Nostalgia USA June 2016 Nostalgia USA June 2016 | Page 5

PreparationsFor Invasion
O peration Fortitude was the code
name for a World War II military
deception employed by the Allied
nations as part of an overall
deception strategy (code named
Bodyguard) during the build-up
to the 1944 N ormandy landings.
Fortitude was divided into two
sub-plans, N orth and South, with
the aim of misleading the German
high command as to the location
of the imminent invasion.
Both Fortitude plans involved the
creation of phantom field armies
(based in Edinburgh and the south
of England) which threatened
N orway (Fortitude N orth) and
Pas de Calais (Fortitude South).
T he operation was intended to
divert Axis attention away from
N ormandy and, after the invasion
on June 6, 1944, to delay
reinforcement by convincing the
Germans that the landings were
purely a diversionary attack.