The Allied nations invaded Italy in September 1943 and by mid-1944 had pushed the Germans back to the Gothic Line in the North of the country. Ferdinand was intended to develop a threat against Genoa, as part of an expected Allied assault on the Gothic Line in August/September 1944. 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. Planning for the operation was handled by 'A' Force; the department in charge of deception in the Middle East. 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. Working out of Algiers, at Advanced HQ (West), Sweeney helped implement several deceptions. The most notable of these was Operation Oakfield, the cover plan for Operation Shingle and the Battle of Anzio.