It formed part of Operation Bodyguard, a major strategic deception intended to misdirect and confuse German high command about Allied invasion plans during 1944.

Ferdinand consisted of strategic and tactical deceptions intended to draw attention away from the Operation Dragoon landing areas in southern France by threatening an invasion of Genoa in Italy.

[1] It helped the Allies achieve complete tactical surprise in their landings and pinned down German troops in the Genoa region until late July.

[4] Royal Flush and Zeppelin were scaled back, to tone down the threat to France, and it was decided a new plan (Ferdinand) was required to cover the intended invasion.

[4] German forces in the French Riviera (originally threatened by Vendetta) were to be put at relative ease, but not left feeling too secure lest they be moved to re-inforce Normandy.

[9] A large part of the operation planning was handed to Major Eugene J Sweeney, an Irish-American career officer who had joined the department in late 1943 with the express task of learning the arts of deception before the war ended.

German commanders identified both Genoa and southern France as the only logical targets, so the task for Allied double agents was to convince them that the former was the true goal.

Clarke hastily implemented Ulster, a double bluff in which Otterington was revealed as a sham in the hope it would distract attention from that sector.

[1] Ferdinand successfully led Fremde Heere West (German military intelligence for the Western Front, also referred to as FHW) to expect a landing in Genoa.

In late July and early August the buildup of forces in Italy made it clear that a seaborne invasion was imminent, and the deception was successful in creating this as a realistic threat to Genoa.