Planning to Mislead

In theory Overlord could well have failed: despite the planning expertise available to the Western Allies the invasion remained untameable: it remained a Wicked Problem simply because it was not possible to predict whether the German response would be scissor, paper or stone. The Germans had more troops and armour in the area than the Allies would be able to land for several weeks. The German defences would have — and indeed had — several hours’ notification that the invasion was on its way and had known that an invasion was imminent for long enough to move submarines, E-boats and aircraft near enough to cause havoc with the armada. Even a successful initial landing could well have been repulsed within 48 hours by the movement of Panzer and infantry forces close to the beaches or within a week by the movement of German reinforcements from the 15th Army encamped around Calais. That the Allies succeeded was the result of both luck and skill on their part, particularly involving relatively junior officers and troops, and ineptitude on the part of the German High Command who were not rescued by their senior officers. This chapter considers the role that information and misinformation played in leading the defenders astray. In short, leadership was critical not just in successfully leading the Allies to and across the beaches of Normandy but also in mwieading the defenders away from those same beaches.