Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:27:27-2:28:01

What Germany knew about D-Day

Allied deception did not hide that an invasion was coming; it misdirected Germany about its timing and location.

D-DayMilitary IntelligenceOperation FortitudeWorld War II
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Question

Did Germany know D-Day was coming, and did it have spies in Britain?

Short answer

Germany expected an invasion, but Allied control of its British agent network helped deceive it about when and where the attack would fall.

Notes

The invasion itself was not a secret: Germany knew that the Western Allies intended to return to continental Europe. The deception problem was to conceal the date and landing area. Britain's double-agent system had effectively taken control of German human intelligence in the United Kingdom. The controlled network supplied the information Britain wanted German intelligence to receive.