OPERATION BODYGUARD AND DECEPTION IN WORLD WAR II 

Your field operatives, Dan and Tom, talk with author and historian Rick Beyer about the deception techniques used in the war.  Operation Bodyguard and its sub-operation, Operation Fortitude, which helped win the war, are highlighted.  

Operation Bodyguard was an overall deception operation to assist the Allied Forces in World War II.  It is one example of how deception was an important part of the Allied success. 

Operation Fortitude was designed to deceive Adolph Hitler as to the location of the Allied invasion of Europe.  You know the landing came at Normandy.  Listen to find out the ruses and locations the Allied Forces used to keep Hitler believing that Normandy was not going to be the landing location. 

We also talk with Rick about a deception unit called Ghost Army of which Rick co-authored the excellent book, “The Ghost Army of World War II”.  Ghost Army deployed just after D-Day, so they weren’t directly involved in D-Day.  But they are the source of the inflatable tank. Listen to find out what that means 

Finally, we look at some of the spies who were involved in the deceptions, highlighting double agents who Hitler thought was working for him.   Without real spies, we have no spy movies or spy fiction!   

Tell us what you think  

So, prior to listening to this episode, did you know about these deceptions?  Would you like more episodes like this that talk about real-world spies and their techniques? 

Let us know your thoughts, ideas for future episodes, and your thoughts on this episode. Just drop us a note at [email protected].  The more we hear from you, the better the show will surely be!  We’ll give you a shout-out in a future episode!    

You can check out all of our CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. In addition, you can check out our YouTube channel as well.    

You can get Rick’s book on his website: The Ghost Army of World War II | Rick Beyer. 

Episode Webpage: https://bit.ly/3W85SuA