How did Germany react to seeing Warspite at D-Day after the Fritz X attack?
Short answerGerman observers were probably surprised because their compromised intelligence network had never established how badly Warspite was damaged or how far her repair had progressed.
NotesWarspite's presence after the guided-bomb attack was surprising because German intelligence had not accurately measured the battleship's damage or repair. The espionage network in Britain was thoroughly compromised, leaving Germany dependent in part on media accounts and agents controlled by the Allies. The episode links damage assessment to the broader failure of German human intelligence before D-Day.