Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign
by Roger Hesketh, Nigel West
Publisher: Overlook Press, ThePages: 513
Hardcover
ISBN: 9781585670758
Overview of Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign
Behind the astonishing success of D-Day was the most sophisticated deception scheme ever devised. Its code name was Fortitude, and its objective was to persuade the enemy that the long-awaited landings would take place in the Pas-de-Calais, and that any attack in Normandy would be nothing more than a diversionary feint that could be safely ignored. The Nazis relied on aerial reconnaissance, wireless intercepts, news from London based diplomats, and reports from the Abwehrâs extensive network of agents to predict the time and place of the Allied offensive, and much of this information was helpfully supplied by Roger Heskethâs team of deception specialists, who coordinated the most complex conjuring trick of the century.Now, for the first time, the classified official history of the entire operation, written by Roger Hesketh as Allied counter-intelligence experts were gathering the evidence of what had been accomplished in early 1945, has been declassified and released. In Fortitude the intricate details of this fantastic diversionary schemeâreplete with hundreds of bogus agent reports, an entire U.S. Army Group that did not truly exist, false radio signals, and inflatable tanksâare disclosed with the type of immediacy that can only come from first-hand material.
Synopsis of Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign
Behind the astonishing success of D-Day was the most sophisticated deception scheme ever devised. Its code name was Fortitude, and its objective was to persuade the enemy that the long-awaited landings would take place in the Pas-de-Calais, and that any attack in Normandy would be nothing more than a diversionary feint that could be safely ignored. The Nazis relied on aerial reconnaissance, wireless intercepts, news from London based diplomats, and reports from the Abwehr s extensive network of agents to predict the time and place of the Allied offensive, and much of this information was helpfully supplied by Roger Hesketh s team of deception specialists, who coordinated the most complex conjuring trick of the century.
Now, for the first time, the classified official history of the entire operation, written by Roger Hesketh as Allied counter-intelligence experts were gathering the evidence of what had been accomplished in early 1945, has been declassified and released. In Fortitude the intricate details of this fantastic diversionary scheme—replete with hundreds of bogus agent reports, an entire U.S. Army Group that did not truly exist, false radio signals, and inflatable tanks—are disclosed with the type of immediacy that can only come from first-hand material.
Foreign Affairs - Eliot A. Cohen
Nothing less than the official history of the D-Day deception campaign...a superbly written insider's account.
Editorials
Alan Gropman
An ourtstanding history of the most successful deception campaign in history...a must read.âThe Washington Times
Eliot A. Cohen
Nothing less than the official history of the D-Day deception campaign...a superbly written insider's account.âForeign Affairs
Times London
An authentic study,by a fully informed expert,of a subject once deadly secret.Publishers Weekly -
Written at war's end as an internal British government counterintelligence report (Hesketh died in 1987), the manuscript of this book was later used as the initially uncredited source for Sefton Delmer's bestselling novel The Counterfeit Spy in the early '70s. Its first full publication in England last year was met with reviews stressing its cultural importance; its release here makes it a rare prize for Stateside historians and buffs. As WWII picked up steam in Europe, military planners on both sides of the conflict recognized that the Allies would inevitably launch an amphibious attack on the coast of France; the only question was when and where. The Normandy landing, called Operation Overlord, is one of the legendary success stories of modern warfare. Less known are the enormous lengths to which Allied planners went to keep the details of the massive operation secret, and to put the Axis off the scent. Now, more than 50 years after the fact, comes Hesketh's firsthand account of the disguise, code-named Fortitude, orchestrated by Hesketh himself. Peopled with secret operatives and stocked with inflatable tanks, phony agent reports and the infamous and brilliantly conceived feint of a U.S. Army group that never existed, Hesketh's account beautifully and systematically illustrates how his force convinced Hitler that the Allied invasion would take place not at Normandy but at the Pas de Calais. Hesketh, who was a lawyer before the war and an MP after, writes with careful grace, but acronyms do crowd many pages. Some generalists will be overwhelmed, but this is a feast for literate strategy buffs of any war or conflict. 7 b&w photos, 15 maps, 12 charts. Military Book Club alternate selection. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
Fortitude was the codename of the Allied operation to deceive the German High Command into thinking that the 1944 invasion of Western Europe (Operation Overlord) would happen someplace other than Normandy. In his introduction, espionage writer Nigel West states that this was the most successful deception plan ever executed. The author, a former member of Parliament who died in 1987, led the branch charged with carefully leaking selected information calculated to mislead the enemy and forestall the movement of enemy troops to the invasion area. Published last year in Great Britain, this reprint of his official classified postwar report is filled with operational details that relate the various problems his branch faced, how real and fictitious Allied military units had to be coordinated--often using phony reports written by fictitious agents and even bogus army units--and how Hitler was out-thought in the ultimate mind game. As primary source material, it can supplement Anthony Cave Brown's magnificent Bodyguard of Lies (1975. o.p.) and William B. Breuer's Hoodwinking Hitler: The Normandy Deception (Praeger, 1993). Suitable for academic and large public libraries.--Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glenn Ellyn, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Receive unbeatable book deals in your favorite fiction or non-fiction genres. Our daily emails are packed with new and bestselling authors you will love!
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