The Laughing Wolf

D-Day + 60 Years: The Maskirova

This post is part of Blackfive, the Paratrooper of Love's D-Day Blogburst Armada. Please go check out all the wonderful posts being done as a part of this effort. Also, take the time to thank Blackfive for coming up with this idea and making it a reality. And thanks to Greyhawk for the great graphic!

Any good deception plan operates on several levels and through as many channels as possible. Two crucial parts to the D-Day plan were: General George Patton and false intelligence done as part of Fortitude/Fortitude South

NOTE: The information previously included on The Man Who Never Was has been removed because it may be in error. The link provided indicates that this was done for the Sicily campaign and not D-Day. There are other citations, less authoritative, that indicate it was done for D-Day as a part of Fortitude/Fortitude South. As I am unable at this time to find my original citation for D-Day, I have removed the material and ammended the post in order to remove/avoid error.

Deception plans take time, planning, and a lot of preparation. Indeed, the preparation phase requires years, both to gather information on the enemy, and to lay the foundation for the operation. Indeed, the preparations may even be started long before a specific need is identified. Such was the case with the deception operations surrounding D-Day.

The work for D-Day actually began in the late 1930s, and began hitting its stride around 1940. Penetration of German codes allowed the British, and later the Allies, to read the mail as it were. This not only provided operational intelligence, but also insight into German perceptions on people and events. This applied not only to major military and political figures, but also to sources of intelligence.

As Nazi agents were identified through various means, they were usually either turned or controlled. In addition, false agents were planted on German intelligence, and one of the hallmarks of these operations were the establishment of extensive, and entirely fictitious, espionage networks in England. What this allowed the Allies to do was to feed information through a number of agents, and monitor how that information was received in Berlin and field commands. By submitting accurate, timely, and harmless information; accurate but just late; and, false but believable information, counter-intelligence types were able to groom agents and false agents with the Germans, so that they became golden for the Nazis.

These agents became very trusted, and the Nazi high command, military and political, came to trust them implicitly. It is important to realize that these agents often worked for different organizations: some were army intelligence, some naval, some Gestapo, and others worked for yet different organizations. This was a key element to the deception plan. Because these agents were technically independent, the information they got was compared against each other. In this way, if several agents or networks reported the same thing, and that thing checked out other ways, it was believable. It also allowed the Allies to seed information to Berlin. What is done in this process is that one agent would send some bit of information that by itself was nothing, and others would be fed similar bits. When all these bits came together in Berlin, they formed a picture. This still is the heart of a lot of good intelligence work: connecting the dots. In this case, however, it meant that a false picture could be sent and the reaction to it monitored.

Doing all this does indeed take a lot of time and effort. Yet, good counter-intelligence does it as a matter of course even when a major operation or need is not yet identified. Properly done, this groundwork can be used multiple times for multiple projects. Small actions can be encouraged or diverted; disinformation presented; and, major operations supported.

There were two main secrets to be kept in 1944: where and when. If you know where, you can fortify and reinforce. If you know when, you can put everyone on the ready, move troops around, and generally be prepared to make life hell for the invader. In this case, the Germans were well on the way to completing their Atlantic Wall on the coast of France, which made life difficult for planners. Yet, because hints had already been leaked, they were concentrating on the more “obvious” landing zones where France and England were in close proximity. Most reserve troops were in that region as well. This was a state of affairs the Allies wanted to encourage, so three major efforts were initiated.

The first is what I call Operation Patton. From reading the mail, it was known that the Germans (among others) considered General Patton to be the best and most dangerous battlefield commander the Allies possessed. Therefore, they felt that he would lead any invasion and paid very close attention to him and his movements.

Ruthlessness is a necessary component of warfare, and in this case it manifested on several levels. When General Patton slapped the soldier, it gave high command a tremendous opportunity, and they seized it with both hands. Patton was relieved of his command, and sent essentially on a tour around the Eastern end of the Mediterranean. The panic this caused German high command is touched on in the movie a bit, and it was a panic. Units were pulled out of Italy and France to reinforce Greece and elsewhere, which also resulted in pulling more units out of France to help stem the advance in Italy. It also allowed the counter-intelligence agents to get a final read and tweak some plans.

Patton was then smuggled into England, and German intelligence agents were then allowed to “discover” is presence. This discovery quickly led to others, including that Patton would command an army group once again that was tasked with heading up the invasion of Europe. The Germans quickly dubbed it Army Group Patton, and put a large amount of resources to work finding out everything possible. Units were moved into the Pas de Calais area to monitor the radio traffic that could be picked up. Planes flew dedicated reconnaissance missions to photograph encampments and equipment. Agents skulked around the outskirts of the area, and in the process the Germans developed a myopic gaze, never realizing that their fixation was a thing of rubber, air, wood, and paper.

Contrary to Hollywood, Patton was well aware that he was part of a deception plan. He knew that he would command the Third Army at some point in the future, and put in time and effort in preparing it. Doing this took a lot of skill, and made full use of his personality. Visits to his public army group were made with sirens blaring and all the showmanship that had attended his moves in North Africa and Sicily. They were as loud, splashy, and covered by reporters as possible. Unknown to most everyone, however, was the fact that Patton would sneak quietly away to do his work with Third Army. Indeed, the watchword from him was “I am not here” and he made it stick.

Yet, there were cracks in the mask and that is where the vast network of real and planted agents came into play. Information was carefully fed to and through them to buttress the mask and hide the cracks. Bits and pieces flowed through the different channels to accomplish this bit of illusion. Think of it as makeup on the mask.

Yet and still, something more was needed. The Allies were well aware that they were building a false picture and how it was being done. Given that we were doing it to them, there is a legitimate concern that they might be doing it to us too. This is a strong concern within intelligence/counter-intelligence circles to this day, so everyone goes looking for corroborating evidence that is independent of all known networks.

As much such information as possible was put forward in an operation known as Fortitude (listed as Fortitude South in some sources) which did its best to hide the cracks. The work here has been discussed in books such as Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign and Bodyguard of Lies. Many daring, dangerous, and brilliant actions -- large and small -- were undertaken for the operation. Their work was extremely successful.

D-Day came, and the troops went ashore. For all its size and complexity it was a tenuous thing who’s success was in doubt. Patton stood fast and he and his “army” were quite noisy. The real and fake agents and networks reported that Normandy was just a feint, and that Patton would make the real invasion at the Pas de Calais once troops had been drawn off to Normandy. Troops and tanks stayed where they were, and the small beachhead grew. For several weeks the issue was in doubt, and a determined counter-attack could have been successful. For several weeks, the maskirova was played for all it was worth, even at the risk of burning agents and networks. The tanks and troops stayed put, and the Allies gained the time they needed to turn a beachhead into a bridgehead. By the time the tanks moved, it was too late. The Allies were there to stay.

One of the ironies of the situation was that General Patton died never knowing the full extent of what he had done. He knew he was part of a deception, but did not know a lot more than that. He never knew the esteem in which he was held by the enemy, or even by those above him. To maintain the maskirova, he was never told the big picture, and he died before even the first parts of it were revealed.

The efforts by General Patton, the manipulation of Patton, the false information networks, and a message delivered by a man who was never there made the invasion possible, and kept it from being swept back into the sea. In all probability, thousands of lives were saved in the process. As we remember D-Day, let us also remember that not all fought on the beaches. Remember those who toiled and battled in anonymity to present a mask upon which the enemy fixated. For without their efforts, the longest day might have been even longer, bloodier, and a failure.

-30-

Additional Entries In The Blogburst Armada:
Joe Katzman (Blackfive's favorite Cannuck) at Winds of Change covers one of my parts of D-Day - The Canadians at Juno. The Canadians had some of the toughest fighting ahead of them on Juno Beach, and their objective was to stop the Germans from targeting the Americans on Omaha Beach. They performed brilliantly on June 6th, driving deeper into France than any other landing - and engaging the 21st Panzer before it could crush the American beachhead at Omaha. This is the story of one of the Canadians in Juno's first wave: Jim Wilkins, B Company, The Queen's Own Rifles. Includes a map and photo.

Chap of Chapomatic has written a post about the X-Craft - a small submarine that the Royal Navy used during the invasion and the impact it has on Chap's job today in the US Navy.

Sgt. Hook has a post about the valiant Coast Guard coxwains who were part of the landing. A Coast Guard coxswain on an LCVP later remarked, "My eyes were glued to the boat coming in next to ours, and on the water in between, boiling with bullets from hidden shore emplacements, like a mud puddle in a hailstorm. It seemed impossible that we could make it in without being riddled."

Grim Beorn of Grim's Hall has written about the Scot's role in the Invasion of Normandy. Grim adds in an email, "Since BBC Scotland has decided not to do a D-Day memorial for the Scots who fought there, we who have not forgotten will try."

Winds of Change guest blogger J.K.L. has a piece about the deceptions that were launched to keep the Germans guessing. Imagine preparing to land more than 1,000,000 men on 50 miles of beach. There will be more than 2,700 ships, 2,500 landing craft and 700 warships. Preparations for an assault on this scale couldn't be hidden or kept totally secret, so what could be done protect the identity of the actual target and confuse the enemy?

Dennis Morehouse of Fix Bayonetts has a post - Rescue at Normandy-The Matchstick Fleet - which tells the tale of the Coast Guard's 400 rescues during the D-Day landing.

Serenity has a post about the personal accounts of the heroes of D-Day. She provides pictures and links to more information about them.

Mammamontezz has written a poem - "Red Surf" - that'll be one of the most heartfelt poems you've read in a long, long time.

Charlie of Budaechigae has a post about one of the most interesting characters of the war - a Korean who was conscripted into the Japanese Army, captured by the Russians, conscripted into the Red Army, captured by the Germans, forced to defend portion of Utah Beach, and captured by the US Forces.

Dogtulosba Ink. has an examination of the German Fortress Europe defenses from a US Army Engineer perspective. He'll have more later on what our Engineers did to breech those defenses.

Teresa of Technicalities posts about the news media reaction to D-Day. As Teresa writes, "To those waiting at home it was not a day for rejoicing, it was a day for prayer, hope, fear, and contemplation."

Patti of Iraq War News - and who is related to George Patton - provides memories of the Patton family about one of General Patton's aides. For those who have seen the movie Patton, you'll instantly know which aide is remembered.

Deb from Marine Corps Moms has a great post (titled appropriately enough) - Home Front. As the allied forces fought for victory on the beaches of Normandy, those at home waited, watched, and worried. The home front was a vital part of the war effort and everyone was urged to contribute. Are things different today? Yes and no. The home front is still a vital part of the war effort and everyone can contribute.

Ith of Absinthe and Cookies has a really interesting post about the brave women of Britain's Special Operation Executive who risked torture and death at the hands of the Nazis collecting vital intelligence for the Allies in occupied Europe.

Greyhawk of the Mudville Gazette is forecasting the weather and will be talking of the war soon.

Jennifer of Jennifer's History and Stuff has a series about what life in France was like before the invasion - French History: The Occupation. Jennifer writes, "...the Occupation is the most-studied period of French history."

Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping has written about The
awful stakes of D-Day: The alternate history of June 6, 1944 is too terrible to contemplate. He describes D-Day as one of the "pivot days of human history."

Eric the Straight White Guy has a post (his words, not mine) about "...a few jarheads that were present during the landing on Normandy."

John Cole of Balloon Juice writes about the men who fought in D-Day from the small town of Bedford, Virginia. His post has pictures, maps, and accounts of the Virginians.

Harvey of Bad Example (a former Sailor) has a post about the humor of the day. Why do a post about the humor of WWII and D-Day? According to Harv, "Because back during the early 40's, Americans didn't fear their enemies. They made fun of them."

Vox of Vox Popoli writes of the memories of war and how those of us of later generations remember their sacrifices.

Emigre with a Digital Cluebat offers up a poem dedicated to those who made the ultimate sacrifice on D-Day.

David of Airborne Combat Engineer has a post about the role of the Airborne Forces (Paratroopers and Gliders) in Operation Overlord.

Paul at Iraq War News has a photo-filled post about Combat Photographers.

Drill
Sergeant Rob of An American Soldier takes a look at the way the soldiers of Operation Overlord trained for war, from Basic Training to the Devon Coast in England prior to the invasion. And a look at how it parallels some of the training we conduct today, including how little the basics have changed over the last sixty years.

Michael at The Common Virtue has an interesting post about the Enigma machine. Captured German communications played a key role in defeating the Axis powers. The German military used the Enigma machine, a typewritter-like device, to code transmissions. With the help of captured Enigma machines, the German codes were broken and the Allied nations were able to monitor German troop movements and supply routes. These same codes lead to information, and disinformation, in conjuction with Operation Overlord on D-Day.

Andrew Olmstead has a post about the training our troops underwent for preparation for landing at Normandy. He includes the high price some training excercises incurred and their impact on D-Day.

Hans Nyberg has some really cool panorama photo shots of the D-Day locations. Check out the Pointe du Hoc to see how it must have looked to the Army Rangers.
There is also the Pegasus Bridge, St. Mere Eglise, and the HMS Belfast.

Theif's Den has a post and a radio blog with music from today and from the D-Day era...

Juliette of Baldilocks has posted President Reagan's speech atop the cliffs of the Pointe du Hoc.

Sarah of Trying to Grok has written about perceptions of D-Day by German students and thanks Joe and Tommy.

Cool Blue Blog has a post about Omaha Beach and the USS Arkansas (his father served aboard the Arkansas).

Paul at Sanity's Edge has a post about the Bangalore torpedoes and a link to the Reed Interview.

OkieMinnie Me has a post about the Minnesota Air Wing's role in D-Day (the same Air Wing that her husband serves in today).

Thanks to Blackfive for the links!