Operation Fortitude: The Ghost Army of Inflatable Tanks That Deceived the Axis Powers

Before the Allies could storm the beaches of Normandy, they had to win a shadow war of pure imagination. The greatest weapon deployed in the weeks leading up to D-Day was not made of steel or explosives, but of rubber, canvas, and meticulously crafted lies.

Operation Fortitude was a massive, unprecedented counterintelligence campaign designed to convince the German High Command that the main invasion force would strike at Pas de Calais. To sell this illusion, the Allies conjured an entirely ...