12. The Feat of Deception That Secured the Success of D-Day
With German military intelligence’s faith in Juan Pujol Garcia at an all-time high, Allied intelligence went in for the kill. The Spanish double agent cashed in upon the years of built-up trust and falsely informed the Nazis that the Normandy landings were mere diversions, intended to draw away German military reinforcements from the Allies’ real target. That was the Pas de Calais, which lay at the shortest distance across the English Channel from occupied France, and which the Allies intended to invade a few weeks after the Normandy invasion.
That, coupled with other measures whereby a fictional First US Army Group, under the command of George Patton, was massed across the English Channel opposite the Pas de Calais, worked. Pujol’s feat of deception convinced the Germans during the most crucial weeks in June of 1944 to keep powerful formations in the Pas de Calais region. They would have done the Germans more good – and the Allied incalculable harm – if they had been rushed instead to Normandy, to help destroy the vulnerable beachhead. By the time the Pas de Calais formations were finally released, it was too late.
