Operation Ferdinand

Background

Operation Ferdinand formed as part of Operation Bodyguard, a strategic military deception intended to confuse The Axis High Command leading up to The Normandy Landings in France. The allied nations invade Italy in September 1943 and by mid-1944 had pushed the Germans back to the Gothic line in the North of the country. A large part of the operation was handed to Eugene J Sweeney, an Irish-American career officer who had joined the operation in late 1943.