Operation Fortitude

My husband lost this book years ago and was recently mentioning it. So, I quickly came on Amazon, found it and it arrived the next day. My husband is over the moon and has read it twice since receiving it.

I am a highschooler currently writing a 12 page term paper on this very subject, the deception tactics of world war 2. This book is very well researched with great details and had just about everything I needed. It even inludes a section of relevant pictures and documents of the era about the section, although I wish it had more of this, the book itself is great. Definitely worth a read either just for pleasure or for research

For anyone who enjoys the WW2 period in history and, in particular, the highly imaginative and often quite lethal work of the intelligence services, this is well worth reading, although I have read more enthralling books on the same subject.That said, I recommend this one.

The book is good. It is a bit long winded getting up to D-Day itself and the recruitment of the agents has been donebetter in other books. I would recommend it though for anyone interested in the subject.

This is the story of the Allied effort to persude Germany that the major European invasion was to occur in the geographically closest point of mainland Europe and to many the most obvious, namely the area of and around Calais. In fact, as is now well-known, the chosen location was that of Normandy which, although more distant, offered several logistical advantages.The deception was complex and involved many agents planting misinformation over time, creating fake armies and air forces and a huge variety of other schemes over a period of a year or more. Bit-by-bit and day-by-day something new was added to the pile until Germany was totally convinced that Calais was to be used. Heavy bombing of strategic sites around Calais was undertaken but about as many similar locations around Normandy and elsewhere were planned and undertaken, sufficient to suggest a random targeting without necessarily disclosing the truth.Even when the landings were taking place, Germany was so convinced that they were a ploy and fake that they did not react for several days, by which time Allied forces were many miles inland and advancing, and the beach-head was strong and reinforced daily. Germany's retreat had begun and the eventual outcome all but guaranteed at a very early date.The story has been told many times, in many forms and by many authors. This book's author has had a number of careers including some time spent as a barrister and later as an actor. Also a TV historian, he has written other books on WW1 and WW2.The book is very easy to read and not overly detailed. Some of the better-known Operations and ideas are included but some have been excluded, not because they were unimportant but probably for reasons of space. The book offers the reader an insight into events leading up to D-Day and just how much needed to be planned months or even years in advance.