Operation Bodyguard

Operation Bodyguard was the code name given to the Allies' plan to convince Adolf Hitler that the invasion of western Europe would take place at the Pas-de-Calais, France, while planning the actual invasion (Operation Overlord) for Normandy. In order for the plan to succeed, the Allies tricked the Nazis through the use of fake armies, dummy landing craft, and false intelligence. The D-Day invasion of Normandy, beginning on June 6, 1944, was one of the most successful military operations of World War II. One million men and thousands of ships and aircraft from around the world combined to form the largest joint military operation in history. On the first day, more than 5,000 ships would carry more than 200,000 Allied troops to Normandy, the largest amphibious operation in military history. This would lead to the opening of the second front in the war against the Nazis and would result in the collapse of the Third Reich less than a year later.

However, the D-Day operation would not have been successful without the incredible deception efforts undertaken by the Allies. The effort was based on the Allies' belief that the Axis powers, notwithstanding their near total domination [Page 731]of Europe, would be unable to defend all of the 3,000 miles of coastline, stretching from Norway to France, under their control.

A graphic from a scrapbook prepared for Lt. Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, commander of the 9th Air Force from August 1944 to the end of the war, shows a detail from Operation Bodyguard. The enemy was led to expect an invasion in one area (Pas-de-Calais, France) while the invasion was actually scheduled for Normandy. In addition to attacking key sites in the Normandy region, 9th Air Force aircrews flew many missions against the Pas-de-Calais to support the deception that the Allies intended to land there.

Operation Bodyguard had two goals: first, to weaken Hitler's “Atlantic Wall” by causing its defenses to be stretched even thinner than they were, and second, to convince the Nazis to concentrate their forces at a false invasion spot. Also, after the D-Day operation began, the continuation of Operation Bodyguard's activities were intended to convince the German military that Normandy was only a diversion, as the real invasion would be launched elsewhere. The name for the operation comes from a speech given in 1943 by Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain, in which he stated: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”