Army Gen. George S. Patton's key role in the Normandy invasion during World War II didn't emerge until after that operation, when he took command of the Third U.S. Army.
Yet, Patton did bring a crucial component to the invasion plans that included the initiative Operation Fortitude, said Clyde Smith, a retired Savannah River Site engineer who spoke at a meeting of the Aiken Senior Men's Club on Wednesday.
Essentially, Allied commanders set up the operation, which Smith calls a "Bodyguard of Lies," based on the code name.
Patton's presence helped convince Adolph Hitler and his generals the invasion would arrive anywhere but Normandy, Smith said.
Patton was the perfect choice; he was so well-known and respected by America and the Allies that Hitler could never have imagined that he functioned as a decoy, Smith said.
The Allies knew they would face extensive challenges - fortified beaches, underwater obstacles and more. During a visit to Normandy in 2013, Smith could imagine the Germans' guns - so large and foreboding the Germans had only to worry about running out of ammunition.
Those concerns led to an extraordinary effort to make the "lies" possible, convincing Hitler that the invasion would occur at Calais, Smith said.
Each component had to be based on deception, verification, executable and consistency, "giving the same story all the way through," he said.
The Allied commanders arranged for fake radio traffic and even a fake tank and phony planes made from scraps that fooled German pilots as they flew over. The pilots saw lighted roads to make it appear the roads served as landing fields. All of it looked real from the air, and the Germans even bombed an oil refinery that was nothing of the sort.
Through another strategy, an imprisoned German general was allowed to return to Germany with the consent of Hitler. The general told him all he witnessed, unaware that all of it was, in effect, a con, Smith said.
When the Normandy invasion began a month earlier than expected, the Germans had 27 divisions that were pinned down and had not brought sufficient provisions. They returned to Germany and were tied up there most of the war, Smith said.
"It really was a bodyguard of lies, and it was sold to Hitler," he said. "It helped us win the war."
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since 2001.