “Trout Memo” in which Fleming compared military deception to fly-fishing.

The multi-item list contained various schemes, including one entitled “A Suggestion (not a very nice one),” that he found in a book by fellow intelligence officer-turned-writer Basil Thomson. Fleming described using a corpse obtained from the morgue and dressed to resemble an officer en route to delivering sensitive documents. The phantom messenger could then be dropped near the coastline and eventually find its way into enemy hands.^[2]

Fleming also contributed to other key operations, including D-Day, all the while chronicling his experiences that influenced his best-selling books and iconic films.

8 Not Exactly 007

British officials cast an unlikely player to star as the hero in the real-life, high-stakes thriller. The wartime production involved an intriguing story line, numerous plot twists, and a role to die for.

Glyndwr Michael was born on January 4, 1909, in the small coal-mining town of Aberbargoed in South Wales. Growing up in an impoverished family, Michael mostly worked odd jobs as an unskilled laborer. By the time he was 31, both his parents were dead. Eventually, he found himself living as a vagrant on the streets of London.^[3]

He eventually became deathly ill after ingesting rat poison and was taken to St. Pancras Hospital, where he died on January 24, 1943. Michael underwent a routine examination by the coroner, who determined the cause of death as suicide.

Despite Michael’s unremarkable life and grim demise, he would soon embark on an extraordinary adventure.

7 A Ghoulish Makeover

British intelligence officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu were tasked with spearheading the extensive skullduggery. As part of the counterespionage unit, the men plotted around the clock in a secret underground room in the Admiralty. Discretion was of vital importance to ensure secrecy and give the deceit a fighting chance to succeed. But first, they needed a body.

The mortuary at St. Pancras, the largest in the country, provided an ample supply of potential candidates. But the deceased had to meet strict criteria: no family, no friends, and no visible signs of foul play. Glyndwr Michael fit the bill perfectly.^[4]

The recently departed Welshman was given the pseudonym Captain (Acting Major) William “Bill” Martin of the Royal Marines. With his new identity established, the cadaver remained locked away and refrigerated while Cholmondeley and Montagu crafted a backstory clever enough to fool the Germans. Their ploy also needed a name. With a wink and nod to their dark sense of humor, they called it Operation Mincemeat.

6 An Elaborate Hoax

Several highly nuanced factors (including luck) ultimately determined the fate of the operation. “Major Martin,” posing as a courier who had been killed in a plane crash at sea, had to appear both believable and random and furnish just enough subtle details to spring the trap.

A bogus letter from Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye to General Sir Harold Alexander contained the key piece of misinformation. The letter was written by Nye himself for added authenticity.^[5]

The dead man also held an assortment of documents and wallet litter, providing a glimpse into the man’s personality. Items included a military identification card, postage stamps, personal letters, theater tickets, cigarettes, and an angry overdraft letter from Lloyds Bank in London.

In an effort to discourage a complete autopsy (and assuming the Spanish pathologists were Roman Catholic), a silver St. Christopher’s medal delivered an element of spiritual guidance to the mission.

5 True (False) Romance

The chicanery even went as far as to fabricate an imaginary girlfriend named “Pam.” A few rambling, flowery love letters were added to the mix as well as an actual photograph of a young woman with wavy brown hair by the name of Jean Leslie. The 19-year-old from Hampshire worked as an MI5 secretary, and her seemingly innocuous contribution soon took on a life of its own.^[6]

Despite being a married father of two young children, British intelligence officer Montagu became smitten with his coworker and began pursuing her after hours with dining and dancing. He even wrote her his own notes of affection, addressing them to “Pam” and signing them “Bill.” But alas, this Montagu lacked Shakespeare’s touch and Cupid’s quivers, relegating the one-sided fling dead as a doornail.

4 A Race Against The Clock

As any zombie apocalypse fan knows, bodies decompose. Rapidly. British officials knew they had roughly three months before their specimen reached its expiration date. And with the pending invasion of Sicily scheduled for July, the plan shifted into high gear.

On April 19, 1943, the imposter was outfitted in a well-worn uniform (along with clean underwear because, well, you never know) and placed inside an airtight metal container packed with dry ice. Cholmondeley and Montagu accompanied the cargo in a van driven by MI5 agent “Jock” Horsfall. Prior to the war, Horsfall had been a champion race car driver best known for his speedy Aston Martin—the same car James Bond later made famous.^[7]

Horsfall now put skills to use in a mad dash, driving 700 kilometers (435 mi) through the night from London to Greenock, Scotland, and a rendezvous with the Royal Navy.

3 The Spanish Acquisition

Despite claiming a neutral status during the war, Spain was a well-known haven for German spies—especially along its southern coast. The British feared that using a noisy seaplane might prove too risky. Instead, Major Martin went to sea aboard the submarine HMS Seraph.^[8]

With the exception of the captain, Lieutenant Commander Norman Jewell, and a few other officers sworn to secrecy, the crew was told that they were transporting meteorological equipment and set a course for the Iberian Peninsula. The S-class submarine spent the next 10 days navigating dangerous waters and endured two separate bombings from German aircraft.

The Seraph eventually surfaced 1.46 kilometers (0.91 mi) off the coast of Huelva. Jewell ordered the covert shipment up to the deck, where the future admiral read Psalm 39, a prayer of wisdom and forgiveness. Then he placed a “Mae West” (an inflatable vest) on Michael/Martin and gently set him adrift for the final leg of his journey.

2 Hitler Gets Hoodwinked

Convinced of their good fortune, the Abwehr (German intelligence) took the findings directly to Adolf Hitler. The bamboozled dictator eagerly took the bait. He demanded, “Measures regarding Sardinia and the Peloponnese take precedence over everything else.” The blunder proved disastrous.^[9]

Hitler sent Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to Athens to form an army group and began repositioning thousands of soldiers. Finally, on July 9, 1943, the Allies unleashed their blistering attack on Sicily, taking the bewildered German high command by surprise.

Additionally, the falsehood would have far-reaching effects for the remainder of the war as the Germans hesitated to act on legitimate discoveries involving espionage.

1 A Lingering Mystery

The gravestone at Cementerio de la Soledad in Huelva reads, “William Martin, born 29 March 1907, died 24 April 1943.” But in 1998, the British government added the amendment, “Glyndwr Michael Served as Major William Martin, RM,” as a tribute to the man’s true identity. But the story doesn’t end there.

Several alternative theories suggest that an entirely different person lies in Spain, adding further intrigue to the possibility of a hoax within a hoax. After the war, Montagu wrote a best-selling book, The Man Who Never Was, that also spawned a popular film. Although Montagu stood firmly by the official government position, many scholars have questioned its validity.

The central argument casts doubt on whether a hapless drifter in poor physical health could have conceivably passed as a Royal Marine officer and deceived a savvy adversary. Furthermore, why would a meticulous, detail-oriented barrister such as Montagu have risked everything on a stiff who died from poison instead of a real drowning victim?

One of the more popular hypotheses asserts that Glyndwr Michael may have been switched in favor of a sailor named John Melville, who drowned off the coast of Scotland on March 27, 1943. The escort carrier, HMS Dasher, had suffered a horrific (and mysterious) explosion that sank the ship and killed 379 crewmen.

In 2004, a memorial service honored Melville on a ship currently using the name Dasher, in which Lieutenant Commander Mark Hill declared: “In his incarnation as Major Martin, John Melville’s memory lives on in the film, The Man Who Never Was. But we are gathered here today to remember John Melville as a man who most certainly was.”^[10]

Given the heightened secrecy of the operation and the fact that most of the key players are no longer living, it’s doubtful that a definitive conclusion will ever be reached. Nonetheless, Operation Mincemeat remains the gold standard of macabre military maneuvers.

It has been a long time since we had a topical Your View that wasn’t relating to site administration. Now that I (JFrater) am back on board and running things, I figured it would be nice to resume the old habit and to get people chatting.

What better way to get the ball rolling than to discuss politics! So, the question is, in your view, who do you think will win the Democratic nomination for the 2020 election to go up against President Trump? Give us a reason for your choice.

The primary contenders are:

1. Joe Biden
2. Elizabeth Warren
3. Bernie Sanders
4. Kamala Harris
5. Pete Buttgieg
6. Robert O’Rourke
7. Corey Booker
8. Andrew Yang

There are other contenders too and you can pick from them. Here is a more complete list of the 2020 Democratic Party Declared Candidates.

Please be courteous in your comments and debate the merits of the contenders not their persons.

The featured image for this post is an attempt by John Barton to design the great seal of the United States. He created the design during the third committee tasked with the creation. Ultimately a modified form of one of Barton’s designs (modified by Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress) became the great seal as it is known today.