Books

Operation Fortitude

The Greatest Hoax Of The Second World War

Operation Fortitude was the ingenious web of deception spun by the Allies to mislead the Nazis as to how and where the D-Day landings were to be mounted.

The story of how this web was woven is one of intrigue, personal drama, ground-breaking techniques, internal resistance, and good fortune. It is a tale of double agents, black radio broadcasts, phantom armies, ‘Ultra’ decrypts, and dummy parachute drops. These diverse tactics were intended to come together to create a single narrative so compelling that it would convince Adolf Hitler of its authenticity.

Operation Fortitude was intended to create the false impression that the Normandy landings were merely a feint to disguise a larger forthcoming invasion in the Pas de Calais. In other words, the success of D-Day – the beginning of the end of the Second World War – was made possible by the efforts of men and women who were not present on the Normandy beaches.

Men such as Juan Pujol, a Spanish double-agent (code-name GARBO) who sent hundreds of wireless messages from London to Madrid in the build-up to D-Day relaying supposed intelligence from his fictitious spy network. This allowed the enemy to conclude mistakenly that a great invasion force was congregating in south-east England.

Using first hand sources from a wide range of archives, government documents, letters and memos Operation Fortitude builds a picture of an extraordinary cast of characters who came together, employing brilliant and eccentric methods, to ensure the success of the D-Day invasions.