R Force was a British deception force during

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 ...

that consisted of armoured vehicles, field engineers and a wireless unit. 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 ...

it attempted to exaggerate the strength of Allied forces in Britain, and deceive German intelligence about Allied intentions. Later it performed a similar role during the fighting in Western Europe in 1944–45. It was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David Strangeways.

History

Lieutenant Colonel David Strangeways served in the

North African Campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

with

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

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 doubl ...

's A Force, a special unit that used radio nets to give out false information, and decoy tanks and other vehicles to divert Axis forces away from the areas of Allied attack. Strangeways implemented a deception plan designed to fool the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

as to the time and place of the Allied invasion of North Africa. Later in the campaign, using a combination of bluff, boldness and speed Strangeways was able to seize the German headquarters at

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

before the enemy could destroy their secret documents. In 1943, after

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir

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 ...

took command of

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 ...

, he requested that Strangeways take charge of R-Force, another deception force organised along the lines of A Force for the Allied invasion of France. Strangeways chose the name R Force in the hope that if the Germans discovered it, they might assume that the R stood for

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

. Indeed, it could operate as one, as it was equipped with three companies of light scout cars and a support company. These were equipped with special speakers so they could emulate the sounds of tanks in battle. R Force took over a number of

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

camouflage units. To their number was added personnel from "Turner's Department", a deception organisation led by Colonel John Turner, that been engaged in the construction of decoy airfields and other military sites. No. 5 Wireless Group was formed in January 1944 to provide R Force with a communications deception capability. Equipped with special radios and recording devices, it could simulate the radio traffic of a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

. R Force's strength eventually rose to over 1,200.

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

personnel serving with the unit wore a sleeve patch with a white R on a black background, while Royal Engineers wore one with a blue background. Strangeways devised and implemented the deception Operation Quicksilver, a significant part of

, with the intent of fooling the Germans that the Allied invasion would take place in the

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

area. After the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, R Force moved to the continent where it operated under the 21st Army Group. It was one of the first units to enter

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, and later conducted a deception campaign for the crossing of the Rhine River. R Force's exploits were dramatised in the 2004 TV drama ''Fooling Hitler'' starring

Jason Durr Jason Durr (born 2 December 1967) is a British actor of theatre, television and film. Durr made his television debut as Alex Hartman in 1990 in the sci-fi drama '' Jupiter Moon'' in 1990 and went on to star as Mike Bradley in the Yorkshire-base ...

Notes

References

* * {{Allied Military Deception in World War II Ad hoc units and formations of the British Army in World War II Military deception during World War II