Operation Fortitude

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British aircraft dummy (October 1943)

Operation Fortitude was a World War II deception designed to cover up Operation Overlord . The overarching plan to cover up all Allied plans for Europe was called Operation Bodyguard .

The Allies established after 1943 for its operations in Scotland and at the narrowest point of the English Channel between England and France at Dover dummies of tanks , aircraft, artillery guns and other war material of wood or rubber as a distraction to and practiced in the Thames landing maneuvers.

Operation Quicksilver

In 1943, the Americans started an operation to keep the German intelligence about the location and the beginning of a possible invasion of the western European mainland in the dark. This went so far that a fictional 1st US Army Group (FUSAG, the First United States Army Group) with everything that went with it was invented, called Operation Quicksilver . In fake radio messages, George S. Patton was issued as commander and the various landing options were spread from the Strait of Dover to Norway . In addition, reports about wedding dates and sporting events of the invented soldiers were sent.

Operation Skye

During Operation Fortitude North or Operation Skye, radio communications were simulated from Scotland to make the Germans believe that an invasion of Norway would take place. As a consequence, the Germans left troops in Norway that would otherwise have been transferred to France. The British also created a non-existent army, the British 4th Army , which was supposed to serve as a fictitious association to carry out an invasion of Norway.

Double cross

The British secret service MI5 had the Double-Cross System , also known as the XX System , to locate and capture German agents. MI5 made these agents available to Operation Fortitude. They were given the choice of “cooperation or execution”; all became double agents . They provided false information from MI5 to the German defense and security services . The double-cross system was not only practiced in the British Isles , but worldwide. Other double agents such as Joan Pujol García deliberately spread false information. Important decision-makers in the Third Reich in the Wehrmacht and the Nazi regime felt their prognoses had been reinforced.

Others

Even before the landing in Sicily , there was a successful deception maneuver, Operation Mincemeat . The Royal Navy secret service staffed a corpse as a drowned British officer carrying courier letters from high generals. In the letters it was mentioned that Corsica, Sardinia and the Peloponnese would be the next targets.

literature

  • Arne Molfenter: Garbo, the spy. The secret of D-Day. Piper, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-492-05583-3 .
  • Roger Hesketh: Fortitude. The D-Day Deception Campaign. Overlook, New York 2000, ISBN 1-58567-075-8 .
  • Jock Haswell: The Intelligence and Deception of the D-Day Landings. Batsford, London 1979 and D-Day. Intelligence and Deception. Times Books, New York 1979.
  • Thaddeus Holt: The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2004, ISBN 0-29784-804-6 .
  • James R. Koch: Operation FORTITUDE. The backbone of deception. Military Review 72 (March 1992), pp. 66-77.
  • Juan Pujol (with Nigel West): Garbo. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1985 and Garbo. The Personal Story of the Most Successful Double Agent in World War II. Random House, New York 1986.

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