Spione, Agenten, Soldaten - Folge 18: Major Martin: Landung der Alliierten auf Sizilien

On 11 July 1943, the Allies landed in Sicily, and the battle for 'Fortress Europe' had begun. The island in front of the tip of the Italian boot is considered by the Allied planning staffs to be a springboard for the invasion of southern Europe. Of course, the Germans, who have been expanding their position on the strategically important island for months, are also aware of this. It is all the more incomprehensible that a few days before the attack, strong German forces, which had previously been stationed in Sicily, were transferred to distant parts of the Mediterranean region on Hitler's express orders; a circumstance which considerably weakened the German defence force and facilitated the rapid advance of the American and British units. It was only after the war that it became known that these troop movements and the rapid fall of Sicily were the result of one of the most brilliant deceptive manoeuvres of the Second World War, in which a dead Englishman played the leading role.