Overlord and invasion decoy

Did they ever think of a decoy invasion plus invasion elsewhere for the Overlord in 1944?

Thanx for any information!

 

Sure they did! but you must have heard about the First United States Army group "FSUSAG" that was commanded by Gen Patton......And never existed? All prior to D Day, If you are not aware? I can tell you all about it.
Sapper

 

Sapper's absolutely correct - there was a massive deception plan pre-D Day which was all part of 'Operation Fortitude'.

Several books have been written about it & a quick Google of 'Operation Fortitude' will bring up some good sites.....

 

Wonderful stuff. radio vans drivng around the country sending out messages that a army group would use. Blown up rubber tanks moved about. Cardboard planes. Lts of vehicalesdriving over the grass so that the wheel tracks would show up in the morning dew.
Amd he bought it... Hook, line, and sinker!
I was in that Dover area pre invasion.
Sapper

 

The main two deception operations were Taxable and Glimmer. These were the D-Day operational deceptions aimed at the Pas de Calais area that Fortitude was leading up to.

Taxable was a spoof using motor launches towing barrage balloons and using deception repeaters that made the boats look much larger on radar. When they approached the coast they also played recordings of ships dropping anchor, fleet noises, etc to further reinforce the idea that there was a fleet off-shore.

Glimmer was flown by the RAF using Lancaster bombers that dropped massive quantities of chaff and used radar jamming to make them appear like a large naval and air armada. The planes were trained to fly a 'race track' course that approached the French coast at about 8 knots. Above the Glimmer boats, the combination looked like a huge fleet. The boats and aircraft even allowed for some gaps in the jamming and chaff to make individual targets appear just as could be expected with a real fleet.

This operation was tested on the Western coast of England prior to it being carried out on D-Day. The radar operators in the area were not informed of the operation and a near panic ensued among them when they saw this 'fleet' approaching.
For the Germans, the approach was seen and passed up the chain of command with each station's report reinforcing the notion that a fleet was approaching. This was part of the reason for Hitler's delay in releasing units in the Calais area. Surprisingly, it would seem that no one on the German side thought to send out an aircraft or ship to check the reports out first hand! It certainly cost the Germans.

 

Deception. On two occasions, I had the dubious pleasure of penetrating deep into enemy territory.
The first was near Vire in Normandy.
The second one was to get to the banks of the river Maas in Holland... with an army issue gramophone, and play little plastic type disks of men preparimg to build a bridge. It had men talking, the clanking of metal, and the sound of transport.
All bloody night long we lay in this stinking Dutch mud. frozen to the marrow. stiff as boards.
I would not talk about it......It was to "Way Out" but then, I found that there were others doing the same thing.
Sapper

 

In fact, 'Taxable' was flown by the Lancasters of 617 Squadron ( the Dam Busters ) whilst 'Glimmer' was flown by Short Stirlings of 218 Squadron.

See :

http://www.raf.mod.uk/dday/timeline_june5.html

 

I read a magizane article years ago that told all about the aircraft deceptions but it said that a tacticle airgroup did not know about it and attacked the German radar units that would have seen the fake attack.

I will try to find the article in my "archives".

There was a thread in the forums also several years ago but I don't remember what it was under.

 

Wasn’t there another fake army like Patton's based in Northern England giving out false information about an invasion of Norway. The object was of cause to keep the German troops stationed there and not to move when the real D-Day got under way.

 

Just to answer myself after watching a documentary the answer is yes, Fortitude North was a deception to make it look like we were planning a Norway invasion. And of course Patton's fake army was Fortitude South.

 

OK!

Thanx alot for great answers, gentlemen!!

 

Apologies for bumping a very old thread, but stumbled across something rather interesting. In Thomas Holt's "The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War it is stated that the US XXXVII Corps (which formed part of the US 14th Army) was never issued with an insigna. However in St Ermines Press edition of Roger Heskeths report on Operation Fortitude ("Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign") there is the following message sent by agent BRUTUS on the 24th of June 1944:

(Pg 468)

This does not appear to have originated with the US Quartermasters corps, was it ever issued as a patch?