Operation Barclay

Operation Barclay is a two-player game of low/medium complexity about the intelligence war between the Allies and their Abwehr counterparts in the Mediterranean theater in 1942-1943.

With the Axis powers ejected from North Africa, there was debate as to where the Allies might strike next. At Casablanca (January 14-24, 1943), Roosevelt and Churchill agreed the next target: Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, would begin July 9 1943 — but there was a problem. The Axis powers suspected Sicily would be the target, and knew there were deception activities in motion to attempt to mislead them about what they already knew.

Operation Barclay is a two-player game of low/medium complexity about the intelligence war between the Allies and their Abwehr counterparts in the Mediterranean theater in 1942-1943.

With the Axis powers ejected from North Africa, there was debate as to where the Allies might strike next. At Casablanca (January 14-24, 1943), Roosevelt and Churchill agreed the next target: Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, would begin July 9 1943 — but there was a problem. The Axis powers suspected Sicily would be the target, and knew there were deception activities in motion to attempt to mislead them about what they already knew.

On top of this, with Operation Husky already planned for early July, there was little time for Allied intelligence to work with. In these six months, Allied intelligence had to create sufficient disinformation to persuade their intelligence counterparts, the Abwehr, that the primary attack and a suspected secondary attack would be aimed elsewhere within the Mediterranean. This essential intelligence operation was dubbed "Operation Barclay".