D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (Stackpole Military History Series) [Paperback]

Mary Kathryn Barbier (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stackpole Military History Series | Publication Date: April 30, 2009

Before landing in France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies executed an elaborate deception plan designed to prevent the Germans from concentrating forces in Normandy. The lesser-known first part, Fortitude North, suggested a threat to Norway. The more famous Fortitude South indicated that the invasion would occur at the Pas de Calais rather than Normandy, largely by creating a fictitious army group under Gen. George S. Patton. While historians have generally praised Operation Fortitude, Barbier takes a more nuanced view, arguing that the deception, while implemented well, affected the invasion's outcome only minimally.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Barbier (history, Mississippi State U.) provides a comprehensive account of Operation Fortitude from planning to conclusion that pays more attention to Fortitude North than many previous accounts and, in addition to presenting the Allied perspective, discusses German responses. In her final assessment, she judges the impact of Fortitude to be minimal. --SciTech Book News

Book Description

A new take on D-Day, showing that the successful deception of Operation Fortitude has received more than its fair share of credit for the Normandy invasions, obscuring not just the real invasion plans, but German weaknesses that contributed to Allied victory.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (April 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811735346
• ISBN-13: 978-0811735346
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There is something missing here., December 27, 2010

By 

Bewildered - See all my reviews

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This review is from: D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (Praeger Security International) (Kindle Edition)

While I agree with a previous reviewer that this book is possibly just a rehash of a PhD dissertation, a common practice; I fail to see how, if that is the case, it ever passed a dissertation review committee. It is missing the key element that would test the validity of its premise that this operation was instrumental in the D-Day success-that of research in German military archives.

If I were trying to determine whether a military operation of deception was successful I would ask the recipients of the deception, not the deceivers. It's impossible to judge the depth of the pro and con of this argument without an equal approach to well documented history.

I am bewildered, and do not accept Ms Barbier's explanation that she can't read German. There are translated documents available.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't believe in fairy tales the allies won through strength of arms not through deception, April 30, 2011

By 

Christos Triantafyllopoulos - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (Stackpole Military History Series) (Paperback)

The author challenges the widely held view that the Fortitude deception operation was completely successful and without it the allies would have been defeated in Normandy.Parts of the deception ,like the radio transmissions and the fake barges didn't register with the Germans .Real problems like limited motor transport and the poor state of the French railways hampered the movement of German units rather than the deception plan.Some of the reviewers who have given this book a low score should realize that the British official history `' British intelligence in the Second World'' vol 3 part 2 and vol 5 says the same thing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars FORTITUDE revisited, April 28, 2009

By 

Gene P. "Wx Man" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (Stackpole Military History Series) (Paperback)

This is a comprehensive review of the D-Day FORTITUDE deception plans, their execution and the German reaction to them. It is written in the style and language of a Phd dissertation. As to the Allied view of FORTITUDE, the book adds little to that provided in Hesketch's FORTITUDE and Brown's BODYGUARD of LIES. It's main contribution is to summarize the German reaction to the deceptions. The author also concludes the deceptions were not a large contributor to Allied D-Day success, a conclusion different from many of the Allied participants and commanders. Also, the book uses very small type which is difficult to read.