Operation Fortitude

The History of the Deception Campaign that Confused the Nazis Ahead of the Normandy Landings

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Colin Fluxman

“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”–Winston Churchill

During the first half of 1944, the Americans and British commenced a massive buildup of men and resources in the United Kingdom, while Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower and military brass planned the details of an enormous and complex amphibious invasion of Europe. The most obvious place for an invasion was just across the narrow English Channel, and the Germans had built coastal fortifications throughout France to protect against just such an invasion.

Cloaking the vastest amphibious landing in history in layers of shrouding misdirection represented an undertaking second only in ambitiousness to the grand seaborne invasion itself, yet with Operation Bodyguard, the Allies attempted precisely that task in regards to 1944's D-Day. Bodyguard would, if successful, confuse the Wehrmacht occupiers of France about the actual place where Operation Overlord would ultimately come ashore.

The Western Allies, particularly the British, proved adept at the cloak and dagger disinformation campaigns needed to confuse the Third Reich, sending reinforcements in the wrong direction. The fact that the Nazis themselves used a sophisticated radio deception program during operations in the Soviet Union during the early stages of the war meant that fooling them on such a large scale presented no easy task.

The plan was to trick the Germans into thinking the expected invasion would come in late summer 1944, and would be accompanied by an invasion in Norway, Greece, and elsewhere in Europe. The goal was to trick the Germans into defending areas away from the invasion, thus posing less threat to the success of the actual invasion, Operation Overlord. On an operational level, it hoped to disguise the strength, timing, and objectives of the invasion.

A further element of Bodyguard was Operation Fortitude. Fortitude marked one of the most ambitious deception plans in the history of warfare. Fortitude was divided into two parts, north and south. Both parts involved the creation of fake armies, one based in Edinburgh in the north, and one on the south east coast of England, which threatened Pas de Calais, the most obvious area of France for invasion. The Allies went to remarkable lengths to ensure the success of the operation.

A fictional U.S. Army group under George Patton was created in the south. Every effort was made to ensure operational security while also allowing the Germans to see the dummy war material and supporting infrastructure to add weight to the ruse. Dummy invasion craft were constructed at ports, inflatable trucks and tanks lined the roads in Scotland and around Patton’s fictional army group. Luftwaffe aircraft were allowed fly over the inflatable army while being kept far from the actual invasion preparations. The deception was reinforced by frantic radio signals emanating from Fortitude north and south to the amount expected from a large size invasion group.

Thanks to the misinformation, even as Nazi Germany’s Atlantic Wall was strengthened, the deception tricked Hitler into keeping 13 divisions in Norway rather than reinforcing the Normandy peninsula. It had also tricked German High Command into believing that 89 Allied divisions were preparing to land, with enough landing craft to bring 20 divisions ashore. In actuality, the figures were 47 and six respectively. Overreliance on intelligence crippled German defensive efforts in Normandy.

©2022 Charles River Editors (P)2022 Charles River Editors