Twelfth Army (United Kingdom) - 1943: Middle East

1943: Middle East

A British Twelfth Army was initially invented by 'A' Force as part as the deception plan for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The Western Allies attempted to convince the Germans that their main effort during 1943 would be to land the Twelfth Army in Greece and then advance into the eastern Balkans during the early part of the summer of 1943 with the aim of bringing Turkey into the war and then linking up with the Soviet Red Army. The deception plan attempted to convince the Germans that this army had twelve divisions under its control and was located in Egypt. The army's formation insignia was a trained seal balancing on its nose a terrestrial globe showing the Eastern Hemisphere, black on a white background. The insignia was supposed to symbolize an amphibious creature treating the whole world as its own.