During World War II the Allied nations conducted a number of military deception operations against Axis, it was the first time that deception had been so widely used in modern warfare.
Notional attack between Tripoli and Benghazi to pressure Rommel[1]
Advocate
North Africa
To cover a plan to route Rommel following Operation Crusader, Advocate seeded the story that the Allies intended to solidify their defences in the Middle East[1]
In June 1944 the Allies conducted a full-scale invasion of occupied France, landing on the beaches of Normandy. During the build up to the invasion they implemented a broad strategic deception, codenamed Bodyguard. The operation was intended to confuse German commanders as to the exact location, scale and timing of any attack. Bodyguard was implemented via a number of constituent plans (many of which were broken down further into small operations) each of which threatened an invasion in different parts of Western Europe and the Mediterranean coast. The largest sub-plan was Fortitude South, which involved promoting the existence of a large fictional Army Group (the First United States Army Group or FUSAG). FUSAG were supposedly staged in South East England, with their objective being the Calais region. Bodyguard is considered to have been successful. It is credited both with helping with the surprise of the Normandy landings, and for detaining crucial German forces in the Calais region several weeks of the campaign.
James' appearance excited the German abwehr, but no firm conclusions on the Generals supposed presence in the North African theatre were drawn in German high command.
Fictional invasions aimed at Norway (North) and Calais (South). Fortitude South revolved around the large field army, FUSAG.
Documents obtained after the war suggest German belief in all of the FUSAG units. And crucial forces were detained in the Calais region following the landings in Normandy
Fictional invasion thread agains the Bay of Biscay. Implemented twice, first in support of D-Day and later in support of Operation Dragoon.
The region was an unlikely target and documents recovered after the war noted that German high command considered Ironside to be "cover operations of small caliber"[3]
