Operation Neptune

Operation Neptune is the covert name given by the U.S. military to its landing operations at Normandy during World War II. After the war began, Germany occupied northwestern France in early 1940 after invading the area. Adolf Hitler knew that Allied forces were bound to appear on the scene after his actions, but he believed the ends justified the means. Not knowing when or where the Allied forces would attack, Hitler quickly appointed Erwin Rommel to lead German efforts in the region. As the initial defense, Rommel opted to finish the Nazi's Atlantic Wall, an over two-mile-long wall on the coast with bunkers and other fortifications.

As Hitler had predicted, Allied forces wasted little time in beginning to strategize on how to most efficiently and effectively make inroads toward recapturing France from Germany. The landings began on D-Day (June 6, 1944) at approximately 6:30 a.m. Operation Neptune remains one of the most successful military operations undertaken by the U.S. military in its history. Just over two million men and thousands of planes and ships came together for a joint military action aimed at deterring further advancement by Hitler and Nazi Germany throughout the European continent.

While there have been immeasurable writings based on the activities at Normandy, few have actually discussed the amount of deception that went into making the operation successful. To some degree, this is because the information was not publicly available until the 1970s, when the British press began seeking access to information. After 1977, when the British government [Page 736]chose to release a large volume of classified information, the world began to see the deception employed by the Allies in their efforts to bring down the Third Reich.