Operation Fortitude - Masters of Deception

Today is the anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy Invasion during World War II.

Many people know of Operation Fortitude. It was the deception operation that sucessfully kept thousands upon thousands of German tanks, vehicles, and troops from being sent to counter the Normandy landing. Operation Fortitude used dummy weapons and equipment (to fool German reconaissance planes) and fake radio traffic to at least partly convince the Germans that the Allies would invade at the Pais de Calais (the shortest route across the English Channel from Britain to France). As bad as D-Day was in terms of Allied casualties, imagine the difference had Operation Fortitude not worked.

A lesser known component of Fortitude was Fortitude North. This deception was an attempt to make the Germans think the invasion would come in Norway. This link from the BBC is an account from a British soldier that was part of Fortitude North.

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