text: bodyguard of lies bodyguard of lies is a 1975 non - fiction book written by anthony cave brown , his first major historical work . named for a wartime quote of winston churchill , it is a narrative account of allied military deception operations during the second world war . the british and american governments resisted brown 's attempts to research the book . many of the topics were still classified and he was denied access to british war records . the material in the book is predominantly based on oral testimony as well as some american records , declassified toward the end of brown 's research . critical reception has been mixed , but generally negative . contemporary historians , such as charles b. macdonald , praised the work – although some did comment on its length . modern reviewers have identified inconsistencies or errors in the material , based on later declassified records . also , some of brown 's personal conclusions have been questioned . background bodyguard of lies was brown 's first published book , following his career as a journalist in the united kingdom and australia . the work narrates allied deception strategy on the western front for the years of 1943 and 1944 . it particularly focuses on operation bodyguard , both the operation and the book 's title were inspired by one of winston churchill 's war - time epigrams ; " in war - time , truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies . " brown began researching and writing bodyguard of lies in 1961 . most of the material is based on oral testimony from second world war intelligence personnel , as well as records from the national archives and declassified american records ( although brown says that most of the book was written before he was able to access the latter , in 1974 ) . brown wrote bodyguard of lies at a time when details of both cryptography and deception during the war were still classified . his attempts at research was resisted by the british and american governments ; he was denied access to british war records and had to undertake considerable work to obtain us records via freedom of information requests . synopsis bodyguard of lies opens with an introduction to ultra , the codename for decrypted signals intelligence . it goes on to document the origins of the london controlling section ( lcs ) and the work of dudley clarke in the middle east . in late 1942 , allied high command in london became aware of clarke 's successes during the north african campaign . based on his theories of deception , the lcs was created under colonel john bevan and granted broad powers to plan deception strategy . the introduction finishes with a discussion of how the allies evolved deception strategy prior to 1943 , including the double - cross system ( the allied system of double agents ) . the second section of the book introduces the german intelligence forces , in particular admiral canaris and his abwehr intelligence agency . brown discusses early deceptions , such as those surrounding operation torch , conducted against the germans , and how the abwehr struggled to decipher the information it was being fed . the third section of the book covers allied deceptions during 1943 , in particular operation mincemeat . brown introduces plan , the early revision of operation bodyguard , and follows bevan 's work in creating the deception plan . the fourth section covers the events of early 1944 , leading up to the normandy landings on 6 june . in particular , brown discusses operation fortitude and the fictional first us army group , a key part of bodyguard , calling it " the greatest charade in history " . the final section of the book covers events on and after d - day , including physical deceptions carried out on the night of the invasion , and the continued impact of bodyguard in the months after the landings . critical reception the book received mixed reviews ; particularly with regards to brown 's focus on minutiae , which received both positive and negative comment . later reviewers also criticised the factual basis of the work – describing it as containing " a multitude of errors of detail " – with some reviewers rejecting brown 's analysis . one such error that brown relates was a then - widely held theory that churchill had known of german intentions to bomb coventry in november 1940 , but that the british leader had hidden the information to avoid giving up the secrets of ultra ( intercepted german communications ) . by 1976 , declassified records showed that the intelligence was in fact more vague than popular myth had suggested . writing in 1996 , reviewer russell j. bowen ascribes this to brown 's reliance on secondary sourcing and oral interviews ( describing the book as an " outstanding example of scholarly investigative journalism applied to the field of oral military history " ) . hugh trevor - roper , writing for the new york review of books , was highly critical of the " encyclopedic " detail in brown 's writing : " he piles on the illustrative ( or irrelevant ) detail . he cannot leave anything out . every person mentioned must have a potted biography . every place must be equipped with atmosphere , furniture , associations . " roper also criticised the material , writing that brown had inserted " a novel thesis " , that allied deception during the war was controlled by mi6 , " which , in my opinion , is quite wrong . " some critiques of the book have been positive . a 1976 new scientist review praised the level of detail , saying that it " would ensure a large sale " . in a letter to the editor in reply , deputy chief historian for the united states army , charles b. macdonald , referred to the book as " the most important work on world war ii in a quarter of a century . " writing in military review , alexander cochran noted that the book was one of the first non - memoir accounts of intelligence operations during the war and was unusual ( for its genre ) in documenting sources . however , he went on to call the book " suggestive more than definitive " . russell j. bowen concludes that although the writing and coverage were better than similar books then available , " cave brown 's work fails to escape the common stigma of intelligence narratives : considerable inaccuracy as to detail and occasional lack of validity of interpretation . "