Operation Fortitude - Fortitude North

Fortitude North

Fortitude North was designed to mislead the Germans into expecting an invasion of Norway. By threatening any weakened Norwegian defence the Allies hoped to prevent or delay reinforcement of France following the Normandy invasion. The plan involved simulating a build up of forces in northern England and political contact with Sweden.

During a similar operation in 1943, Operation Cockade, a fictional field army (British Fourth Army) had been created, head-quartered in Edinburgh Castle. It was decided to continue to use the same force during Fortitude. Unlike its Southern counterpart the deception relied primarily on "Special Means" and fake radio traffic since it was judged unlikely that German reconnaissance planes could infiltrate Scotland without being stopped. False information about the arrival of troops in the area were reported by double agents "Mutt" and "Jeff", who had surrendered following their 1941 landing in the Moray Firth, whilst the British media cooperated by broadcasting fake information, such as football scores or wedding announcements, to nonexistent troops. Fortitude North was so successful that by late spring 1944, Hitler had thirteen army divisions in Norway.

In the early spring of 1944 British commandos attacked targets in Norway to simulate the precursor to invasion. They destroyed industrial targets, such as shipping and power infrastructure, as well as military outposts. This coincided with an increase in Naval activity in the northern seas and political pressure on neutral Sweden.