ABSTRACT
In February 1949 Colonel Roger Fleetwood Hesketh of the British Army put the finishing touches to the preface of one of the most remarkable historical manuscripts of the Second World War. Fifty copies were printed and stamped TOP SECRET. Colonel Hesketh’s manuscript, ‘FORTITUDE: A History of Strategic Deception in North Western Europe – April, 1943 to May, 1945’, is the definitive history of how the deception operation Fortitude South was accomplished by a handful of Abwehr double agents under the control of Britain’s MI5 in support of the deception operations plans of Ops (B) at SHAEF. The manuscript has remained unpublished for far too long. It needs to be known and talked about. 1
