ut any action, German power which could have spelled defeat for the invasion had been withheld. The rest of the armored reserve in France-five divisions-and the 19 divisions of the massive Fifteenth Army in the Pas de Calais, stood idle feeling that the main invasion was still to come. The next day, after word reached Hitler that German troops had found copies of U.S. operation orders indicating that the landing in Normandy constituted the main invasion, he ordered the panzer reserve into action, but Allied intelligence was ready for such an emergency. Through Ultra the Allied command learned of Hitler's orders, and through a compromised German agent known as Brutus, it sent a word that the American corps orders were a plant. The main invasion, Brutus reported, was still to come in the Pas de Calais. Hitler canceled his orders. Had Allied commanders known of the near-bankruptcy of troops on the German side, they would have had more cause for encouragement. The Seventh Army (German defense of Normandy) had thrown into the battle every major unit available. The commander of the Seventh Army was reluctant to commit any forces from the West (Brittany) to the invasion, fearful of a second Allied landing. Meanwhile, most German officials-their eyes blurred by Allied deception-continued to believe that a bigger landing was still to come in the Pas de Calais. In my opinion, the primary reason that the invasion worked was deception. D-Day was a tremendous achievement for British, Canadian and American fighting men, but it also owed an immeasurable debt to Ultra and to the deception that Ultra made possible....
