The quality of intelligence gathered may determine whether a war is won or lost. Such was the case before the invasion of Normandy, which was the turning point in World War II. The Allies put together an elaborate plan to attack the Axis powers with what history would record as the largest invasion fleet ever assembled. There would be five thousand ships, eleven thousand planes, and 150,000 troops. The code name for the plan was Operation Overlord.
The victory won that day on the beaches of France was due to the valor of those who landed on those beaches, on the blood shed by the thousands who were killed and wounded. But the enemy could have repulsed the attack and prolonged the war had it not been for an elaborate lie
To deceive the enemy and divert attention away from the actual invasion, the Allies formulated a deception with the code name Fortitude. The idea was to make it appear as though they were planning to focus the invasion on the Point d’Calais. To accomplish this, they established a paper army (the “First United States Army Group”) that supposedly was comprised of a million men and was under the command of General George S. Patton. Its armor included tanks and trucks made of plywood and inflatable rubber, which, when seen by the enemy from the air, appeared to be the real thing. The enemy fell for the ruse, and what resulted on June 6, 1944, is a matter of history. The army of the Allies breached the enemy’s heavily fortified defenses, and on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.
The devil also has a program of misinformation as he seeks to invade our souls and our families. During those critical days of World War II, Winston Churchill said that truth is so precious that it must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies. It occurs to me that our enemy has given that saying a twist. He wraps his deceptions in a thin skin of truth. He knocks on the doors of our homes, misrepresenting himself as a friend of the family and as a bearer of gifts. Lord, Save my Family, pp. 12-13.
