20 World War II missions that seem straight out of a novel

In 1943, British intelligence floated a corpse off the Spanish coast, equipped with fake invasion orders, in order to deceive the Nazis. The Germans took the bait hook, line, and sinker, convinced that the Allies would invade Greece rather than Sicily. It was a most macabre espionage operation—and it worked perfectly.

Hundreds of Allied prisoners held at Stalag Luft III spent a year digging tunnels beneath their camp using tin cans and bed planks. Their goal: a mass escape. Seventy-six men managed to escape before the Nazis discovered their plot, inspiring the 1963 classic film.

In Prague, Czech resistance fighters trained by the British were tasked with assassinating Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most ruthless architects of the Holocaust. They ambushed his car with a grenade, mortally wounding him. The Nazis’ brutal reprisals wiped out entire villages, but this mission dealt a major psychological blow.

In 1943, the British Royal Air Force used “bouncing bombs” specially designed to destroy strategic German dams. The pilots flew at very low altitudes under heavy fire to drop their bombs with pinpoint accuracy. It was one of the most daring aerial feats of the war.

In the heart of Nazi-occupied Norway, commandos infiltrated the Vemork plant to cripple the German nuclear program. They skied across frozen plateaus, broke into the facility, and destroyed key machinery—without losing a single man.

Following the raid on the heavy water plant, this mission was carried out by six Norwegian resistance fighters. They endured snowstorms and isolation before striking again to ensure the sabotage was a complete success.

During the Battle of the Ardennes, German commandos disguised themselves as American soldiers to sow confusion behind Allied lines. They altered road signs, cut communication cables, and caused chaos. Their leader, Otto Skorzeny, became infamous for his daring deception tactics.

After Italy’s surrender, Hitler ordered a glider air raid to rescue Benito Mussolini, who was being held prisoner in the mountains. Skorzeny’s team landed under enemy fire and took the dictator aboard a small plane. The operation was so spectacular that even Allied commanders could not help but admire its execution.

Art historians, curators, and architects have formed a coalition to track down and recover priceless works of art stolen by the Nazis. They have located hiding places scattered throughout Europe, containing works by Michelangelo and Vermeer, among others. Their mission has helped preserve thousands of cultural treasures that might otherwise have been lost forever.

This elaborate disinformation campaign convinced Hitler that the landing would take place in the Pas-de-Calais, not in Normandy. The Allies used inflatable tanks, fake camps, and even actors posing as soldiers to make their ruse believable.

In 1942, eight German saboteurs infiltrated the United States aboard submarines, armed with explosives intended for factories and railroads. Within a few weeks, they were captured after one of the members turned himself in to the FBI.

A group of German officers plotted to assassinate Hitler and seize control of the government. The bomb planted by Claus von Stauffenberg exploded, but Hitler survived. The failed coup led to mass executions and a tightening of Nazi control as the war dragged on.

Allied forces attempted to capture strategic bridges in the Netherlands using airborne troops. It was an ambitious plan, as it could have ended the war several months earlier, but delays and poor communication caused the operation to fail.

In April 1945, American and German soldiers briefly joined forces—not to fight, but to save the prized Lipizzaner horses from destruction. This unusual temporary truce defied the logic of war and saved an irreplaceable breed of horses cherished by both sides.

British commandos stormed an old destroyer, loaded it with explosives, and rammed it into a French pier that the Germans needed for their battleships. The explosion rendered the facility unusable for the rest of the war.

After completing their sabotage mission, the same Norwegian team skied hundreds of kilometers through hostile territory to seek refuge in Sweden. They survived snowstorms, hunger, and relentless Nazi patrols.

After the war, the United States smuggled in hundreds of German scientists—some of whom had worked for the Nazi regime—in order to advance its own space program.

As the Allies approached Paris, the French Resistance organized a spontaneous uprising against the German occupation. As fighting broke out throughout the city, Allied tanks eventually rolled in to secure the capital.

In one of the strangest battles of the war, American forces and anti-Nazi German soldiers fought side by side to protect French prisoners from SS attacks at an Austrian castle.

Using inflatable tanks, fake radio communications, and recordings of combat sounds, a secret unit of the U.S. Army created the illusion of entire divisions. Its mission was to deceive the enemy into believing that armies existed where they did not.