R force

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Badge of the communications force of the R Force, the engineer force wore a badge with a blue background.

The R Force was a British deception unit during World War II . It consisted of armored cars, engineers and a telecommunications unit. During Operation Fortitude , she tried to make the Allied forces appear stronger in Britain and to deceive the German intelligence about the plans of these troops. She conducted similar operations during the later fighting in Western Europe . She was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David Strangeways .

history

During the Africa campaign , Strangeways served in the A Force Dudley Clarkes . The special unit used radio manipulation to give the Axis powers false information about tanks and vehicle columns and thus to move their forces away from regions that the Allies were planning to attack. Strangeways devised a plan to deceive the Axis Powers about the time and place of the Allied landing in North Africa . Later, with a mixture of deception and speed, he succeeded in occupying the German headquarters in Tunis before they could destroy their secret documents.

When General Bernard Montgomery took command of the 21st Army Group , he ordered Strangeways to deploy a unit alongside the A Force for the Allied invasion of Normandy . He chose the name R Force in the hope that if the Germans discovered the unit, they would assume the R stood for reconnaissance . The R Force, which was equipped with three companies of reconnaissance vehicles and one support company, was actually able to take on this task. The companies were equipped with special radios with which the sounds of operating tanks could be simulated. The R Force took over some squads of Royal Engineers who knew how to hide. She also received Turner's Department personnel from Colonel John Turner who knew how to create false airfields and other military facilities. The 5th Wireless Group was set up in January 1944 to provide the R Force with radio deception capabilities. With the help of special equipment, the radio communication of an entire corps could be simulated. The strength of the R Force eventually exceeded 1,200 men. Members of the Royal Corps of Signals wore a black plaque with a white R in the center as a shoulder badge. The pioneers wore the white R against a blue background.

Strangeways designed and carried out Operation Quicksilver . It was an important part of Operation Fortitude, which was supposed to fool the Germans into a planned Allied landing in the Pas-de-Calais area . After the Allied landing in Normandy in June 1944, the R Force moved to the continent and operated under the command of the 21st Army Group. It was one of the first units to invade Rouen and Brussels and later carried out deception operations as part of the Allied crossing of the Rhine .

In 2004 the acts of the R Force were filmed for television with the title Fooling Hitler .

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Max Arthur: Obituary: Canon David Strangeways. The Independent , August 17, 1998. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  2. ^ A b Terry Crowdy: Deceiving Hitler. Double cross and deception in World War II. 2008, pp. 243–244.
  3. ↑ Huby Fairhead: decoys. ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aviationmuseum.net archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b Imperial War Museum : Badge, Unit, 'R' Force. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  5. ^ Mary Kathryn Barbier: D-Day deception. Operation Fortitude & the Normandy Invasion. 2009, pp. 83-84.
  6. ↑ Frances Hardy: How Heartbeat star Jason Durr and his wife have 16 spare embryos to give away after having egg-donor twins. Daily Mail , October 19, 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

literature