ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: “The D-Day Deception” – with National WWII Museum Curator Corey Graff

Summary

Cory Graff (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter, LinkedIn) to discuss the D-Day deception operation to mask the landings at Normandy. Cory is a Curator at The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• Deception tactics used by the Allies 
• The core deception operations BODYGUARD and FORTITUDE 
• The German secret agents who became British “double agents” 
• The “Ghost Army” and General Patton’s fictitious First U.S. Army Group
• Intelligence in the World War II Museum

Reflections

• Appearance and intention
• The essential unknowability of the world

And much, much more …

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

Quotes of the Week

“During the evenings, French Resistance is taking over and blowing up train tracks and sort of funneling people this way. And that's another thing to talk about when we talk about D-Day is, intelligence was gained from French citizens beforehand. And the night of the 5th & 6th, we witnessed something like a thousand points of sabotage within the area directed at the Germans.” – Cory Graff on the French Resistance’s contribution to D-Day 

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

Andrew’s Recommendation

• The D-Day episode of the landmark documentary The World at War (“Morning: June-August 1944 (Ep. 17 of 26)”)

*SpyCasts*

• St. Ermin’s Hotel, London – The History of a Legendary Spy Site with Stephen Duffy (2023) 
• Hitler’s Trojan Horse – Nazi Intelligence with Nigel West (2023)
• Nazis on the Potomac with former National Park Service Chief Historian Bob Sutton (2022)
• The Nuclear Doomsday Machine – with Sean Maloney on Cold War Emergency Plans (2022) 

*Beginner Resources*

• Here’s what happened on D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken, CNN (2021) [1 min. video]
• When and How Did World War II End?, R. Wilde, ThoughtCo (2020 [Short article]
• The 10 Things You Need to Know about D-Day, Imperial War Museum (n.d.) [10 quick facts]

DEEPER DIVE

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

Primary Sources 

• General Eisenhower’s Order of the Day, National Archives (1944) 
• In Case of Failure Message from Gen. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Presidential Library (1944)
• Overlord – Anvil Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library (1944) 
• Report of the 82nd Airborne Division, “Operation Neptune”, Eisenhower Presidential Library (1944) 
• Neptune Monograph, The D-Day Story Museum (1944) 

*Wildcard Resource*

• The crossword panic of 1944!
• In the run up to D-Day important codenames such as “Omaha,” “Overlord,” “Mulberry,” and “Neptune,” appeared in the Daily Telegraph newspaper crossword puzzle. Was someone signaling the Allies plans to the Germans? We don’t think so...but one possible explanation involves loose-lipped soldiers, a WWI veteran schoolteacher, and some naughty schoolboys!

*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

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