First United States Army Group (often abbreviated FUSAG) was a fictitious (paper command)

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

Army Group An army group is a military organization consisting of several field army, field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organizatio ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

prior to

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, part of Operation Quicksilver, created to

deceive Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

about where the Allies would land in France. To attract

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

attention, prominent US general

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...

was placed in command of the fabricated formation.

History

First U.S. Army Group was activated in London in 1943 as the planning formation for the Allied invasion of France under General

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (12 February 1893 – 8 April 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He wa ...

. When

Twelfth United States Army Group The Twelfth United States Army group, Army Group was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field, commanding four Field army, field armies at its peak in 1945: First United States Army, United States Army C ...

was activated on 1 August 1944, Bradley and his staff transferred to the headquarters of the new army group. Despite a lack of personnel, FUSAG continued to exist on paper as part of the deception of Operation Quicksilver. In order to make the German forces believe the Allied invasion would come at

Pas de Calais The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows, is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental ...

, the phantom force was stationed at

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, directly across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

from the site. To further attract the Axis commanders' attention, General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

placed

in command of the phantom force and increased the formation's apparent size to be larger than the British-led

21st Army Group The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established ...

under

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

. Patton was considered by the Germans to be a formidable offensive commander; he was temporarily unemployed as punishment for slapping a battle-fatigued soldier in Sicily. The deception worked so well that significant German forces remained in the Pas de Calais region for seven weeks after the real invasion at

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

to defend against what they thought would be the true invasion force. Agents infiltrated by Germany into the United Kingdom who became double agents acting for Britain in the

Double Cross System The Double-Cross System or XX System was a World War II counter-espionage and deception operation of the British Security Service (MI5). Nazi agents in Britain – real and false – were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselv ...

—notably

Juan Pujol García Juan Pujol García (; 14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), also known as Joan Pujol i García (), was a Spanish spy who acted as a double agent loyal to Great Britain against Nazi Germany during World War II, when he relocated to Britain t ...

(Garbo)—played a vital role in persuading the Germans that FUSAG was real. After it had become clear that Normandy, not Calais, was the invasion site, to preserve the credibility of the Double Cross network's agents in spite of the totally false information they had persuaded the Germans to believe, the Germans were persuaded that FUSAG had been real, but had been disbanded and attached to the forces at Normandy because the Normandy "diversion" had been so successful that the Calais landing had become unnecessary. Ghost Army

Subordinate units

What follows is the order of battle for the First United States Army Group at one point during

Operation Fortitude Operation Fortitude was a military deception operation by the Allied nations as part of Operation Bodyguard, an overall deception strategy during the buildup to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two subplans, North and So ...

. The various formations changed as the operation continued in order to mislead Axis intelligence. * 1st Army Group

First United States Army Group ** 4th_Army_WW1

British Fourth Army The Fourth Army was a field army that formed part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. The Fourth Army was formed on 5 February 1916 under the command of General Sir Henry Rawlinson to carry out the main British contrib ...

; fictitious (was real in WWI) – Edinburgh *** UK 6th Airborne Division Patch

British 2nd Airborne Division; fictitious – Bulford *** VII_Corps_WW1

British VII Corps; notional – Dundee **** US_55th_Infantry_Division_SVG

55th Infantry Division (United States) The US 55th Infantry Division was a 'phantom division' created in October 1943 to cover the departure of the 5th Infantry Division (United States), US 5th Infantry Division from Iceland. An entirely notional force, its existence was reported to ...

; fictitious – Iceland **** 80th Division; fictitious – southern England **** Ranger_Tab

7th, 9th, and 10th US Ranger Battalions; fictitious – IcelandThaddeus Holt. ''The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War''. Phoenix. 2005. *** II_corps

British II Corps; notional – Stirling **** 55 inf div -vector2

55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division The 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army's Territorial Army (TA) that was formed in 1920 and existed through the Second World War, although it did not see combat. The division had originally ...

; notional — Three Bridges **** 58th Infantry Division; fictitious — Gravesend **** 35th tank brigade

35th Armoured Brigade; notional — Maresfield **

US 14th Army; fictitious — Little Waltham *** USA - 9 ABN DIV

9th Airborne Division; fictitious — Leicester *** 21st Airborne Division SSI

21st Airborne Division; fictitious — Fulbeck *** US XXXIII Corps SSI

XXXIII Corps; fictitious — HQ Bury St Edmunds **** US 11th Infantry Division

11th Infantry Division; fictitious — Bury St Edmunds **** 48th Infantry Division; fictitious — Woodbridge **** 25th US Armored Division SSI

25th Armored Division; fictitious — East Dereham *** XXXVII Corps; fictitious — HQ Chelmsford **** WWI17D

17th Infantry Division; fictitious — Hatfield & Peverel **** 59 INF DIV SSI

59th Infantry Division; fictitious — Ipswich **

Ninth United States Army The Ninth Army was a field army of the United States Army, most recently garrisoned at Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. It was the United States Army Service Component Command of United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or AFRICOM). Activated just ...

; fictitious until 15 April 1944, when the name was taken by a newrealUS field army, which deployed to battle September 1944

References

External links

GlobalSecurity: First US Army Group

Omar Nelson Bradley, Lt. General FUSAG 12TH AG
– Omar Bradley's D-Day June 6, 1944 Maps restored, preserved and displayed at Historical Registry {{Allied Military Deception in World War II Operation Quicksilver (deception plan) formations 01

History

Subordinate units

See also

References

Further reading

External links