Question about d-day and code names
CLeggatt
the war. I know that the landings at Utah, Juno, Omaha, etc on June 6 were
called Operation Overlord. It has always been my impression that the
entirety of the d-day plan was called "Mickey Mouse." But I haven't been
able to find a shred of confirmation on the web. My father tells me that
Mickey Mouse was the code name for a false army set up in East Anglia to
keep the German forces ready in Holland, to divert attention from France.
This would certainly make sense of the now-common phrase "Mickey Mouse
operation" meaning cheap or fake, a sense not entirely attributable to
Disney's products. I haven't been able to verify this, either, though. The
people on this ng seem to be pretty informed, so does any one out there know
what Operation Mickey Mouse was, if anything, in WWII?
Thanks very much.
Claire Leggatt
steven j forsberg
>This would certainly make sense of the now-common phrase "Mickey Mouse
>operation" meaning cheap or fake, a sense not entirely attributable to
>Disney's products. I haven't been able to verify this, either, though. The
>people on this ng seem to be pretty informed, so does any one out there know
>what Operation Mickey Mouse was, if anything, in WWII?
I'm not familiar with a 'Mickey Mouse'. From its inception,
IIRC, the Normandy landings were operation OVERLORD. The deception plans
were operation FORTITUDE. It is possible that some subset operation used
the name 'Mickey Mouse', but that would have violated the general rules on
naming operations (i.e. brave and inspiring names, or completely meaningless
ones).
regards,
---------------------------------------------------------------
sfor...@prodigy.net wizard 87-01
Geoff Sjostrom
> Mickey Mouse was the code name for a false army set up in East Anglia to
> keep the German forces ready in Holland, to divert attention from France.
The operation that your father is describing sounds very much like
"Operation Fortitude", in which a notional army, commanded by the then
out-of-work George Patton, was falsely presented as the real invasion force,
with the Normandy landings a diversion.
CLeggatt
Thanks a lot to those who answered. It is entirely possible that "Mickey
Mouse" is in fact nothing at all. But I didn't just imagine it. Just a few
months ago the bar trivia game I go to asked what animated character was the
codename for the d-day invasions and the answer was of course Mickey Mouse.
Could this be one of those hardy American myths, based in no reality
whatsoever? It's likely.
In my web researches I also found that d-day stands for day-day and not
defeat day or decisive victory-day. the French call it j-jour. You learn
something new every day. Thanks again for the input.
C Leggatt
Alex Karner
military operation. It doesn't "stand for" anything really...I remember
reading that somewhere, could be completley wrong, but I don't think
so...
CLeggatt wrote:
> In my web researches I also found that d-day stands for day-day and not
> defeat day or decisive victory-day. the French call it j-jour. You learn
> something new every day. Thanks again for the input.
>
> C Leggatt
--
Alex Karner
dib...@iaw.com
http://www.iaw.com/~dibbley
"When they come, and they will come. . .It will be the longest day."
-- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, 1944
Lawrence Dillard
However, the term was used as a "challenge/response" convention wherein
troops in proximity to, but not clearly visible and hence identifiable to
one another could establish whether they were dealing with friend or foe.
Simply, one man from a group would "challenge" the other group, from cover
or concealment, by yelling "Mickey"; the proper reply, which would
theoretically avoid an exchange of fire, was "Mouse". Presumably, an enemy
would be ignorant of the agreed-upon interchange, and would reveal his
affilliation by silence or by the wrong response, and it was presumed wise
to fire on him.
But like practically all such military jargon, the term came to used in
another context altogether, at times. One story I was told, which seems
reasonable, involves the radar device known as H2X, a radar which performed
on centimetric wavelengths. This device was touted to allow an operator to
identify discrete surface features, even when the target was obscured by
undercast or thick clouds, to the extent of being able to navigate to a
target area, establish a bomb-run Initial Point (IP) or even the actual
bomb-release point. In theory, at least.
In fact, a radar scientist probably could do so with the device, or a radar
engineer, or a well-trained radar specialist. The problem was in
interpreting the information presented on the display. Hence, the disparity
between the promised performance and the actual led to the use of the
expression "Mickey Mouse", ie., not to be taken seriously, in reference
thereto. Shortened to "Mickey". That may not be a true account, of course,
but it sounded convincing when it was explained to me. Thanks for the post.
ldi...@EnterAct.com
CLeggatt wrote in message <7nqnnq$j...@dgs.dgsys.com>...
Tob
<cleg...@ix.netcom.com> writes
>
>Thanks a lot to those who answered. It is entirely possible that "Mickey
>Mouse"
The standard wartime RAF bomb selector panel used in most bombers was
called a Mickey Mouse but this was due to the two large black knobs that
looked like his ears!. Never heard Mickey Mouse as a "D" day code name.
ATB
--
Tob
dog...@my-deja.com
I am currently researching D-day in general, and the US "Omaha Beach"
in Normandy in particular. If you'd like me to I can keep an eye open
for this code name (mickey-mouse) for you, I'd be happy to. However, I
don't recall having seen it yet during my reading.
Glad to help,
Steve.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
mvil...@my-deja.com
"CLeggatt" <cleg...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> In my web researches I also found that d-day stands for day-day and
> not
> defeat day or decisive victory-day. the French call it j-jour. You
> learn
> something new every day. Thanks again for the input.
>
> C Leggatt
The "d" in D-Day doesnt stand fo ranything...it's an event marker...let
me illustrate...(if my facts aren't straight someone correct me)
At "D-day minus one" the plan is to airdrop paratroopers to secure beach
exits and main road junctions and bridges. At "D-day" we send our
little amphibious force toward the beaches of normandy to land some
soldiers. At "D-day plus one" we should have captured Hill # blah
blah...at "D-day plus two" we should have captured "little french town"
D-day/h-hour, they are nothing but event markers...the reason why they
dont say "June 4th" or "june 5th" is that beucase the days can be
postponed, delayed, or scrapped...it's easier to work with "d" and "d+1"
and "d-1" than to have to change all of the dates on the objective
timetable of the operation...
it doesnt stand for anything...