Operation Bodyguard Kept Calais Defended

The Allied deception campaign surrounding D-Day, called Operation Bodyguard, used fake radio traffic, double agents, phantom armies, and Australian-born British actor M.E. Clifton James impersonating General Bernard Montgomery. Its connected operations suggested possible invasions of Norway, the Pas-de-Calais, southern France, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans while presenting Normandy as a diversion. Even after D-Day, Hitler continued expecting a larger assault at Calais. The deception helped keep the German Fifteenth Army in the Pas-de-Calais for nearly seven weeks, delaying its deployment against the Normandy beachhead.

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