Strategic Deception in the Second World War

Book excerpt: Told from confidential documents - some of which remain closed for the foreseeable future - here is the precisely detailed story of the British government's campaign of strategic deception of the German High Command. A volume in the British government's Official History of Intelligence in the Second World War, the book has been written by a master historian renowned for his narrative and analytical skills. Sir Michael Howard explains how the British were able to deceive the Germans about the strategic intentions of the Allies and make them greatly overestimate Allied resources. Here is the most authoritative account available of such classic deception operations as Operation Mincemeat, which preceded the invasion of Sicily; the nonexistent U.S. Army group that pinned down an entire German Army in the Pas de Calais until Montgomery's forces had achieved a secure foothold in Normandy; and the amazing trick played on the German intelligence authorities by the great double agent Garbo.