Just to link this with w10694 postings on decoy sites,here is also another clever way we deceived the Germans.
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat was an Ingenious British deception operation during World War II to make the German High Command believe that the Allies would invade the Balkans in mid-1943 instead of Sicily, the real objective. The operation called for making the Germans believe that they had, by accident, intercepted highly confidential documents that foretold Allied war plans. If successful, the Germans would divert troops to the Balkans at the cost of defending Sicily.
British naval intelligence took the corpse of a man who had recently died in England and preserved his body in dry ice. They quickly developed a persona for him, Major Martin of the Royal Marines: William Martin, a captain and acting major, born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1907, and assigned to Headquarters, Combined Operations.
The corpse was outfitted in a Marine officer's uniform, complete with service ribbons, identity disks and papers, theater ticket stubs, pound notes, loose change, a statement from his club for lodging in London, etc. Most important, chained to him was a locked briefcase with official documents and a personal letter from one senior Allied officer to another. The letter and papers indicated that Major Martin was en route by aircraft from England to Allied headquarters in North Africa.
Major Martin was then placed in a sealed steel canister and taken on board the British submarine Seraph, which sailed to a position off of Huelva on the coast of Spain. There, early in the morning of April 30, Lt. N.L.A. (Bill) Jewell, the submarine's commanding officer, and his officers, sworn to secrecy, opened the canister on the deck of the surfaced submarine. (The crew was told they were deploying a secret weather reporting device.) Major Martin was fitted with a life jacket and, after a final check of the body and its outfit, the 39th Psalm was read and the body gently pushed into the sea where the tide would bring it ashore.
German operatives inundated Spain and quickly learned of the body washing toward the shore, being found by a fisherman on April 30. While British officials, who also learned about the body demanded its return, and then given to British diplomats by Spanish officials. The photographs were rushed to Berlin for analysis by German intelligence. Major Martin's death was mentioned in the next British casualty list and a month later published in The Times to further support the ruse. (It had previously been announced that several British officers had died when their aircraft was lost at sea en route to Gibraltar.)
When Major Martin's body and possessions were finally turned over to British officials and the briefcase examined, it was found that the papers had been read and carefully refolded and resealed, obviously by the Germans. The British Chiefs of Staff wired to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, then in the United States: "Mincemeat Swallowed Whole." Churchill's Chief of Staff, Gen. Hastings L. Ismay, later wrote: "The operation succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. To have spread-eagled the German defensive effort right across Europe, even to the extent of sending German vessels away from Sicily itself, was a remarkable achievement. "
This sory was made into a film called the man that never was.
Last edited by diggingdeeper; 19th Jun 200910:41am. Reason: To keep snooze happy
In 1944 prior to D Day an inflatable Army was amassed at Dover under the command of General Patton (United States Army). The Army consisted of life size inflatable Tanks, Landing craft and Planes. This was done with General Patton in overall charge to deceive the Germans in thinking the main invasion force would take the shortest route across the English Channel to Calais. This deceit did work as the Germans had no where near the amount of men they could have had defending Normandy had they known for sure that was the invasion area.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Yes, he was probably very mouldy when they found him.
They actually hired film studio painters and builders from Pinewood to build a load of destroyed tanks and buildings to confuse the German bombers into thinking they had damaged a factory.
Major William Martin, The man who never was is believed to be by many Glyndwr Michael, a Welsh vagrant who died of ingesting Rat poison and suffering from chemical Pneumonia. Pic shows his headstone.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Major William Martin, The man who never was is believed to be by many Glyndwr Michael, a Welsh vagrant who died of ingesting Rat poison and suffering from chemical Pneumonia. Pic shows his headstone.
Many thanks, that's what I remember the story to be from a couple of years ago.
Most operational code names had no bearing on what the operation was about at all. In most cases it was just to distinguish one op from another. After all to much of a clue could give the game away.
Last edited by bert1; 6th Jan 200911:41am.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
After the war, there was much testing of atomic bombs in the Nevada desert. These were public knowledge & people in Las Vegas used to pause from gambling to go outside & watch the mushroom clouds. Anyway, each of these tests had a codename. They had 2 lists of words & chose 1 from each list at random. This resulted in names such as Tumbler-Snapper & Upshot-Knothole. I used to know more, but those are the only ones I can remember now.
Anyway, each of these tests had a codename. They had 2 lists of words & chose 1 from each list at random. This resulted in names such as Tumbler-Snapper & Upshot-Knothole. I used to know more, but those are the only ones I can remember now. 
