Hoodwinking Hitler: The Normandy Deception

(Hardback)

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Description

Despite the mighty invasion force the Americans and British mustered in England in early 1944, a top Allied general warned: "If the Germans have even a 48-hour advance notice of the time and place of the Normandy landings, we could suffer a monstrous catastrophe!" For his part, Adolf Hitler planned to inflict such a massive bloodbath on the invaders that the Allies would agree to a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany. "Hoodwinking Hitler" is the account of a colossal and incredibly intricate deception scheme created and implemented by ingenious and diabolical minds, machinations intended to bamboozle the Germans on true Allied invasion plans. Facets of the global chicanery included electronic spoofing, double agents, diplomatic deceit, whispering campaigns, femmes fatales, camouflage, strategic feints, the French underground, murder plots, phony military installations, misleading bombing raids, sabotage, propaganda, traps, fake codes and kidnap schemes. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies gained total surprise, mostly because of what Winston Churchill called "the greatest hoax in history". But not until two months later, when the Allies broke out of Normandy, did the deception scheme pass into history. By that time, ultimate Allied victory in Europe was assured.

Reviews

Breuer brings together the elements of deception in a compelling way, revealing more fully than individual narratives have done just how brilliant the Allied deception actually was. (Military Book Club Dual Selection for May.)-Kirkus
Breuer has written the most complete account on the Normandy deception. Hoodwinking Hitler is a major contribution to the historiography of World War II and mandatory reading for anyone desiring to learn more about the largest and most successful amphibious operation in history.-Military Review
For larger military collections, it's a solid addition.-Booklist
In this account of the deception about the timing and locale of the June 1944 Normandy invasion of Europe, there is plotting galore interwined with agents, double agents, code-breakers, intelligence, counterintelligence, camouflage, and diplomacy . . . . Each plan is treated in depth in meticulous style right into the assault waves on Normandy. This is for libraries with a World War II clientele.-Library Journal
"Breuer brings together the elements of deception in a compelling way, revealing more fully than individual narratives have done just how brilliant the Allied deception actually was. (Military Book Club Dual Selection for May.)"-Kirkus
"Breuer has written the most complete account on the Normandy deception. Hoodwinking Hitler is a major contribution to the historiography of World War II and mandatory reading for anyone desiring to learn more about the largest and most successful amphibious operation in history."-Military Review
"For larger military collections, it's a solid addition."-Booklist
"In this account of the deception about the timing and locale of the June 1944 Normandy invasion of Europe, there is plotting galore interwined with agents, double agents, code-breakers, intelligence, counterintelligence, camouflage, and diplomacy . . . . Each plan is treated in depth in meticulous style right into the assault waves on Normandy. This is for libraries with a World War II clientele."-Library Journal

Author Bio

WILLIAM B. BREUER landed with the first assault waves in Normandy on D-Day, then fought across Europe. Later, he founded a daily newspaper on a string in Rolla, Missouri, and after that, a highly successful public relations firm in St. Louis, Missouri. He has been writing books full time since 1982, twelve of which are now out in paperback, and eight of which have become main selections of the Military Book Club.