While the deception effort was not a complete success, it managed to divert German attention to the northern flank for the remainder of the war.

[3] In late 1940, with the possibility of a German invasion during 1941, these new battalions were formed into independent infantry brigades that were then loaned to newly created County Divisions.

[3][5][6] These divisions were largely static, lacking mobility and also divisional assets such as artillery, engineers and reconnaissance forces.

[7] Using the new formations in this manner allowed the pre-war regular infantry divisions to undertake training and form an all-important reserve that could be used to counter-attack any possible German landing.

[8] On 22 June, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa the invasion of the Soviet Union; this attack all but removed the German threat to the United Kingdom.

The British still had to consider the threat of an invasion, due to the possibility that the Soviet Union could collapse under the German onslaught, after which Germany could easily transfer troops back to the west.

A German-published order of battle of the British army based within the United Kingdom, dated 10 April 1942, was captured.

This and similar errors led the British to understand the capability of the Germans to intercept wireless communications in the United Kingdom.

[23][b] The soldiers were given five weeks of additional training at the section, platoon and company level, before undertaking a final three-day exercise.

Over the following six months, up to 75 per cent of these men would be deployed to reinforce the 21st Army Group, following the completion of their training and having met the required fitness levels.

[26] Stephen Hart comments that, by September, the 21st Army Group "had bled Home Forces dry of draftable riflemen", due to the losses suffered during the Normandy Campaign, leaving the army in Britain, with the exception of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division, with just "young lads, old men, and the unfit".

While efforts were made to address this (such as transferring men from the Royal Artillery and Royal Air Force to be retrained as infantry), the War Office began disbanding divisions to reduce the size of the army and to transfer the surplus men to other units to help keep those as close to full strength as possible.

It was claimed that with the war nearing an end, several Territorial Army divisions would revert to their peacetime recruiting role and release their equipment and resources to other units.

[32] Trolleycar was initially envisioned as a fictitious amphibious assault upon the coast of the Netherlands, by the phantom British Fourth Army, to exploit the success of the authentic Operation Market Garden.