Prior to the D-Day invasion, the last mission to France was at Dunkirk and troops became trapped; it was viewed a success only in that more troops were rescued than expected due to assistance from personal vessels aiding in the effort but it was, in fact, a rescue mission - Operation Dynamo.
Knowing how Dunkirk turned out, the next move to make it onto French soil was critically important. Operation Overlord, a massive and ultimately successful effort for the allies to gain footing on mainland Europe, was being planned (the D-Day invasion) and it is believed it would have been a devastating endeavor to the allies if it weren't for many preemptive distractive efforts:
-Operation Bodyguard (The idea to implement deceptions prior to D-Day)
-Operation Starkey (a false allied amphibious invasion into the Boulogne area, in North France)
-Operation Wadham (A false attack on Brest)
-Operation Tindall (A false army believed to attack Norway)
-Operation Fortitude (a fake army, when viewed from the sky, at Dover)
...as well as other subplan diversions, like Quicksilver.
All of these were clever deceptive distractions and diversions. 5 days before the Normandy invasion, actors, a fake army (wood soldiers, inflatable tanks, etc), fake aerial attacks of the false invasion locations and false broadcasts (using intercepted German communications to their advantage) fooled the German leader, and his spies, into moving many troops from the Atlantic Wall at Normandy and mostly reinforcing Pas de Calais, and this was because they made Hitler believe General Patton would be handling the invasion at Pas de Calais from Dover.
While there were losses at the beaches of Normandy, it is believed these would have been much worse if the German troops manning the area near Normandy remained and they were only relocated as a result of these clever schemes and diversions.
Let's remember D-Day, most definitely, but let's also recall, remember and teach younger people about these many other efforts that made the D-Day invasions successful, and, this isn't all of them.
#dday #normandyinvasion #operationoverlord #operationbodyguard #operationfortitude #operationstarkey #operationwadham #operationtindall #operationquicksilver #departmentofdefense #alliedtroops #military #june61944
On this day, we remember with gratitude all those who courageously fought for peace and liberty in the Battle of Normandy.
Salute to our heroes.!!!