General Sir Bernard Montgomery in England, 1943

Operation Copperhead was a small

military deception Military deception (MILDEC) is an attempt by a military unit to gain an advantage during warfare by misleading adversary decision makers into taking action or inaction that creates favorable conditions for the deceiving force. This is usually ac ...

operation run by the British during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It formed part of

Operation Bodyguard Operation Bodyguard was the code name for a World War II deception strategy employed by the Allied states before the 1944 invasion of northwest Europe. Bodyguard set out an overall stratagem for misleading the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht as to ...

, the cover plan for the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

in 1944, and was intended to mislead German intelligence as to the location of General

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 t ...

. The operation was conceived by

Dudley Clarke Brigadier Dudley Wrangel Clarke, ( – ) was an officer in the British Army, known as a pioneer of military deception operations during the Second World War. His ideas for combining fictional orders of battle, visual deception and double ...

in early 1944 after he watched the film ''

Five Graves to Cairo ''Five Graves to Cairo'' is a 1943 war film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter. Set in World War II, it is one of a number of films based on Lajos Bíró's 1917 play ''Hotel Imperial: Színmű négy felvonásba ...

''. Following the war M. E. Clifton James wrote a book about the operation, ''

I Was Monty's Double ''I Was Monty's Double'' (released in the US as ''The Counterfeit General Montgomery''M. E. Clifton James, who spent a short time with Montgomery to familiarise himself with the general's mannerisms. On 26 May 1944, James flew first to Gibraltar and then to Algiers, making appearances where the Allies knew German intelligence agents would spot him. He then flew secretly to Cairo and remained in hiding until Montgomery's public appearance in Normandy following the invasion. The operation did not appear to have any significant impact on German plans and was not reported high up the

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

. It was executed some time before D-Day, and in the mid of several other Allied deceptions. German intelligence might have suspected a trick, or not attributed much importance to the visit.

Background

In preparation for the 1944

, the Allied nations conducted a complex series of deceptions under the codename

Bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, w ...

. The overall aim of the plan was to confuse the German high command as to the exact location and timing of the invasion. Significant time was spent constructing the

First United States Army Group First United States Army Group (often abbreviated FUSAG) was a fictitious (paper command) Allied Army Group in World War II prior to D-Day, part of Operation Quicksilver, created to deceive the Germans about where the Allies would land in Fran ...

, a notional army to threaten

Pas de Calais The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...

, along with political and visual deceptions to communicate a fictional Allied battle plan. Copperhead was a small portion of Bodyguard conceived by

. Earlier in the war Clarke had pioneered the idea of strategic deception, forming a deception department in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

named 'A' Force. Clarke and 'A' Force were not officially in charge of Bodyguard planning (a role that fell to the

London Controlling Section The London Controlling Section (LCS) was a British secret department established in September 1941, under Oliver Stanley, with a mandate to coordinate Allied strategic military deception during World War II. The LCS was formed within the Joint ...

), but because of the location of the deception the Cairo planners organised much of the operation. On a visit to Naples in January 1944 Clarke had seen the movie ''

'', in which actor

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...

makes a brief appearance. The film involves one character impersonating another and Clarke suggested attempting the same trick in real life. He proposed an operation to mislead German commanders as to Montgomery's location in the days immediately before the Normandy landings (codenamed

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

). Montgomery was one of the most prominent Allied commanders and the German high command expected him to be present for any invasion of France. Clarke hoped Montgomery's apparent presence in

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and Africa would lend support to the idea that the Allies might be planning landings in southern France, as part of Operation Vendetta, rather than across the Channel. While in London, in February 1944, Clarke, the London Controlling Section and

Ops (B) Ops (B) was an Allied military deception planning department, based in the United Kingdom, during the Second World War. It was set up under Colonel Jervis-Read in April 1943 as a department of Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) ...

drafted Copperhead in support of Vendetta.

Operation

Mander, the actor from ''Five Graves to Cairo'', was located in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

but found to be too tall in real life. Another look-alike was identified but before he could be drafted into the operation he broke a leg in a motorbike accident. Eventually, Lieutenant-Colonel J. V. B. Jervis-Reid, head of Ops (B), spotted a photograph of Meyrick Clifton James in the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

''. James, an Australian, had spent 25 years as an actor before the war, and at the time was assigned to the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before t ...

. Colonel

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

, a well-known British actor, was asked to contact James and offer him a

screen test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a came ...

for future army films. When he arrived at the meeting, James was told his true role. James was not a perfect stand-in for Montgomery. He had lost a finger during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, so a prosthetic had to be made. He had also never flown before, so the London Controlling Section's

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series ...

took James up for a test flight to make sure he did not suffer from air sickness. Finally, James both drank heavily and smoked cigars, while Montgomery was a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

and disliked smoking. The deception planners were worried that James might be spotted drinking, spoiling the performance. Despite these hitches, and with Montgomery's approval, the plan went forward. To get into character, James spent some time with the general, posing as a journalist, to study his mannerisms. Allied deceivers used their double agent network to circulate the idea that Montgomery would command ground forces during the invasion. Then, on 26 May 1944, James flew overnight from

RAF Northolt ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owners ...

, where the Germans maintained an observation post overlooking the airport from across the Spanish border. The plane had to circle for an hour before landing to allow James, who had smuggled a bottle of gin onto the flight, to sober up. He then attended breakfast with the British governor, Sir

Ralph Eastwood Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Ralph Eastwood, (10 May 1890 – 15 February 1959) was a senior British Army officer and Governor of Gibraltar during the Second World War. Early life Thomas Ralph Eastwood was born on 10 May 1890 at Canterbury in ...

, before departing again for the airfield. The Allies had arranged for Ignacio Molina Pérez, a Spanish envoy known to be a German spy, to visit Government House. After observing James's departure, Pérez hurriedly crossed the border to place a call to his German handler. James then flew to

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, where he was publicly paraded through the airport and driven to meet General Maitland Wilson, ostensibly for a meeting to discuss operations against the south of France. Instead, he was moved quietly to a remote villa by 'A' Force's Rex Hamer. Rumours suggest this was because James had been spotted smoking and staggering around Algiers, so the deceivers decided to cut his appearances short. Whatever the reason, the next day, out of character, James was flown to Cairo. He was to remain hidden there until the public disclosure of Montgomery's presence in France. Meanwhile, double agents in North Africa were used to extend the masquerade for a few more days, by hinting Montgomery was still in the region.

Impact

The impact of Copperhead is unclear. The visit was reported up the German chain of command, and some double agents later received requests for information about Montgomery's movements. There is no indication that Montgomery's appearance affected German views of the imminent invasion threat. Writing in 2011, historian Joshua Levine attributes this to the fact that the deception was carried out ten days before D-Day, arguing that there would be no reason for a flying visit to North Africa to preclude an imminent invasion. Another factor was that, in early May 1944, an uncontrolled agent based in Spain (who sold fictional intelligence to the Germans) had passed on details of a meeting in Gibraltar between several high-ranking Allied officers. Documents found after the war indicate that the Germans found this information suspect, and may have treated Montgomery's appearance as equally so. Although double agents received several urgent requests from the

Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...

about his whereabouts it does not appear that this information was passed on to the German command in France. According to captured enemy generals, German intelligence believed that it was Montgomery, though they still guessed that it was a feint.Niv: The Authorized Biography of David Niven by Graham Lord, Orion Books, 2003. p. 123 The Bodyguard deception had confused the German command as to Allied intentions and the apparent arrival of Montgomery in Gibraltar added little to the picture. James did not enjoy the experience. Although he received equivalent pay (£10 per day) to Montgomery during the operation, it had been a stressful assignment. Following Montgomery's public appearance on the Normandy beachhead, James flew back to England and resumed his role within the Pay Corps and was warned not to discuss the operation.

, in his memoirs, commented that he felt James had been treated "shabbily" for his efforts.

Later depictions

In 1954 James wrote an account of the operation, entitled ''

I Was Monty's Double ''I Was Monty's Double'' (released in the US as ''The Counterfeit General Montgomery''film of the same name. James starred as himself, alongside

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as an intelligence agent.

References

Bibliography