Operation Barclay was a World War II deception by the Allies in support of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.
The goal was to deceive the Axis powers as to the location of the Allies' assault across the Mediterranean and to divert the Axis military commands attention and resources. Operation Barclay used bogus troop movements, radio traffic, recruitment of Greek interpreters, acquisition of Greek maps to indicate an invasion through the Balkans.
Operation Barclay created a sham army in the eastern Mediterranean: the "Twelfth Army" consisting of 12 fictitious Divisions. Hitler suspected that the Allies would invade Europe through the Balkans, and Barclay served to reinforce this.
The deception was successful. The German High Command concluded there was a greater concentration of Allied forces in the eastern Mediterranean than was the case and held to this assessment, making subsequent deceptions more credible. German forces in the Balkans were reinforced from 8 to 18 Divisions, the Italian fleet diverted into the Adriatic Sea. The Allied invasion of Sicily thus achieved surprise.
Read more about Operation Barclay: Further Reading
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