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Fake Vampires, Wailing Ghosts, and Other Fascinating Psy-Ops and Military Deceptions

Khalid Elhassan January 29, 2020 33 min

North Vietnam - Viet Cong Fighter — Viet Cong. Wikimedia

8. “In Wartime Truth Is So Precious, That She Should Always Be Attended by a Bodyguard of Lies”

The above quote by Winston Churchill explains the motive and aim of Operation Bodyguard, history’s greatest psy-op and deception operation. A multifaceted and complex plan, Bodyguard sought to deceive the Germans about the time and location of the Western Allies’ intended invasion of Europe in 1944.

The plan had three goals. First, was to conceal the actual time and date of the invasion. Second, was to convince the Germans that the main invasion would land in the Pas de Calais. Third, was to convince the Germans after the Normandy landings to maintain a strong defense in the Pas de Calais for at least two weeks, rather than drain it of defenders to reinforce their troops in Normandy. To realize their goals, the Allies set in motion history’s greatest military deception plan.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.