Actually, the phony Calais offensive was spun out of bogus radio traffic, false paperwork, and plaster-on-cardboard mock-ups of planes and gliders. Then, there was General Patton, already known as our most brilliant, twiddling his thumbs in England amid all that traffic and paperwork about preparations to open the second beachhead.
Now, if you're looking for a sacrifice of people, consider the rear-guard action at Dunkirk, the people who had to hold off the Germans while the bulk of the army piled onto the boats. When you draw that duty, you know the war will be over for you one way or another, as in "killed or captured." You are being expended.