The History of Traffic Analysis – WWI – Vietnam Part 6 of 8

Operation QUICKSILVER: Deception Covering the

Landing in Normandy

One great challenge of WWII was keeping secret the planned Allied landing sites in Europe. Hitler and the Germans, for a number of reasons, had a firm belief that the location of the landing would be on the French coast at Pas-de-Calais, the shortest distance across the English Channel.

The Allies prepared a scheme, called FORTITUDE, to convince the Germans that they were accurate in their belief that Pas-de-Calais was the location and, further, to lead them into believing that the real landing in Normandy was merely a diversion. The scheme was so successful that the Germans believed Pas-de-Calais was to be the main landing place even after the Normandy landings began, still convinced that Normandy was a diversionary move.