First United States Army Group
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| First United States Army Group | |
|---|---|
 Insiginia of First United States Army Group |
|
| Active | Operation Quicksilver |
| Country | United States |
| Type | Army Group |
| Role | diversion phantom formation |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Omar N. Bradley George S. Patton |
First United States Army Group was a fictitious Army Group invented by the Allies in World War II prior to D-Day, as part of Operation Quicksilver, which was designed to deceive the Germans about where the invasion of France would take place. To attract Axis attention, George S. Patton was placed in command of the fabricated unit.
Contents |
[edit] History
First U.S. Army Group—often abbreviated FUSAG—was activated in London in 1943 as the planning formation for the Allied invasion of France under General Omar Bradley. When Twelfth United States Army Group 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 phantom force was stationed at Dover, directly across the English Channel from the site. To further attract the Axis commanders' attention, General Dwight D. Eisenhower placed George Patton in command of the phantom force as well as increasing the formation's size to be larger than that of the British-led Twenty-first Army Group under Bernard Montgomery. The deception worked so well that even long after the invasion at Normandy, German forces continued waiting for what they thought would be the true invasion force.
[edit] Subordinate units
(formations were shifted in and out of FUSAG periodically to aid deception efforts and to accommodate actual needs)
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Jon Latimer, Deception in War, London: John Murray, 2001
