Am I right in thinking that there's no consensus about where the codeword 'Bigot' came from to designate the extremely sensitive maps and orders relating to Neptune/Overlord? Yesterday I was reading one of the translations of French sources that the planners had done as they started to sift through all the potential sources of intelligence about Normandy. One phrase jumped out at me: "In this region, where M. Lecornu saw one Synclinal, M. Bigot distinguishes two ..." The date attached to this translation is February 1944, so the planning process would already have been underway for some time by then and the codeword already in use. But could they have come across it before and decided to use it? 'Monsieur Bigot' was probably Aléxandre Bigot, a Normandy-based geologist who was still alive during the Second World War (he lived from 1863 to 1953). A quick Google (always risky!) suggests that before the war he produced some maps of Normandy and that some of these were the historic ones that ISTD etc used to help compile their Normandy maps. Just trying to think through the possibility in my head: It would be one hell of a security risk, surely? Were any German with knowledge of geology to see the name, it might point them directly towards Normandy. On the other hand, if Germans have got to hear 'Bigot', security is probably blown anyway. It's not impossible to imagine some sort of early 'Can you produce a new Bigot map?' request within ISTD that maybe then took on a life of its own. (This is where you tell me that the origin of the use of the word as a codeword is already known ...) Any thoughts/reactions?
Had a sudden thought that I should look in a few books. I see that in Sand and Steel, Peter Caddick-Adams says that it was a reversal of something from Operation Torch: He says that the "cover story" for the troop convoys that were bound for North Africa was that they were sailing "To Gib" as in "To Gibraltar", and that Bigot is just a reversal of this.
Does he provide a source for this, though? It could be true but it also sounds like one of those after the fact explanations.
Chris, BIGOT was a codeword that was in use much earlier than 1944. It was definitely used for Op AVALANCHE in September 1943. I think I’ve seen it used earlier than that as well. Basically it meant collective information about military operations that would reveal dates of attacks, locations, orders of battle, etc. Regards Tom
Ah, if it applied to other operations in different geographical areas, too, then it must just be a coincidence. Thank you!
I have seen it rendered somewhere as 'British Invasion [of] German Occupied Territory', for what it's worth.
Hi Rob, Here is a good example of Churchill using "BIGOT" in September 1943, taken from the relevant volume of the Churchill War Papers: p.82 Winston S. Churchill to General Sir Harold Alexander Prime Minister’s Personal Telegram T.1298/3 [‘Received as Welfare 654’] (Churchill Papers, 20/117) 8 September 1943 Most Immediate Bigot Personal and Most Secret No. 67047 Please give me my Zip for ‘Avalanche’. Now I just need to remember what he meant by "Zip". I think it was confirmation that the operation had gone ahead. Regards Tom
Someone also messaged me with an example of it being used pre Torch, which suggests the account of it being 'Togib' in reverse is maybe a bit erroneous.
