7. Fortitude, and Fictitious Allied Armies
A sub-plan of Bodyguard was Operation Fortitude, which created a fictitious “First US Army Group” in southeast England under the command of General George S. Patton. A variety of means were employed to sell the fake army’s existence to the Germans. Fake radio traffic was generated between fictitious FUSAG units, knowing that the Germans were listening in on Allied radio traffic. German reconnaissance airplanes were allowed to fly over and photograph concentrations of FUSAG tanks and transports, that in reality were inflatable dummies.
The Germans were also fed fake intelligence reports via double agents and turned spies, about FUSAG’s intentions to invade the Pas de Calais, so as to tie down the German defenders there. A subsidiary, Fortitude North, created a fictitious British Fourth Army in Scotland, and convinced the Germans that it planned to invade Norway so as to tie down the Germans there.