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Beer Bombers: Boys Will Be Boys and Soldiers Needed Their Beer!
Only a few days after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, the dust and heat of the tortured area stirred up quite a thirst in the British boys on the front lines. Young men who had survived the brutal landings and pushed several miles inland found poisoned water and only a weak cider to drink. Soldiers wishing for a fine pint of beer was a common complaint.
The boys needed their beer. Anyone who has been around young men knows they will find a way to get their beer. And it wouldn’t bother them if the delivery system is illegal or otherwise non-regulation.
Upon hearing of this dilemma through a Reuters correspondent report back in London, the Henty and Constable Brewery offered free beer to the British armed forces in France. Men called, “sourcers” sprang into action. Often involved in black market goods, these men would devise a way to get the beer to the soldiers.
Volunteer pilots from the Royal Air Force soon were in the bootlegging business. Jettison fuel tanks were steam cleaned, and the brewery filled the tank with beer. A quick flight up to 15,000 feet thoroughly chilled the shipment sloshing about in the tanks.
The pilot of one of the first beer runs received instructions to follow the salvo fire from the battleship Rodney and land on a small strip just to the south of the bombarded area. He and two other pilots flew across the channel and reduced altitude to 5,000 feet. He was quoted saying,
“The welcoming from the Rodney was hardly inviting, but sure enough, there was the strip. Wheels down and in we go, three Spits with 90-gallon jet taks fully loaded with cool beer.”
Neither was there happy Brits greeting the planes as they taxied near the end of that particular runway. A man appeared from behind a tree and rushed to the Spitfires. He pointed to a church steeple and quickly explained German snipers had been taking shots at them all day. “…You better drop your tanks and bugger off before it’s too late.” The three planes did just that and got out of there in a hurry.
The alterations made to the jettison tanks was even given an official designation: Modification XXX. However, as one might expect, a tank that formerly held aviation fuel tainted its new contents with a metallic taste.
Nonetheless, the “erks,” as the infantrymen were called, drank every drop. Another pilot said he hated making the beer runs as everyone at the airfield was watching and anxiously awaiting his safe landing. And if a rough landing damaged the tank filled with beer, the pilot responsible was reviled and despised for a period of time – until he successfully delivered a shipment of beer!
Enterprising Royal Air Force personnel also modified the Spitfire’s bomb racks to fit barrels of beer to the wings. The beautiful aircraft would cruise through the sky with a barrel attached to either side of the fuselage. An outfit in Sussex took the idea one step further, designing a “Beer Bomb.” Wooden casks were fitted with streamlined nose cones, giving the appearance of a real bomb.
Especially after refueling stations were established in the conquered territories, the jettison tanks, made in London, were no longer needed in battle and were instead filled with Black Eagle brews from Westerham. The planes would have “Bitter” on one side, and “Mild” on the other.
The Americans got onto the bandwagon after seeing the British operation, and an Icelandic pilot with modified tanks on a P51 Mustang successfully cart beer from London to France. One remark was, “…those Brits really know how to go to war.” Shortly after that, Mustangs also made the beer runs, delivering the brew to the equally thirsty boys in the US Army.
In addition to the Spitfires and Mustangs, the Hawker Typhoon was also used in these goodwill missions. The pilots must have felt they were providing a humanitarian service. Often, after completing their delivery, the fighters would continue to strafe a freight train or bomb a building or two. Obviously, the beer bombs were saved for the British soldiers.
The beer runs were unofficially approved by the brass and continued until a major shortage occurred in all of England. But by then, breweries in the path of the Allied forces were pressed into service, likely to the relief of the local survivors as well as the soldiers of World War II.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/beer-bombers.html
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt tom Capt Tom Brown @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt larry @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc joe SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey Alan K. Cynthia Croft @ po3 tom PO3 Tom Howard
Only a few days after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, the dust and heat of the tortured area stirred up quite a thirst in the British boys on the front lines. Young men who had survived the brutal landings and pushed several miles inland found poisoned water and only a weak cider to drink. Soldiers wishing for a fine pint of beer was a common complaint.
The boys needed their beer. Anyone who has been around young men knows they will find a way to get their beer. And it wouldn’t bother them if the delivery system is illegal or otherwise non-regulation.
Upon hearing of this dilemma through a Reuters correspondent report back in London, the Henty and Constable Brewery offered free beer to the British armed forces in France. Men called, “sourcers” sprang into action. Often involved in black market goods, these men would devise a way to get the beer to the soldiers.
Volunteer pilots from the Royal Air Force soon were in the bootlegging business. Jettison fuel tanks were steam cleaned, and the brewery filled the tank with beer. A quick flight up to 15,000 feet thoroughly chilled the shipment sloshing about in the tanks.
The pilot of one of the first beer runs received instructions to follow the salvo fire from the battleship Rodney and land on a small strip just to the south of the bombarded area. He and two other pilots flew across the channel and reduced altitude to 5,000 feet. He was quoted saying,
“The welcoming from the Rodney was hardly inviting, but sure enough, there was the strip. Wheels down and in we go, three Spits with 90-gallon jet taks fully loaded with cool beer.”
Neither was there happy Brits greeting the planes as they taxied near the end of that particular runway. A man appeared from behind a tree and rushed to the Spitfires. He pointed to a church steeple and quickly explained German snipers had been taking shots at them all day. “…You better drop your tanks and bugger off before it’s too late.” The three planes did just that and got out of there in a hurry.
The alterations made to the jettison tanks was even given an official designation: Modification XXX. However, as one might expect, a tank that formerly held aviation fuel tainted its new contents with a metallic taste.
Nonetheless, the “erks,” as the infantrymen were called, drank every drop. Another pilot said he hated making the beer runs as everyone at the airfield was watching and anxiously awaiting his safe landing. And if a rough landing damaged the tank filled with beer, the pilot responsible was reviled and despised for a period of time – until he successfully delivered a shipment of beer!
Enterprising Royal Air Force personnel also modified the Spitfire’s bomb racks to fit barrels of beer to the wings. The beautiful aircraft would cruise through the sky with a barrel attached to either side of the fuselage. An outfit in Sussex took the idea one step further, designing a “Beer Bomb.” Wooden casks were fitted with streamlined nose cones, giving the appearance of a real bomb.
Especially after refueling stations were established in the conquered territories, the jettison tanks, made in London, were no longer needed in battle and were instead filled with Black Eagle brews from Westerham. The planes would have “Bitter” on one side, and “Mild” on the other.
The Americans got onto the bandwagon after seeing the British operation, and an Icelandic pilot with modified tanks on a P51 Mustang successfully cart beer from London to France. One remark was, “…those Brits really know how to go to war.” Shortly after that, Mustangs also made the beer runs, delivering the brew to the equally thirsty boys in the US Army.
In addition to the Spitfires and Mustangs, the Hawker Typhoon was also used in these goodwill missions. The pilots must have felt they were providing a humanitarian service. Often, after completing their delivery, the fighters would continue to strafe a freight train or bomb a building or two. Obviously, the beer bombs were saved for the British soldiers.
The beer runs were unofficially approved by the brass and continued until a major shortage occurred in all of England. But by then, breweries in the path of the Allied forces were pressed into service, likely to the relief of the local survivors as well as the soldiers of World War II.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/beer-bombers.html
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt tom Capt Tom Brown @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt larry @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc joe SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey Alan K. Cynthia Croft @ po3 tom PO3 Tom Howard
WWII World War Two
Aviation
Military History
Beer
World History
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 10
9
9
0
SGT John " Mac " McConnell my goodness a beer bombers, of the most interesting!
TSgt Joe C. SFC William Farrell PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC Stephen F.] SGT Robert George SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas Maj Marty Hogan SGT (Join to see) SFC Dave Beran SGT Philip Roncari SP5 Michael Rathbun CW5 (Join to see) SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish COL Mikel J. Burroughs ] SrA Christopher Wright SFC George Smith Cynthia Croft SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth
TSgt Joe C. SFC William Farrell PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC Stephen F.] SGT Robert George SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas Maj Marty Hogan SGT (Join to see) SFC Dave Beran SGT Philip Roncari SP5 Michael Rathbun CW5 (Join to see) SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish COL Mikel J. Burroughs ] SrA Christopher Wright SFC George Smith Cynthia Croft SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Great for morale SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL . It would have boosted mine ! Have a great day my friend.
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Well, that's why ale and cider were so common in the first place, it was frequently safer to drink than the water.
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
One can probably get one at Monastery as well. If one was lucky enough.. After all it was war.
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Thanks for sharing SGT John " Mac " McConnell as well all most likely knw moist of the really unusual stuff was never photographed or released for security reasons :-)
Here are some of favorite interesting images:
An Essex farmer paints a herd of black cows with white stripes so they will be visible to the motorists during the blackout; Ghost Army Pictures; German riding a bomb - reminds me of Slim Pickens from Dr Strangelove.
FYI LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSgt (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC Margaret Higgins
Here are some of favorite interesting images:
An Essex farmer paints a herd of black cows with white stripes so they will be visible to the motorists during the blackout; Ghost Army Pictures; German riding a bomb - reminds me of Slim Pickens from Dr Strangelove.
FYI LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSgt (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC Margaret Higgins
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Thanks LTC Stephen F. . I am sure the beer bombs was most popular with the rank and file... I know I would have :-]
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LTC Stephen F.
Cynthia Croft - Operation Fortitude is the name of the deception operation which included inflatable tanks and other materiel to convince the Germans the invasion of Europe would occur at Norway [North] or Pas de Calais [South].
The overall deception strategic plan was Operation Bodyguard.
prior to Operation Overlord - D-Day
"FUSAG: The Ghost Army of World War II
BY MATT SONIAK APRIL 13, 2012
In the final years of World War II, both the Allied and Axis Powers knew that there was no chance of defeating Hitler without cracking his grasp on Western Europe, and both sides knew that Northern France was the obvious target for an amphibious assault. The German high command assumed the Allies would cross from England to France at the narrowest part of the channel and land at Pas-de-Calais. The Allies instead set their sights some 200 miles to the west. The beaches of Normandy could be taken as they were, but if the Germans added to their defense by moving their reserve infantry and panzers to Normandy from their garrison in the Pas-de-Calais region, the invasion would be a disaster.
Success, the Allies decided, would rest on distracting German forces and spreading them too thin across multiple invasion sites. They needed a way to credibly threaten Pas-de-Calais, scaring the Germans into keeping the reserves there and away from the actual battle. The resulting plan, Operation Fortitude, is one of the greatest lies ever told.
The Allied intelligence services created two fake armies to keep the Germans on their toes. One would be based in Scotland for a supposed invasion of Norway and the other headquartered in southeast England to threaten the Pas-de-Calais. The northern operation relied mainly on fake radio traffic and the feeding of false information to double agents to create the impression of a substantial army. Fortitude South, though, was well within the range of prying German ears and eyes, so fake chatter alone would be uncovered too quickly. The Allies would have to make it look and sound like a substantial army was building up in southeast England. They needed boots on the ground there, without actually using too much of their precious manpower.
When intelligence officers learned that the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) was to be redesignated the 12th Army Group, they knew they had their Pas-de-Calais invaders. The FUSAG was kept alive on paper, and the phantom army was given a few real soldiers and placed under the command of one of the era’s great military leaders.
General George S. Patton, nicknamed Old Blood and Guts, was feared and respected by Germans, more so than any other Allied commander. Today, he’s an American legend and a military icon, but in early 1944 he was almost out of a job. During the invasion of Sicily the previous summer, Patton had been visiting wounded troops at a field hospital when he came across Private Charles H. Kuhl slouched on a stool and suffering from battle fatigue. When Patton asked him where he was injured, Kuhl explained that he wasn’t wounded, but just couldn’t take it.
Patton didn’t like the answer, so he pulled out his gloves, slapped Kuhl across the face with them, and literally kicked him out of the hospital tent with an order to return to the front line. A media firestorm followed, and Patton was deemed a public relations liability and relieved of his command. He spent the rest of the year hopping around the Mediterranean making speeches, inspecting facilities and having his picture taken with troops.
When the phantom FUSAG got its marching orders, General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, struck a deal with Patton. The general would take command of the fictional army and stay out of trouble, and when the U.S. Third Army actually invaded France, he’d be given the reins.
Tricks of the Trade
Patton’s ghost army was based out of Dover, East Anglia and other areas of southeast England. The choice of location made it look like the Allies were going to push across the English Channel straight into the port of Calais, but also left the operation vulnerable to German snooping. To leave no doubt in Hitler’s mind that FUSAG was a formidable threat and that an attack on Calais was imminent, Allied intelligence launched a multi-pronged campaign of deception against the Germans.
Throughout most of the war, the German intelligence service and military brass believed that the Allied command in Europe was crawling with German spies. In reality, the British had quickly rounded up most of the Nazi agents as they arrived in the UK and turned them into double agents. Two of these spies were instrumental during Fortitude. Roman Garby-Czerniawski (codename Brutus) was a former Polish military officer who pretended to spy for the Germans and convinced his Nazi handlers that he was a liaison between Free Polish forces and Patton’s FUSAG headquarters. Juan Pujol (codename Garbo) was a Spaniard who’d previously trolled the Germans on his own before being recruited by the Allies and put to work feeding fake info to the Nazis on FUSAG’s manpower, maneuvers and battle readiness. British intelligence also passed fake info off to Germany through civilian channels. For example, letters were printed in the local newspapers near FUSAG’s supposed base voicing complaints from citizens about noise and the behavior of the troops.
On the ground in southeast England, something also had to be done about the Germans’ reconnaissance planes. There were a few real American and British units in the area, temporarily assigned to FUSAG before actually heading to Normandy, but the view from above was not impressive. The fake intelligence and chatter was creating the impression that FUSAG was larger than any other Allied army operating in Europe, so now it had to look real and like it meant business.
To bring FUSAG off of paper and into the real world, the Allies built a cleverly conceived, sort-of-real-but-mostly-fake base for the army. Mess tents, hospital tents, ammo caches, toilets, fuel depots and parking areas were built all over the southeast. The parking lots were filled with fake jeeps, trucks and tanks built from cloth and plywood. Inflatable rubber vehicles were also deployed (but frequently fell victim to curious cows from the local farms). Every night a group of soldiers was responsible for picking up and moving the fake vehicles around the bases for the sake of realism, one of them using a custom-made rolling tool to make “tire tracks” in the dirt.
The harbors of the area likewise had to be populated by a false Navy, and British movie industry pros were brought in to “dress the set.” They constructed landing craft, support boats and even an oil dock from wood and fabric and floated them on oil drums.
Waiting for the End of the World
As D-Day loomed, the Allies wondered if their ruse was working. The interception and decryption of German radio traffic (aided by the well-timed arrival of a captured German code machine) gave them a resounding “yes.” The Germans were buying FUSAG and the Pas-de-Calais invasion hook, line and sinker, but the lie could not unravel just yet.
On June 6, the Allies landed at Normandy. As the battle raged there and the Germans considered sending reinforcements, the Allies kept spinning the story, lest the panzers in Calais roll up behind the real Allied armies as they moved up and off the beaches. The waters around southern England were jammed with fake boats and even a few real battleships, the scripted radio traffic went silent, smokescreens were laid, and boats swept the Channel for mines, all to give the impression that another attack was imminent. Brutus and Garbo continued to mislead their German superiors, telling them that Normandy was just a distraction and Patton’s army was going to embark in just a few days for the real invasion.
On June 9, Garbo radioed in to his German contacts and transmitted for a full two hours with false troop movement reports, descriptions of the landing forces, and a reassurance that FUSAG’s true target was the Pas-de-Calais.
The message went all the way up the chain to Hitler, who not only cancelled an order to send the Calais forces to Normandy, but actually rerouted reinforcements coming from other areas away from Normandy and to Calais. During the D-Day landings and for weeks after, as the Allies - including Patton and the US Third Army - moved deeper and deeper into France, the Germans continued to hold onto Calais for dear life. It wasn’t until Patton’s real army began to prod them from the south that the panzers and infantry moved out, after they’d spent almost the whole the summer waiting for an assault that never came from an army that didn’t exist."
http://mentalfloss.com/article/30447/fusag-ghost-army-world-war-ii
FYI LTC Bill Koski SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
The overall deception strategic plan was Operation Bodyguard.
prior to Operation Overlord - D-Day
"FUSAG: The Ghost Army of World War II
BY MATT SONIAK APRIL 13, 2012
In the final years of World War II, both the Allied and Axis Powers knew that there was no chance of defeating Hitler without cracking his grasp on Western Europe, and both sides knew that Northern France was the obvious target for an amphibious assault. The German high command assumed the Allies would cross from England to France at the narrowest part of the channel and land at Pas-de-Calais. The Allies instead set their sights some 200 miles to the west. The beaches of Normandy could be taken as they were, but if the Germans added to their defense by moving their reserve infantry and panzers to Normandy from their garrison in the Pas-de-Calais region, the invasion would be a disaster.
Success, the Allies decided, would rest on distracting German forces and spreading them too thin across multiple invasion sites. They needed a way to credibly threaten Pas-de-Calais, scaring the Germans into keeping the reserves there and away from the actual battle. The resulting plan, Operation Fortitude, is one of the greatest lies ever told.
The Allied intelligence services created two fake armies to keep the Germans on their toes. One would be based in Scotland for a supposed invasion of Norway and the other headquartered in southeast England to threaten the Pas-de-Calais. The northern operation relied mainly on fake radio traffic and the feeding of false information to double agents to create the impression of a substantial army. Fortitude South, though, was well within the range of prying German ears and eyes, so fake chatter alone would be uncovered too quickly. The Allies would have to make it look and sound like a substantial army was building up in southeast England. They needed boots on the ground there, without actually using too much of their precious manpower.
When intelligence officers learned that the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) was to be redesignated the 12th Army Group, they knew they had their Pas-de-Calais invaders. The FUSAG was kept alive on paper, and the phantom army was given a few real soldiers and placed under the command of one of the era’s great military leaders.
General George S. Patton, nicknamed Old Blood and Guts, was feared and respected by Germans, more so than any other Allied commander. Today, he’s an American legend and a military icon, but in early 1944 he was almost out of a job. During the invasion of Sicily the previous summer, Patton had been visiting wounded troops at a field hospital when he came across Private Charles H. Kuhl slouched on a stool and suffering from battle fatigue. When Patton asked him where he was injured, Kuhl explained that he wasn’t wounded, but just couldn’t take it.
Patton didn’t like the answer, so he pulled out his gloves, slapped Kuhl across the face with them, and literally kicked him out of the hospital tent with an order to return to the front line. A media firestorm followed, and Patton was deemed a public relations liability and relieved of his command. He spent the rest of the year hopping around the Mediterranean making speeches, inspecting facilities and having his picture taken with troops.
When the phantom FUSAG got its marching orders, General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, struck a deal with Patton. The general would take command of the fictional army and stay out of trouble, and when the U.S. Third Army actually invaded France, he’d be given the reins.
Tricks of the Trade
Patton’s ghost army was based out of Dover, East Anglia and other areas of southeast England. The choice of location made it look like the Allies were going to push across the English Channel straight into the port of Calais, but also left the operation vulnerable to German snooping. To leave no doubt in Hitler’s mind that FUSAG was a formidable threat and that an attack on Calais was imminent, Allied intelligence launched a multi-pronged campaign of deception against the Germans.
Throughout most of the war, the German intelligence service and military brass believed that the Allied command in Europe was crawling with German spies. In reality, the British had quickly rounded up most of the Nazi agents as they arrived in the UK and turned them into double agents. Two of these spies were instrumental during Fortitude. Roman Garby-Czerniawski (codename Brutus) was a former Polish military officer who pretended to spy for the Germans and convinced his Nazi handlers that he was a liaison between Free Polish forces and Patton’s FUSAG headquarters. Juan Pujol (codename Garbo) was a Spaniard who’d previously trolled the Germans on his own before being recruited by the Allies and put to work feeding fake info to the Nazis on FUSAG’s manpower, maneuvers and battle readiness. British intelligence also passed fake info off to Germany through civilian channels. For example, letters were printed in the local newspapers near FUSAG’s supposed base voicing complaints from citizens about noise and the behavior of the troops.
On the ground in southeast England, something also had to be done about the Germans’ reconnaissance planes. There were a few real American and British units in the area, temporarily assigned to FUSAG before actually heading to Normandy, but the view from above was not impressive. The fake intelligence and chatter was creating the impression that FUSAG was larger than any other Allied army operating in Europe, so now it had to look real and like it meant business.
To bring FUSAG off of paper and into the real world, the Allies built a cleverly conceived, sort-of-real-but-mostly-fake base for the army. Mess tents, hospital tents, ammo caches, toilets, fuel depots and parking areas were built all over the southeast. The parking lots were filled with fake jeeps, trucks and tanks built from cloth and plywood. Inflatable rubber vehicles were also deployed (but frequently fell victim to curious cows from the local farms). Every night a group of soldiers was responsible for picking up and moving the fake vehicles around the bases for the sake of realism, one of them using a custom-made rolling tool to make “tire tracks” in the dirt.
The harbors of the area likewise had to be populated by a false Navy, and British movie industry pros were brought in to “dress the set.” They constructed landing craft, support boats and even an oil dock from wood and fabric and floated them on oil drums.
Waiting for the End of the World
As D-Day loomed, the Allies wondered if their ruse was working. The interception and decryption of German radio traffic (aided by the well-timed arrival of a captured German code machine) gave them a resounding “yes.” The Germans were buying FUSAG and the Pas-de-Calais invasion hook, line and sinker, but the lie could not unravel just yet.
On June 6, the Allies landed at Normandy. As the battle raged there and the Germans considered sending reinforcements, the Allies kept spinning the story, lest the panzers in Calais roll up behind the real Allied armies as they moved up and off the beaches. The waters around southern England were jammed with fake boats and even a few real battleships, the scripted radio traffic went silent, smokescreens were laid, and boats swept the Channel for mines, all to give the impression that another attack was imminent. Brutus and Garbo continued to mislead their German superiors, telling them that Normandy was just a distraction and Patton’s army was going to embark in just a few days for the real invasion.
On June 9, Garbo radioed in to his German contacts and transmitted for a full two hours with false troop movement reports, descriptions of the landing forces, and a reassurance that FUSAG’s true target was the Pas-de-Calais.
The message went all the way up the chain to Hitler, who not only cancelled an order to send the Calais forces to Normandy, but actually rerouted reinforcements coming from other areas away from Normandy and to Calais. During the D-Day landings and for weeks after, as the Allies - including Patton and the US Third Army - moved deeper and deeper into France, the Germans continued to hold onto Calais for dear life. It wasn’t until Patton’s real army began to prod them from the south that the panzers and infantry moved out, after they’d spent almost the whole the summer waiting for an assault that never came from an army that didn’t exist."
http://mentalfloss.com/article/30447/fusag-ghost-army-world-war-ii
FYI LTC Bill Koski SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
FUSAG: The Ghost Army of World War II
In the final years of World War II, both the Allied and Axis Powers knew that there was no chance of defeating Hitler without cracking his grasp on Western Europe, and both sides knew that Northern France was the obvious target for an amphibious assault. The German high command assumed the Allies would cross from England to France at the narrowest part of the channel and land at Pas-de-Calais. The Allies instead set their sights some 200 miles...
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