In answer to Mr Hawkins...

The enemy plans were thrown into a disarray when Winston Churchill went against the many traitors who signed the peace agreement which was drawn up following the early allied defeat at Dunkirk in June 1940.

The plans to invade Russia, codenamed "Barbarossa" were well already underway at the start of the war and Hitler was keen not to have to delay or divert military resources and fight Britain as well. Fighting on two fronts had had precisely this effect during the first World War.

The invasion at Shingle Street was hastily planned and a dummy plan codenamed "Operation Sealion" was drawn up at the same time. German intelligence allowed rumours of Operation Sealion to circulate in an attempt to draw our attention to the Kent coast around Dover and to concentrate our defences there.

British intelligence was immediately suspicious of such an obvious ploy, a route between Dover and Callais being considered too easy for us to have anticipated anyway. We were also aware that a concentration of forces on the south coast would have left the east coast vulnerable.
In an apparent double-bluff, we fooled the enemy into believing we had created a second front on the Norfolk coast. A mockup army base was created there from wood and canvas sheets. This had the desired effect of fooling the Germans into believing that we considered Norfolk was the intended landing area, whilst keeping Shingle Street a closely guarded secret all the time.
The mockup base in Norfolk was also considered a sufficient threat by the enemy to warrant armoured divisions in Callais being diverted well away from Normandy, where allied landings were to take place in 1944.

Ronald Ashford.    August 2006