Tag: Official Secrets Act

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The Double Cross System

This week we celebrate the successful Allied invasion of Europe on the Normandy beaches of northern France. On 6 June (Thursday), it will be the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the beginning of the Allied push into Germany.

I will be giving a one-hour on-line presentation this Thursday for Bonjour Paris (see below). I decided to reprint our 2018 blog on Operation Double Cross that happens to be my presentation topic. Our discussion will expand the story of Operation Double Cross. I hope you can join us on Thursday.

Join Stew Ross for a Discussion on 

France Today

“REMEMBERING D-DAY: 

Operation Double Cross”

Thursday, 6 June 2024

11:30 – 12:30 (EST) 

Click here to watch the trailer for the presentation.

An inflatable “dummy” M4 Sherman tank. Photo by anonymous (c. 1943). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
An inflatable “dummy” M4 Sherman tank. Photo by anonymous (c. 1943). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

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BONJOUR PARIS  is a digital publication dedicated to all things Paris.  Visit the web-site here.

Undoubtedly, many of you have heard the story of the fake army which was used to deceive Hitler and his generals into planning for a cross channel invasion (across the Strait of Dover to Pas de Calais). It is true but the story is somewhat more complex and as wartime documents seven decades old are declassified, historians are only now able to fill in missing gaps and answer why Hitler reacted the way he did to the Normandy invasion.

Did You Know?

Did you know that 1st Lt. Paul Chaufty was a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot who was flying an armed reconnaissance mission on 13 August 1944 when he was shot down over the French villages of Ciral and Saint-Ellier-les-Bois? It was the day Allied armies were liberating Ciral. Lt. Chaufty bailed out of the plane, but his parachute never opened, and he fell to his death in a field. A mile away, the plane crashed.

Marie Bastien was fourteen at the time and watched the young pilot’s plane come down. The following day, her father found the body and brought Chaufty’s remains back to the farm where he was buried wrapped in his parachute. Four days later, the pilot’s remains were removed and buried in a temporary military cemetery before final relocation to the Fairview Cemetery in Carthage, New York.

Marie never forgot her experience watching Lt. Chaufty fall to his death. She vowed to keep his memory alive and over the years, discussed this with her daughter who eventually reached out to Lt. Chaufty’s family. One week ago, Marie, her daughter, and members of the Chaufty family stood in the village of Saint-Ellier-les-Bois as a plaque honoring Paul Chaufty was unveiled.

Thanks to one woman’s tenacity, a brave American’s legacy will not be forgotten.

 

Locals erected a makeshift American flag marking the site where Chaufty's plane crashed in near the village of St. Elliers Les Bois, France. (NBC News)
Locals erected a makeshift American flag marking the site where Chaufty’s plane crashed in near the village of St. Elliers Les Bois, France. (NBC News)

Deception strategies were used by the Allies and Germans against one another throughout World War II. However, by 1942, the Americans and British held the upper hand: intelligence was gained through the top secret Ultra program by decrypting German messages using the Nazi military Enigma machine at Bletchley Park. Deception methods created primarily by British intelligence were becoming increasingly complex and successful. As Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin agreed in late 1943 on plans for an invasion of Europe, the Allies came up with the largest deception plan to date to be used against the Nazis.

Bletchley Park. Photo by Magnus Manske (2005). PD-GNU Free Documentation. Wikimedia Commons.
Bletchley Park. Photo by Magnus Manske (2005). PD-GNU Free Documentation. Wikimedia Commons.
Four rotor German naval Enigma. Photo by Magnus Manske (2005). Bletchley Park. PD-GNU Free Documentation. Wikimedia Commons
Four rotor German naval Enigma. Photo by Magnus Manske (2005). Bletchley Park. PD-GNU Free Documentation. Wikimedia Commons

Operation Bodyguard and Fortitude

Operation Bodyguard was the American and British-led umbrella deception plan to mislead the Germans into thinking the inevitable invasion of Europe would take place at a location other than the real invasion site. Additionally, the plan was to deceive Hitler about the actual date, time, and size of the assault force. It was formulated in 1943 once the Allies agreed to a 1944 invasion date.

There were many directives under Operation Bodyguard including Operation Cockade, Plan Jael, Operation Quicksilver, and the Torrent Plan. However, the largest and most successful was Operation Fortitude. Read More The Double Cross System

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Fashion or Resistance?

Several years ago, I wrote a blog about the famous fashion designer and perfume entrepreneur, Coco Chanel. (click here to read the blog Coco Chanel: Spy or Collaborator?) Today, we will focus on the sister of one of France’s post-war fashion trendsetters, Christian Dior (1905−1957). His famous perfume, Miss Dior, was named after his beloved younger sister, Catherine, who was a French resistance fighter during the German occupation.

A bottle of Miss Dior perfume. Photo by Antoine Kralik (date unknown). Christian Dior Parfums.
A bottle of Miss Dior perfume. Photo by Antoine Kralik (date unknown). Christian Dior Parfums.

Did You Know?

Did you know that shortly after Germany invaded and occupied neighboring European countries there was a widespread concern among the British that the Germans would soon invade England? In fact, Hitler had plans drawn up for the invasion (click here to read the blog OB West and here to read Professor Dr. Six) called “Operation Sea Lion.” The British developed a plan for the defense of their island with a contingency plan for the development of England’s last line of defense. Secret auxiliary units known as “scallywags” were formed by volunteers. These groups of elite fighters were scattered throughout England and Scotland and tasked with sabotaging the Germans as they advanced through the country. These men knew the countryside and were trained in guerilla tactics. One of the strategies was to build underground bunkers where they could lie in wait for the Germans to pass by before emerging to attack. About five hundred bunkers were constructed around England. However, very few have ever been found and when one is found, it is purely by accident. The “scallywag” units were one of the most secretive British operations and the men who signed the Official Secrets Act never divulged their mission, often taking the story to their graves.

The bunkers measured about twenty-three feet long and ten feet wide. You entered through a hatch and exited from a rear hatch. These bunkers were stocked with enough food, weapons, and supplies to last five weeks for the seven soldiers who would occupy the bunker. The men knew that in case of an invasion, their life expectancy would likely be a maximum of two weeks. They recognized they had signed up for a suicide mission.

The few bunkers that have been found remain classified with respect to their locations. The government has converted the bunkers to artificial caves for bats to roost in.

Catherine Dior

Ginette Dior, or better known as Catherine Dior (1917−2008), was born in the coastal town of Granville on the western side of Normandy, south of Cherbourg-en-Contentin, near where the English Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean. Her family was financially well-off and lived in a large home known as Villa Les Rhumbs. She was the youngest child of Maurice and Madelaine’s five children: three brothers (Raymond, Christian, and Bernard) and a sister, (Jacqueline). The two closest siblings (albeit separated by twelve years) were Catherine and Christian. They shared a passion for gardening, art, and music. By the time Catherine was born, the family had moved to Paris, but they kept Les Rhumbs. The economic disaster of the early 1930s destroyed her father’s fertilizer company and after the death of her mother in 1931, Catherine and the rest of her family moved to Provence where her father purchased farm property known as Les Naÿsses near Callian, France. Read More Fashion or Resistance?