Hardly, since zippers are YKK. :::d&r:::
Actually “D-Day” was “Operation: Overlord”. D-Day is actually the day of the invasion. H-Hour is the hour the invasion starts. You get the idea.
Actually I should point out the Overlord was a smashing success while Market Garden (which IMHO is a shitty name) failed.
D-Day was not the name of an operation, but the day the operation was to take place. It was scheduled to start on H-Hour of D-Day.
I dub this thread “Operation nothing better to complain about”
Ah, roger that, Agent Ekers: we copy “fucking moron” loud and clear.
Be advised, however, that this thread has been renamed. In accordance with the directive to have designations that are neutral and do not give indication as to target or manpower, this thread is now designated as Operation Farting Buffalo.
OK, first thing go to a used bookstore and buy a copy of my out-of-print ‘Codeword Dictionary,’ a classic in the field, in fact the only book in the field. That makes me the World’s Leading Authority.
(Do not even mention Arkin’s screwy book. Really.)
OK, codewords were first used (in a limited way) in WWI. Before that no one person had to keep too many operations or plans in his head.
Different countries have used different systems over time. The Americans use a number of systems and at lower levels of command, have name operations as the spirit move them. Anyway, rather than try to put these things into a system to help us understand them, it is better to just accept there really is no overall system.
The raid on Dieppe was planned as Operation Rutter (which at least sounds dirty), but the name was nixed by Churchill who realized it was an unsuitable name. He did not want a husband or son killed in Rutter. It became Jubilee instead.
So we can see from darn near the get-go political types have monkied with code names for public relations purposes.
I was (very tangentially) involved in the American invasion of Panama. The rules gave Southern Command a block of letters we could use for names, and we had already used all the good names (my favorite was ‘Blast Furnace’). So this major operation got the lousy name ‘Blue Spoon.’
George Bush (the real one, not this one) decided it was a silly name and dubbed it 'Just Cause." (Why did we invade? Just 'Cause.)
Consider for a moment the capture of Saddam a year or so ago. Some low-level guy gave the operation the name ‘Red Dawn’ from the movie. Had we known it was going down in history (unlike every other capture Saddam mission up to then) we would have given it a neat name.
You might want to check out the page of Military Operations on the Wikipedia. It is not my entire tome, but a good sample.
As minor note, Mike Frost’s memoir, Spyworld, documenting his years working for the Communications Security Establishment (a Canadian spy agency, though its mandate has been altered somewhat since Frost’s time), describes various operations which he named after his own daughters, including Operation Julia.
It’s not as cool-sounding as Operation Thunderbolt or Operation Fear-of-God, but it got the job done.
Codenames used to be different in order to deceive enemy spies no ?
If I remember… tanks got that name due to attempts to deceive spies. A spy finding out about an operation called “Market Garden” would certainly be deceived… or not gain anything from the name itself. D-Day was called “Overlord” which wasn’t as discrete but still didn’t give away much.
I guess its the same with "Just Cause" and "Operation Freedom"... its still all about deceiving. ;)There’s no Vietnam War operations listed!
Smuck you and the horse you rode in on! 
Mind leasing. What an interesting concept. What better way for some folks to buy a clue? One can readily imagine sales pitches: This here one is barely used-why it’s been opened only once or twice. 
Well, it was a convenient label that everyone in the know could use but which ideally carried no indication of the operation’s nature or scope. I’ve no doubt there were many fake operations that existed only on paper i.e. “Operation Tagline will require two addition infantry platoons” transmitted “accidentally” in the clear, when there was no such operation.
“Overlord” was a bit tricky, since it sounds cool and impressive, but I’ll bet the expected historical significance of the invasion was a factor. Ironically, the name “D-Day” is much more familiar, even through the phrase refers generically to the key day of any military operation.
After years of TV watching and video-game playing, I probably couldn’t even get my security deposit back.
Actually, there are a lot of example of deception operations which existed on the radio only. Consider:
COCKADE (Allied 42) The overall 1943 Allied deception plan for Europe. The goal was to convince the Germans that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1943. By forcing the Germans to redeploy troops from the Eastern Front, COCKADE was aimed at reducing pressure on the Soviet Union. Included three sequential elements: STARKEY, WADHAM, and TINDALL. STARKEY falsely depicted the threat of a large British invasion near Bourlogne in mid-September. An American attack (WADHAM) would supposedly follow three weeks later. After these two phony invasions were “canceled,” five divisions would be diverted for a false invasion of Norway (TINDALL). See HARLEQUIN, DUNDAS and LARKHILL.
FORTITUDE (Allied 44) Part of BODYGUARD, the overall deception operations in support of the invasion of northern France (OVERLORD). FORTITUDE had two subelements; FORTITUDE NORTH and FORTITUDE SOUTH. FORTITUDE NORTH was a mostly-British effort that falsely depicted a threat of an invasion of Scandinavia by forces in Scotland (See TINDALL). The key portion of FORTITUDE SOUTH was QUICKSILVER which depicted a fictitious “First United States Army Group” commanded by George Patton aimed at invading France at the Pas de Calais (see STARKEY).
It is remarkable how well deceptions work.
Well Paul… the allies in a way didn’t have anything but blanks to shoot… and so they shot a lot of blanks in order to distract the Nazi Juggernaut !
Well, there is more than that. Ever see one of those (perfectly factual) listings that the Soviets faced (some huge number) German divisions, while the Western Allies faced only (some small number)?
True as far as it goes, but the West also deserves credit for the considerable number of Germans tied up in Scandinavia and The Balkans.
As Some Smart Chinese Guy said, the best way to win a battle is to not fight it at all. The Germans seemed to be especially vulnerable to deception, and the Allies got really, really good at playing them like a fiddle.
That being said, the Iraqis also fell for just about every deception we tossed their way. (Of course the reverse also seems to be true.)
In any case, deception is am American speciality. We like doing it and we do it pretty darn well.
Funny, I’d heard otherwise.
heh.
Who the fuck cares what they call it? If there’s a job to be done, by God, it’s gotta be done. If it ‘seems’ like a marketing ploy to call it something more beneficial, that’s all up to the person percieving the marketing. I could care less if you called it ‘Operation HELL FROZE OVER, SO BOMB THE SOVIETS’ or ‘Operation GOAT FELCH’. We’re still gonna go to work.
In other words, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Judge it on it’s merits and objectives.
Tripler
Who the hell cares what it’s called?
Operation Rosebud.