Operation Fortitude - Means

Means

It was initially envisioned that deception would occur through five main channels:

1. Physical deception: to mislead the enemy with nonexistent units through fake infrastructure and equipment, such as dummy landing craft, dummy airfields, and decoy lighting.
2. Controlled leaks of information through diplomatic channels, which might be passed on via neutral countries to the Germans.
3. Wireless traffic: To mislead the enemy, wireless traffic was created to simulate actual units
4. Use of German agents controlled by the Allies through the Double Cross System to send false information to the German intelligence services
5. Public presence of notable staff associated with phantom groups, such as FUSAG (First U.S. Army Group), most notably the well-known US general George S. Patton.

Contrary to popular belief, there was NO use of inflatable tanks, or other decoy equipment as part of Fortitude, with the exception of Dummy landing craft and dummy aircraft. The inflatable tanks, artillery, and trucks were only used on the continent as part of operational and tactical deceptions. It is thought that the Army encouraged the idea that these dummies were used to draw attention away from some of the other means of deception, such as turned agents. This info can be found in the plans for Operation Fortitude.

During the course of Fortitude, the almost complete lack of German aerial reconnaissance, together with the absence of uncontrolled German agents in Britain, came to make physical deception almost irrelevant. The unreliability of the "diplomatic leaks" resulted in their discontinuance. The majority of deception was carried out by means of false wireless traffic and through German double agents. The latter proved to be by far the most significant.

In fact, Fortitude was so successful that Adolf Hitler regarded the Normandy invasion as a feint: he kept his Panzer units where he expected an attack and away from Normandy, until the battle was decided in Normandy.