22 Photos Inside Operation Fortitude’s Deception During World War II
Neill Lynskey
Published
05/03/2025
in
History
Go behind the scenes of the most elaborate deception of World War II.
In 1944, while preparing for the invasion of Normandy, the Allies also began a plan to convince the German command that they would instead be landing in Pas de Calais, France. A fake army, complete with inflatable tanks, dummy aircraft and even airborne paratrooper dolls, was set up in Dover, where German air reconnaissance could see what they believed to be a massive invasion force assembling. These efforts, alongside disinformation and jamming radio communication, led to major resources diverted away from Normandy and the success of the D-Day invasion.
Witness how phony weaponry and ingenious plotting ultimately led to an Allied victory.
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1. A dummy plane
Used in Operation Fortitude -
2. The reconstructed repeater station in the tunnels beneath Dover Castle.
From here, coded fake radio messages were relayed across Britain to simulate the communications of the fictitious army, FUSAG -
3. General Patton
Designated as the commander of the fictitious "First United States Army Group (FUSAG) -
4. Dummy plane
Used for Operation Fortitude -
5. A factory worker producing foil code-named WINDOW which was dropped by allied aircraft to jam enemy radar
1944 -
6. Lancasters dropped tinfoil strips called Window
Confounded German radar and disguised the position of the real bombers. -
7. Scaffolding of a dummy tank
Would later be fitted with rubber -
8. A dummy landing vessel
Used for Operation Fortitude -
9. Juan Pujol García or "Garbo", in his disguise. A Spanish spy who worked as a double agent for Britain.
His relaying of false information to the Germans was an instrumental part of Operation Fortitude and the success of D-Day -
10. Fake Venezuelan passport of Juan Pujol García
Used by Garcia in his work as a double agent -
11. Fake Division Shoulder Patches
Used by the Airborne of Operation Fortitude -
12. A camouflaged dummy tank
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
13. An inflatable tank in color
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
14. A dummy paratrooper
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
15. A FUSAG soldier carrying an inflatable dummy Jeep
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
16. Two dummy tanks
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
17. A dummy tank, rubber and wood, in color
Operation Fortitude 1944 -
18. Inflatable truck used for Operation Fortitude
Dover, 1944 -
19. Inflatable tank being carried by soliders
Operation Fortitude, 1944 -
20. Dummy landing craft, used during Fortitude
Unknown location in the South-East of England -
21. FUSAG soldier next to a dummy tank
Operation Fortitude, 144 -
22. Operation Fortitude was essential in the success of the Normandy invasion
Landings at Omaha Beach on D-Day, 1944
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A dummy plane
Used in Operation Fortitude
Used in Operation Fortitude
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