A photo from open sources
June 6, 1944 American, British, Canadian and others troops landed on the coast of Normandy. This operation has become the first phase of the Overlord capture campaign allies of the northwest of Nazi occupied France. IN the landing involved 156 thousand soldiers supported by 11590 aircraft and 6939 ships. It was the largest naval landing operation in history and the largest on the western front.
Naturally, the attack was being prepared in the strictest confidence. Not less than 33 days before its start, something amazing happened. One of senior British officers calmly read fresh the newspaper “The Daily Telegraph” and randomly made at this time startling discovery. The military reached the page with the block crosswords and began to solve them. Erudite man it took only a few minutes to be horrified, realizing that the answers to the puzzle contain every single code word planned operation: Neptune, Omaha, Utah, Overlord, Mulberry, Gold, and so on.
The activities of mysterious spies?
It became clear that unknown authors were classified in crosswords without exception, all the nuances and main positions of the upcoming campaign. It is easy to guess that this find instantly raised an unprecedented panic at the London Anglo-American headquarters. First put forward the assumption that a certain German spy took possession of secret information and encoded it that way in the newspaper. However why similar difficulties? Wouldn’t it be easier to pass on classified information for more direct sources? In order not to engage in unnecessary guesses, the military decided to track down the authors of the crosswords and interrogate them.
A photo from open sources
The editors were very surprised by the desire of officers talk to the elderly Leonard Dow, a longtime addicted crossword puzzles. Former school teacher annually sent many puzzles of his own composition to the newspaper. It turned out that this old man single-handedly compiled all the crosswords, published that day on the pages of The Daily Telegraph. The trial did not last long. Mr. Dow didn’t the impression of a spy or accomplice of the Nazi scouts. According to retiree, he composed these crosswords, as usual, from the head.
After lengthy debate, representatives of the anti-Hitler coalitions decided that the abolition of the operation is unacceptable. When the troops Allies landed in Normandy, it became for the German command of complete surprise. Newspaper Crossword Content still remains one of the most amazing puzzles in the newest stories. Was it really so incredible, phenomenal coincidence, the odds of which, according to simple mathematical logic, tend to zero? Or is it an incomprehensible joke of the highest strength? ..
