Operation Fortitude

The astonishing story of the spy network--and the curious collection of spies and counter-spies--that fooled the Nazis and safeguarded D-Day Meet the improbable cast of characters who came together to create an underground world of fakery and artifice . . . characters predisposed to fantasy and melodrama, others who grew unable to separate the real from the imaginary, and others still whostubbornly brought their own certainty with them. It was a world in which the Germans wanted to believe. D-Day would never have been the success it was without Operation Fortitude. Convincing the German High Command that the Allied landings would occur more than 230 miles away in the Pas de Calais, Fortitude was an ingenious deception that drew attention away from the real invasion force. Using a complex setup of double agents, fake radio broadcasts, dummy invasion craft, and imaginary troops, Fortitude was so convincing that Hitler was reluctant to believe reports of the real D-Day invasion. Operation Fortitude tells the thrilling tale of the exploits of those men and women who ensured that D-Day was the pivotal turning point of the Second World War.