viernes, 2 de noviembre de 2012

The truth of Pas de Calais

There were no landings, no D-Day, at the Pas de Calais. The River Seine runs through Paris and on to the sea, and the Pas de Calais is north of where this river empties into the sea, at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The D-Day landings were south of the mouth of the Seine, in Normandy, at the widest part of the English Channel. The Allies chose this spot on the theory the Germans would think a landing there the least likely possibility. The Allies also created a massive deception operation, called Operation Fortitude, to fool the Germans into expecting a landing at the Pas de Calais. This included naming General George S. Patton as commander of a fictitious "First US Army Group" and lots of fake radio traffic, all of which the Germans were allowed to discover. So successful was this deception campaign that even after the landings in Normandy Hitler continued to believe that the Normandy landings were a diversion, and that the real landings would soon come at the Pas de Calais. Hitler held large forces north of the Seine waiting on this invasion which never came, instead of using those troops to reinforce the battle in Normandy. 

There was a "second D-Day" invasion of France, on August 15, 1944, but this was on the Mediterranean southern coast of France, the Riviera, in Operation Dragoon.

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