With Allied forces planning an invasion of Italy and Sicily in July of 1943, it was imperative that they catch the Axis by surprise. So, a plan was concocted under the direction of Naval Intelligence Division head Rear Admiral John Godfrey, and his personal assistant Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming. (Yes, that Ian Fleming.)

The body of a deceased homeless man was dressed up as fake allied officer William Martin, and stuffed with fake military plans detailing upcoming invasions of Greece and Sardinia. The body was then dumped off the coast of Spain by a Royal Navy submarine.

With help from the Spanish, the plans made it all the way back to Hitler, who quickly diverted forces away from Sicily. The plan was essential in turning the tide of the war, and was eventually made into a 2022 movie.

There was only one government sponsored attack against a German official during World War II, and it came against Chief of the Reich Security Main Office Reinhard Heydrich in May of 1942. Planned by the British Special Operations Executive, and the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, it was carried out by Czech soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš in Prague to show rebellion from the suppressed Czech government.

The two men waited for Heydrich’s car, but when Gabčík’s gun jammed, Kubiš threw an anti-tank grenade at the car by hand. Heydrich wasn’t killed on the spot, but eventually succumbed to sepsis weeks later due to the injuries. Both men were killed by German forces after a significant manhunt in June of that year, while the Germans slaughtered tens of thousands of Czech civilians as retribution.

After the Allied invasion of Italy and Mussolini’s capture in 1943, Hitler decided that the Italian dictator’s freedom was essential to keeping the Italian war effort alive. He authorized Operation Eiche, or Operation Oak, a raid on the Hotel Campo Imperatore where Mussolini was being held, which involved SS officer Otto Skorzeny and a team of commandos. The operation was a success, and Mussolini returned to Italy until his capture and execution in 1945.

In December of 1944, Hitler assigned Otto Skorzeny to organize Operation Grief, in which English speaking Germans would infiltrate American forces. Those Germans succeeded in causing logistical chaos, and sparking mass paranoia among American forces during the Battle of the Bulge.

During the German occupation of France, the French port of Bordeaux became a major supply center for the Axis. With the port heavily defended, Britain ordered a daring attack in 1942 that involved an elite Royal Marine commando squad canoeing down the 50-mile-long Gironde River estuary before planting bombs on cargo ships. The six, two-man crews would then attempt to escape to the Spanish border. In the end, only two of the 12 commandos were able to carry out the mission, with six captured and executed, two drowned, and two unable to reach the port.

In order for D-Day to work, it had to catch German forces by surprise. To help with that, the Allies “leaked” that the attack would take place in Pas de Calais, and assembled a fake wooden and inflatable army to fool German scout pilots. Even during the actual attack at Normandy, some Germans believed it was only a feign to draw attention away from Pas de Calais.

With the Pacific theater underway, President Roosevelt authorized Operation Vengeance, a mission designed to shoot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; the man who planned Pearl Harbor. On April 18th of 1943, using accurate American intelligence, 18 American P-38 Lightning planes flew over 1,000 miles and shot down the Admiral’s plane over Papua New Guinea.

Everyone knows the United States was the first country to make the atomic bomb, but that might not have been the case were it not for Operation Gunnerside. Knowing Germany had made progress, in February 1943, a team of British-trained Norwegian exiles were authorized to attack a German “heavy water” plant in Norway. Parachuting in, they stealthily planted explosives and destroyed the facility.

Planned by infamous Unit 731 commander Major Shiro Ishii, Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night was supposed to be a last ditch attack in a losing effort by the Japanese military in March of 1945. Using biological warfare, the plan called for five Japanese subs to travel to the coast of California and launch dive bombers carrying plague-infected fleas. Fortunately, the war ended before this plan to inflict a plague on San Diego was ever put into action.

Owner of the most luxurious brothel in Berlin, Salon Kitty, Kitty Schmidt attempted to flee Germany in 1939 when Hitler came to power. Seeing an opportunity however, Gestapo and SD officer Walter Schellenberg captured her, and forced her to keep the brothel open. Only this time, bugged and operated by trained women assigned to secretly interrogate any suspicious party German intelligence sent their way.