Editing Psychological warfare (section)

===World War II===

Germany's ''[[Fall Grün (Czechoslovakia)|Fall Grün]]'' plan of invasion of Czechoslovakia had a large part dealing with psychological warfare aimed both at the Czechoslovak civilians and government as well as, crucially, at Czechoslovakia's allies.<ref name="Hruška">{{Citation
| last1  = Hruška
| first1 = Emil
| title     = Boj o pohraničí: Sudetoněmecký Freikorps v roce 1938
| publisher = Nakladatelství epocha, Pražská vydavatelská společnost
| place     = Prague
| edition = 1st
| year    = 2013
| page  = 9
}}</ref> It became successful to the point that Germany [[Appeasement|gained the acquiescence]] of the British and French governments to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia without having to fight an all-out war, sustaining only minimum losses in [[Sudetendeutsches Freikorps#Terrorism|covert war]] before the [[Munich Agreement]].{{fact|date=October 2024}}

[[File:Map of Operation Bodyguard subordinate plans.png|thumb|left|Map depicting the targets of all the subordinate plans of [[Operation Bodyguard]].]]
During World War II, the British made extensive use of deception – developing many new techniques and theories. The main protagonists at this time were 'A' Force, set up in 1940 under [[Dudley Clarke]], and the London Controlling Section, chartered in 1942 under the control of John Bevan.<ref name=LatimerBG>Latimer (2004), pg. 148–149</ref><ref name=ODNB>Cruickshank (2004)</ref> Clarke pioneered many of the strategies of military deception. His ideas for combining fictional orders of battle, visual deception and [[double agent]]s helped define Allied deception strategy during the war, for which he has been referred to as "the greatest British deceiver of WW2".<ref>{{cite book|author=Rankin, Nicholas|title=Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914–1945|author-link=Nicholas Rankin|date=1 October 2008|publisher=[[Faber and Faber]]|isbn=978-0-571-22195-0|page=178}}</ref>

During the lead-up to the Allied [[invasion of Normandy]], many new tactics in psychological warfare were devised. The plan for [[Operation Bodyguard]] set out a general strategy to mislead German high command as to the date and location of the invasion, which was obviously going to happen. Planning began in 1943 under the auspices of the [[London Controlling Section]] (LCS). A draft strategy, referred to as Plan Jael, was presented to Allied high command at the [[Tehran Conference]]. [[Operation Fortitude]] was intended to convince the Germans of a greater Allied military strength than was the case, through fictional [[field army|field armies]], faked operations to prepare the ground for invasion and "leaked" misinformation about the Allied order of battle and war plans.

Elaborate [[D-Day naval deceptions|naval deceptions]] (Operations ''Glimmer'', ''Taxable'' and ''Big Drum'') were undertaken in the English Channel.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbier, Mary|title=D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=30 October 2007|url={{google books|GXLFo4_2PC8C|page=70|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0275994792|page=70}}</ref> Small ships and aircraft simulated invasion fleets lying off Pas de Calais, Cap d'Antifer and the western flank of the real invasion force.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbier, Mary|title=D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=30 October 2007|url={{google books|GXLFo4_2PC8C|page=108|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0275994792|page=108}}</ref> At the same time [[Operation Titanic]] involved the [[RAF]] dropping fake paratroopers to the east and west of the Normandy landings.

[[File:DummyShermanTank.jpg|thumb|A dummy [[Sherman tank]], used to deceive the Germans.]]
The deceptions were implemented with the use of double agents, radio traffic and visual deception. The British "[[Double-Cross System|Double Cross]]" anti-espionage operation had proven very successful from the outset of the war,<ref name=Masterman>{{cite book |author=Masterman, John C|author-link=John Cecil Masterman |title=The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945 |publisher=Australian National University Press |isbn=978-0-7081-0459-0 |year=1972|orig-year=1945}}</ref> and the LCS was able to use double agents to send back misleading information about Allied invasion plans.<ref name=Ambrose>{{cite magazine|author=Ambrose, Stephen E.|title=Eisenhower, the Intelligence Community, and the D-Day Invasion|author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose|magazine=The Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=64|number=4|page=269|issn=0043-6534|year = 1981|publisher = Wisconsin Historical Society}}</ref> The use of visual deception, including mock tanks and other military hardware had been developed during the [[North Africa campaign]]. Mock hardware was created for ''Bodyguard''; in particular, dummy landing craft were stockpiled to give the impression that the invasion would take place near [[Calais]].

The Operation was a strategic success and the [[Operation Overlord|Normandy landing]]s caught German defences unaware. Continuing deception, portraying the landings as a diversion from a forthcoming main invasion in the Calais region, led Hitler into delaying transferring forces from Calais to the real battleground for nearly seven weeks.<ref>{{cite book|author=Latimer, John|author-link=Jon Latimer|title=Deception in War|publisher=New York: Overlook Press|year=2001|isbn=978-1-58567-381-0|page=238}}</ref>