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'''Operation Cascade''' was the codename for an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[military deception]] operation during the [[Western Desert Campaign]] of [[World War II]] for North Africa. Operation Cascade was one of the first successful Allied deception operations in World War II, and provided valuable experience for later operations.

In 1942, the British forces in the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II|Mediterranean and Middle East]] were very weak. To deter the [[Axis powers|Axis]] from attacking, a deception operation was planned. This operation was started by [[MI9#.27A.27 Force|'A' force]] under command of [[Colonel (United_Kingdom)|Colonel]] [[Dudley Clarke]]<ref name=Howard33>Howard, pg 33</ref> in 1941, and in 1942 eventually evolved into ''Operation Cascade''.<ref name=Howard43>Howard, pg 43</ref> The goal of the operation was to create a false [[order of battle]] in order to keep the Axis guessing as to the strength of the Allies in the region, by use of bogus troop formations, radio traffic and [[double agents]].

==Implementation==
In 1941, [[Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force]], the British organization responsible for army deception operations in the Middle East, had already created three bogus formations to deceive the enemy in the Mediterranean Theatre: the [[1st SAS Brigade]],<ref name=Howard34>Howard, pg 34</ref> the [[10th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|10th Armoured Division]] in the Western Desert, and the 7th Division to guard Cyprus. This fictional build-up was expanded into a systematic plan to inflate British strength throughout the Middle East. In March 1942, the real strength stood at 5 Armoured and 10 Infantry divisions. ''Cascade'' intended to increase this strength, for the benefit of enemy intelligence, to 8 Armoured and 21 infantry divisions.<ref name=Howard43/><ref name=Crowdy>Crowdy, pg 168</ref>

Bogus units had to be created, and actually shipped from their bases in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. An [[order of battle]] had to be drawn up for these units, crests and signs had to be created, and some form of physical presence was needed to convince enemy agents that the units existed.<ref name=Howard43/> False radio traffic for enemy [[signals intelligence]], and information gathered by civilian informers in Egypt, increased the Axis impression that these units were real and present in the theatre. Most of the civilian agents, however, were [[double agent]]s controlled by 'A' force through a network called Cheese.<ref name=Latimer155>Latimer, Pg. 155</ref>

Enemy documents, captured during and after the battle of El Alamein, showed that ''Cascade'' was a success. An analysis by 'A' force, published on 19 November 1942, showed that enemy intelligence overestimated the armoured strength of the British forces by 40%, and infantry strength by 45%.<ref name=Howard44>Howard, pg. 44</ref>

==Influence==
Operation Cascade gave the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] valuable experience in planning deception operations, which was later used to good effect in the deception operations covering the [[Operation Overlord|invasion of Europe]] ([[Operation Bodyguard|D-Day landings in Normandy]], and the [[Operation Span|invasion of Southern France]]).<ref name=Howard43/> The British forces built up during Operation Cascade were later used in [[Operation Zeppelin (Allies)|Operation Zeppelin]] to tie down [[Axis powers|Axis forces]] in the [[Balkans]] and [[Greece]], and deter the Axis from using these forces against the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]], ([[Allied invasion of Sicily|Operation Husky]]).<ref name=Crowdy2>Crowdy, pg 281</ref> In 1944, the actual Allied strength in the [[Mediterranean Theater of Operations|Mediterranean]] totalled about 52 divisions; Axis intelligence accepted a strength of about 70 divisions in the theatre.<ref name=Howard2>Howard, pg 137</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Operation Bertram]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Jon Latimer]], ''Deception in War'', London: John Murray, 2001
* Howard, Michael Eliot. Hinsley, Francis Harry. ''British Intelligence in the Second World War: Volume 5, Strategic Deception''. Cambridge University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|978-0-521-40145-6}}
* Latimer, Jon. ''Alamein''. Harvard University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01016-1}}.
* Crowdy, Terry. ''Deceiving Hitler: Double Cross and Deception in World War II''. Osprey Publishing, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-84603-135-9}}.

{{Allied Military Deception in World War II}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cascade}}
[[Category:World War II deception operations]]
[[Category:United Kingdom intelligence operations]]
[[Category:Western Desert campaign]]

Operation Cascade - Revision history

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