Operation Copperhead

Copperhead
Part of Operation Bodyguard
Copperhead formed one of the subordinate plans of Operation Bodyguard
Operational scope	Strategic deception
Location	Gibraltar, Algiers
Planned	1944
Planned by	Dudley Clarke, London Controlling Section
Objective	To confuse German intelligence as to the location of the proposed D-Day landings.
Date	26 May 1944

Operation Copperhead was a small military deception operation run by the British during the Second World War. It formed part of Operation Bodyguard, the cover plan for the invasion of Normandy in 1944, and was intended to mislead German intelligence as to the location of General Bernard Montgomery. The operation was conceived by Dudley Clarke in early 1944 after he watched the film Five Graves to Cairo. Following the war M. E. Clifton James wrote a book about the operation, I Was Monty's Double. It was later adapted into a film, with James in the lead role.

The German high command expected Montgomery (one of the best-known Allied commanders) to play a key role in any cross-channel bridgehead. Clarke and the other deception planners reasoned that a high-profile appearance outside the United Kingdom would suggest that an Allied invasion was not imminent. An appropriate look-alike was found, 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. It was executed some time before D-Day, and in the midst of several other Allied deceptions. German intelligence might have suspected a trick, or not attributed much importance to the visit.

In preparation for the 1944 invasion of Normandy, the Allied nations conducted a complex series of deceptions under the codename Bodyguard. 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, a notional army to threaten Pas de Calais, along with political and visual deceptions to communicate a fictional Allied battle plan. Copperhead was a small portion of Bodyguard conceived by Dudley Clarke. Earlier in the war Clarke had pioneered the idea of strategic deception, forming a deception department in Cairo named 'A' Force. Clarke and 'A' Force were not officially in charge of Bodyguard planning (a role that fell to the London Controlling Section), but because of the location of the deception the Cairo planners organised much of the operation.