How was Patton utilized prior to D-Day?

Question

For summer history homework, we're supposed to watch Patton (the movie). One of the questions for it is: How was Patton utilized prior to D-Day?

Has anyone seen Patton? Does anyone know how he was "utilized prior to D-Day"? I've watched it twice now, and I can't find it on Google or anything.

Help please!

Answer 1

Patton had been very successful in Northern Africa fighting against Rommel. Because of this, he was feared by the Germans. They believed that he would be picked to head up the invasion.

The allies realized this -- so played into it. They created a phantom army (the 1st Army -- which didn't exist) and put Patton in charge of it. They reported his comings & goings and even had double agents report back to Germany that he was going to invade through Scandinavia.

The Germans bought into this and completely missed the fact that Eisenhower was building the invasion force elsewhere.

Answer 2

Here's a good article about the phony army that Patton was in charge of before the Normandy invasion. The deception worked, and was partly responsible for the Allies' success on D-Day.

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1297651