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

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. 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 southeast 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.

The success or failure of these planned misdirections would have deadly serious consequences for the men wading ashore through the Normandy surf in early summer of 1944. Put simply, the difference in the number and deployment of German forces facing them could determine if they succeeded or failed.