Did We Pull A Fast One On The Nazis?

In Middle School when we studied World War 2, I distinctly remember my teacher telling us that prior to D-Day, we sent an easily decoded message out, where the Germans could easily intercept (and of course, decode) it.

This message contained phony plans for Allied invasion into an area different from where the battles ended up taking place, causing the Germans to move their forces to that position in anticipation of the attack, and thus giving us the opening at Normandy.

However, I've yet to read in a few places (Wikipedia and others) about that phony message existing. Did it? What was the name of it, or was it just a small part of Operation Overlord?

Thank you,
Chris

 

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum.

The operation your teacher is referring to was called operation FORTITUDE. For three weeks after the D-Day invasion, the German leadership (mostly Hitler) believed that the Normandy Beach invasion was simply a ruse and the real invasion was coming from Pas de Calais by General Patton. Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry for this operation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude.

 

Until nearly the end of the Normandy campaign the Germans kept many divisions of 15th Army in the Pas de Calais.

Perhaps one big giveaway was when Patton, who under the deception plan was in command of FUSAG (First US Army Group), scheduled for the "main" invasion appeared in Normandy as commander of 3rd Army.

There was, incidentally, a large phantom signals organisation operating in the UK producing phoney radio traffic as though this army group existed and German agents who had been captured and "turned" by the British were sending false reports too.

 

Welcome to the forum Chris.

 

That is true angie. There was also the whole fake group in Scotland which was going to attack Norway. The operation was a complete success.

Welcome to the forum Chris.

 

(Gnomey @ Nov 15 2005, 06:03 PM) [post=41588]That is true angie. There was also the whole fake group in Scotland which was going to attack Norway. The operation was a complete success.

Welcome to the forum Chris.
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The Fortitude deception plan comprised of two elements:

Fortitude North which was based on false intelligence supplied to the Germans that the British 4th Army along with the US 15 Corps and Russian elements would invade and sieze Norway.The plan was to ensure that with this threat that Hitler would keep 27 Divisions that were thought to be in Norway,Denmark and Finland out of the Battle of Normandy.Hitler was further concerned that if Norway fell it would lead to an assault on Germany through Denmark.This was the case and by the surrender on Luneburg Health in May 1945,over 400.000 enemy troops were still tied up in Norway awaiting an invasion from Scotland and Russia.

What it did mean in the final chapter of the war was that British forces had to quickly get into Denmark and make a presence to prevent any possibility of the Russian allies entering Danish territory.


Fortitude South was the deception plan already described to confuse the Germans that the Pas de Calais would be the main invasion thrust into Europe.

Important contributions to both these deceptions was carried out by MI 6 and its agents particularly those agents controlled by those known as the "XX Committee" or the "Twenty Committee" ie the Double Cross Committee.These were mostly captured agents which the Germans believed worked for them but unknown to the Germans had been turned to work for the British.

In the Fortitude North deception,captured German agents later named "Mutt" and "Jeff"played an important collaborating role in its inception.This was the role offered to them,the other was death as a spy.

However one stands out in the Fortitude South deception. He was never turned by capture. In January 1941, the agent,a Spaniard,later to be known as "Garbo" but real name, Juan Pujol presented himself to MI 6 Intelligence in Marid and offered to work for the British.His offer was declined and Garbo offered his services to the the German Abwehr.From Spain. "Garbo" was sent to England and given an intelligence task in July 1941 but never accepted the "posting"but instead based himself in Lisbon and from there sent distorted intelligence to the Germans as though he was in England.His work convinced the Germans that his intelligence was authentic and went on to build up a number of fictious sub agents in England.By the spring of 1944 these sub agents had grown to fourteen including a fictious mole in the Ministry of Information.Reported to be both an anti Nazi and Anti Communist,Garbo came to the notice of MI 6 in February 1942 when Ultra interceptions highlighted German plans to intercept a Liverpool/Malta convoy.The trail led to Garbo's fictious intelligence on his supposed convoy and the feeling that Garbo should work for MI 6 as a "worthy collaborator" rather than an "unconscious competitor".Garbo did not require MI 6 to create a spy network for him.His was up a running and he fed the Germans a pack of lies which they believed.From early 1944 to D Day he transmitted over 500 messages to his German controllers in Marid who staged them on to Berlin.His trust was so complete that when the German ciphers were changed,he received the new one which was passed on to Bletchley Park.

He work for British intelligence was never discovered by the Germans and so pleased were they with his performance that he was awarded an Iron Cross.In turn his work was recognised to the British by the award of the MBE.

Regarding "Garbo's" work for the British cause, there is a publication available entitled "The Man who saved D Day"based on information released into the public domain in 1999.

 

Looks like the Germans were fooled quite well. Thanks for the information and welcomes. If I have any more WW2 questions, I certainly know where to come!

Chris

 

(bkorren @ Nov 16 2005, 09:59 PM) [post=41616]Looks like the Germans were fooled quite well. Thanks for the information and welcomes. If I have any more WW2 questions, I certainly know where to come!

Chris
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Fortitude South - Sub "Operation Quicksilver"

In Operation Quicksilver the Allies created an entire fake army. FUSAG, the First United States Army Group, was largely fake except for its leader, General George Patton, some token units and a complete signals outfit sending made up traffic. Patton was unpopular with the Allied high command, but he was regarded by leaders on both sides as one of the Allies' best mechanized warfare experts. The Germans knew this and other "forces" were still facing them at Pas de Calais so the ruse even at this late stage was still working magnificently.

"The key event in the BODYGUARD plan was GARBO's (Double agent) message. This one message had a tremendous operational impact on the movement of German Panzer reinforcements in the critical few days after D-Day.

GARBO stated that he viewed it as a diversion, and the primary target was Pas de Calais.

At no point were the Germans fed false documents describing the invasion plans. Instead they were allowed to construct a misleading order of battle for the allied forces. To mount a massive invasion of Europe from England, military planners had little choice but to stage units around the country with those that would land first nearest to the embarkation point. By placing FUSAG in the south-east, German intelligence would (and did) deduce that the center of gravity of the invasion force was opposite Calais, the point on the French coast closest to England and therefore a likely landing point.

The Allies were able to easily judge the effectiveness of these strategies. ULTRA intelligence — that gained from the breaking of German codes and ciphers, such as the Enigma machine — was able to provide an indication of the German high command's responses to their actions. They maintained the pretense of FUSAG and other forces threatening Pas de Calais for some considerable time after D-Day. This was vital to the success of the Allied plan since it forced the Germans to keep most of their reserves bottled up waiting for an attack on Calais which never came, thereby allowing the Allies to maintain and build upon their marginal foothold in Normandy.

Originally, Fortitude South was to make the Germans believe that the fake invasion would take place four weeks after the true invasion. Once intelligence officers pointed out how unlikely this would be and how it would reveal the deception plan for what it really was, a ruse, it was decided that the dates would nearly coincide. This was daring, because success depended upon the time and place of the Normandy invasion remaining a secret from the Germans. The Germans would have a "window" in which they would know the invasion would take place.

This made it even more important that the enemy be misinformed about the nature and the place of the invasion, or invasions, as the Fortitude plan had outlined.

The first step was to "leak" plans of the invasions of Norway and Calais. This was done through the British secret services, as they had turned or co-opted many of the spies the Germans relied upon for information about England. Leaks through neutral diplomats with Axis sympathies also helped give the Germans the impression that Calais was the focus of the Allied strategy in the West.

No matter how reliable the Germans deemed this information, they would still want to confirm it. So the Allies made sure that when they looked for an army in southeast England, the jumping point for Calais, they found one. This deception was named "Operation Quicksilver." This was the largest, most elaborate, most carefully-planned, most vital, and most successful of all the Allied deception operations. It made full use of the years of experience gained in every branch of the deceptive art -- visual deception and misdirection, the deployment of dummy landing craft, aircraft, and paratroops, fake lighting schemes, radio deception, sonic devices, and ultimately a whole fictitious army group.

The Army they found was the First U.S. Army Group [FUSAG]. The Allies created a patch for the nonexistent First U.S. Army Group and leaked news that General George S. Patton Jr. would lead it. This fictitious force would be composed of the U.S. 14th Army and the 4th British Army. The American Fourteenth Army included XXXIII Corps (17th Division, 59th Division) and XXXVII Corps (25th Division, 11th Division, 48th Division), while the British 4th Army was composed of 2nd Corps (55th Division, 61st Division, 80th Division, 35th Division), 7th Corps (5th Division, 58th Division), and 2nd Airborne Division. With the exception of the British 55th, 61st and 35th Divisions, all of these formations were non-existent. This Order of Battle represents a snapshot in time. During Operation Fortitude changes were made in the composition of FUSAG in order to mislead German intelligence as to future Allied intentions. At various times Fourteenth Army included 2 Corps, 1 Armored Division, 5 Airborne Divisions, and 14 Infantry Divisions -- all of which were entirely fictitious -- along with 1 Airborne and 9 Infantry Divisions that had been activated but not actually raised at the time of the Normandy invasion.

The ghost divisions had elaborate stories woven around them in order to make their existence seem more plausible. Units were "recruited" from specific regions within the United States. Division patches were designed and ordered in sufficient numbers (perhaps to deceive Axis spies monitoring patch manufacturing in the United States, a potential source of troop strength information). Fictitious names of commanding officers were created. The Allies might even have given real soldiers the task of wearing the ghost division patches, in case uncontrolled enemy agents were in a position to report their existence.

 

Good post spidge. That describes very well what happened in FORTITUDE South

 

Chris, welcome aboard...you'll enjoy the boards!

Get your hands on "The Deceivers" and "Masquerade," two fine books on WW2 deception and camouflage efforts. They'll fill you in on many of the details.

Spidge, great post.

 

I've also heard it was called Operation Body Guard

Both names seem to fall into place...

Either way...

I hate all this BS that we tricked the Germans and if not for our brilliant deception tactics, Operation Overlord would have failed......

Plain and simple truth; the Germans didn't know... They had the entire French coast, Norway, the Balkans, etc. to defend.... the fact that they narrowed the invasion down to the Pas de Calais and the beaches of Normandy if it occured in France was a pretty good accomplishment on their part. All the Allies did was fortify the belief that the invasion would occur at the Pas de Calais......

Also, must not forget Garbo....

 

I've also heard it was called Operation Body Guard

Both names seem to fall into place...

During World War II, Operation Bodyguard was the overall Allied strategic deception plan in Europe for 1944, carried out as part of the build-up to the invasion of Normandy. The major objective of this plan was to lead the Germans to believe that the invasion of northwestern Europe would come later than was actually planned, and to threaten attacks at other locations than the true objective, including the Pas de Calais, the Balkans, southern France, Norway, and Soviet attacks in Bulgaria and northern Norway.
The name 'Bodyguard' was derived from a comment by Winston Churchill to Stalin at the Tehran Conference in 1943, saying, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
Roger Hesketh, who helped plan and carry out the operation while working at 'Ops B', the deception sector of SHAEF, recalled in his book the three main goals of Operation Bodyguard:

• To induce the German command to believe that the main assault and follow up will be in or east of the Pas de Calais, thereby encouraging the enemy to maintain or increase the strength of his air and ground forces and his fortifications there at the expense of other areas, particularly of the Caen area.
• To keep the enemy in doubt as to the date and the time of the actual assault.
• During and after the main assault to contain the largest possible German land and air forces in or east of the Pas de Calais for at least fourteen days.

Operation Bodyguard was divided into three main sub-operations: Operation Fortitude, which had both a North component (designed to lead the Germans to expect an invasion of Norway) and a South component, designed to lead them to expect an invasion at the Pas de Calais. The third main sub-operation was Operation Zeppelin, to indicate landings on Crete or Roumania. There were also numerous smaller operations.

Either way...
I hate all this BS that we tricked the Germans and if not for our brilliant deception tactics, Operation Overlord would have failed......


Tricked if you like however I prefer deceived and yes it did work and as for failing we will never know.

Don't forget that the deception plan was closely monitored. A false radio message here and there and the tracking of the Germans moving units to cover the intercept proved that they were listening and would fall for the whopper and that was Patton's make believe "Army".

Elaborate efforts were taken in order to deceive the Germans into thinking that a massive Allied force was concentrated in Kent - just opposite Pas de Calais. Command of the fake army (known as the US 1st Army Group) was given to General George S. Patton in order to lend validity to the Army Group. Radio traffic was faked, plywood and canvas installations were constructed, inflatable tanks and vehicles were used extensively in order to deceive the Germans. In all, the plan called Operation Fortitude, was considered a great success in keeping the German High Command guessing about where the real invasion would come from. It would be instrumental in causing the Germans to withhold units once D-Day began.

And another:
Operation Quicksilver (Sub operation of Fortitude South)

The key element of Fortitude South was Operation Quicksilver. It entailed the creation of the belief in German minds that the Allied force consisted of two army groups, 21st Army Group under Montgomery (the genuine Normandy invasion force), and 1st U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) (a fictitious force under General George Patton), positioned in southeastern England for a crossing at the Pas de Calais.
At no point were the Germans fed false documents describing the invasion plans. Instead they were allowed to construct a misleading order of battle for the allied forces. To mount a massive invasion of Europe from England, military planners had little choice but to stage units around the country with those that would land first nearest to the embarkation point. By placing FUSAG in the south-east, German intelligence would (and did) deduce that the center of gravity of the invasion force was opposite Calais, the point on the French coast closest to England and therefore a likely landing point.
In order to facilitate this deception additional buildings were constructed; dummy vehicles and landing craft were placed around possible embarkation points. A huge amount of false radio traffic was transmitted, commensurate with a force of that size.
A deception of such a size required input from many organisations, including MI5, MI6, SHAEF via Ops B, and the armed services. Information from the various deception agencies was organized by and channeled through the London Controlling Section under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel John Bevan.

Also, must not forget Garbo....

I assure you we have not forgotten (Juan Pujol García) or Brutus and have discussed their "turning" previously in detail.

Garbo received an Iron Cross from the Germans and an MBE from Britain. Whether or not their efforts were effective as is written, is up for grabs however put it all together and it was a masterstroke of deception and undoubtedly saved lives.

 

Look von Poop. Long story short, the Germans had no idea where the invasion was coming... they only assumed the Pas de Calais b/c if they were in the same position that's the area they'd chose.

Yes, it was a pretty deception plan and etc. but I wouldn't give the Allies sooooo much credit.

The Germans had their own deceptions, you all seem to neglect this. Operation Harpune (and something else, can't remember; Wikipedia has it..) prior to Op. Barbarossa

 

Are you myra or Mr.Ya?

 

lol Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I'm 'scolding' you.

And it's mrya; short for Me-Reg.....You-Anoob

Long story.... I used to post at IGN.com

 

Thanks for explaining my question was out of order

 

lol don't worry about it.