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What are the most mind-blowing tricks used during any war?
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The Magician Who Tricked Nazis
The most mind-blowing tricks in war may have been employed by an actual magician from Great Britain. This is Jasper Maskelyne. He was a professional illusionist - hailing from a long line of magicians - hired by the British War Office during World War II to confuse and deceive the Nazis.
Now You See The Suez Canal...
Maskelyne was first deployed to Northern Africa to aid efforts in pushing back against Nazi incursions. Once there, he assembled a group which became known as "the Magic Gang" consisting of a carpenter, a stage designer, a chemist, a picture restorer, and even a criminal. Here is a brief sampling of some of their feats of deception as described in Ben Macintyre's wonderful book "Agent ZigZag:"
British soldiers outfit a searchlight with a faceted, mirrored cone extension
Tanks being disguised as trucks to conceal actual British attacks in Northern Africa
And Now For My Last Trick
At one point, the Germans deployed a saboteur named Eddie Chapman (http://en.wikipedia.org/
However, in order to preserve Chapman's cover - without compromising actual British war production efforts - a fake explosive had to be detonated at the De Havilland factory. And just in case German intelligence was, in fact, watching, Maskelyne used painted tarpaulin, paper-mache, rubble, and debris to create the illusion, both from the ground and air, that the factory had been severely damaged by Chapman's explosion...although, of course, the factory continued to hum along as before:
Painted tarpaulin and debris deployed by Maskelyne to simulate damage to the De Havilland factory
The "damaged factory" from the air
You've Been A Wonderful Audience
Much to his annoyance, Maskelyne was never officially recognized for his contributions during the war.
A small footnote, Maskelyne was also a successful inventor in civilian life having created the coin-operated lavatory.
The most mind-blowing tricks in war may have been employed by an actual magician from Great Britain. This is Jasper Maskelyne. He was a professional illusionist - hailing from a long line of magicians - hired by the British War Office during World War II to confuse and deceive the Nazis.
Now You See The Suez Canal...
Maskelyne was first deployed to Northern Africa to aid efforts in pushing back against Nazi incursions. Once there, he assembled a group which became known as "the Magic Gang" consisting of a carpenter, a stage designer, a chemist, a picture restorer, and even a criminal. Here is a brief sampling of some of their feats of deception as described in Ben Macintyre's wonderful book "Agent ZigZag:"
- Protected the Suez canal from German bombing raids by building an array of revolving blinding mirrors and searchlights (The Greatest Camo Story Ever Told)
- Helped win the Battle of El Alamein by duping German General Rommel that the British were going to counterattack from the South rather than the North. Maskelyne did this through the creation of a ghost army consisting of thousands of dummy tanks complete with their own fake pipeline - to be easily spotted by German surveillance aircraft - to bring water to its thirsty ghost soldiers.
And Now For My Last Trick
At one point, the Germans deployed a saboteur named Eddie Chapman (http://en.wikipedia.org/
However, in order to preserve Chapman's cover - without compromising actual British war production efforts - a fake explosive had to be detonated at the De Havilland factory. And just in case German intelligence was, in fact, watching, Maskelyne used painted tarpaulin, paper-mache, rubble, and debris to create the illusion, both from the ground and air, that the factory had been severely damaged by Chapman's explosion...although, of course, the factory continued to hum along as before:
You've Been A Wonderful Audience
Much to his annoyance, Maskelyne was never officially recognized for his contributions during the war.
A small footnote, Maskelyne was also a successful inventor in civilian life having created the coin-operated lavatory.
Indian planned hijacking of its own Fokker plane :
This trick was not exactly used during a war, rather during the preparation of war.Background :
1965 Indo-Pak war ended in a stale-mate and next war was not far away to settle the issues. Late 1960s saw a increased protest from East Pakistan for freedom. The major issue between East and West Pakistan was language problem.India saw a opportunity in it and decided to help East Pakistan get freedom. It would have not only divided the Pakistan into 2 parts but would result into a friendly East Pakistan (Bangladesh now).In early 1971, war was looking more and more imminent and both countries were starting to prepare for it. Pakistan was trying to curb the civil unrest in East Pakistan by using civil flights to send resources. The shortest air route between east and west Pakistan was from Indian air space. Any other air route without using India air space was at least 3 times long and triple time/fuel consuming. See this map for details :
The Hijack Event:
On 30 January 1971, an Indian Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft named Ganga was hijacked by two Kashmiri citizens, Hashim Quereshi and his cousin Ashraf Butt. Pakistan was not aware or part of this hijack operation. After a successful hijack, Hashim Quereshi contacted Lahore air base and asked for permission to land the hijacked aircraft in Pakistan.Hashism convinced the then foreign minister Zuklfiquar Ali Bhutto that he hijacked the plane to get world's attention to the Kashmir problem.
Pakistan was more than happy to help Hashim as it would be a big blow to India's claim towards Kashmir. Bhutto himself welcomed him at the Lahore air base. Though later on, under immense pressure from India and the world, Pakistan released all the passengers safely and the aircraft was burnt on 1st February 1971 by Pakistan.
India retaliated to the hijacking and subsequent burning of the aircraft, by banning overflights of Pakistani aircraft. This overflight ban, in the run up to the December 1971 war between the countries, had a significant impact on troop movement into erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. This resulted into a very early defeat to Pakistan on the Eastern front.
The Real Story of Hijack:
1. The Aircraft hijack was planned by RAW (Intelligence Wing of India).
2. Ganga was one of the oldest aircraft in the Indian Airlines fleet and was already withdrawn from service but was re-inducted days before the hijacking.
3. This was the first and only flight made by Ganga after its re-introduction.
4. Hashim was an Indian agent who was earlier a BSF (Border Security Forces) Officer.
5. Hashim and Butt used 'toy weapons' to hijack the plan as all the passengers were Indian services personnel and their family members.
6. Pakistan realized this soon and arrested Hashim and Butt. Hashim was given a 13 year jail term by Pakistan court.
Though this theory has never been proved or disproved till now, Pakistan always states that the hijack plan was hatched by India. India never denied the charges nor agreed upon them, for obvious reasons. But the biggest reason for not accepting the Pakistani claim was that the mission could have resulted in multiple deaths and the fact that the RAW would never put up so many lives on the line for any of its secret mission. Still, there are enough evidences to prove that this was indeed a planned hijack.
Sources :
1. 1971 Indian Airlines hijacking
2. Looking back at history: Hijack of Fokker Aircraft in 1971
3. Did India plant 1965 war plans?
4. India,, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad
The Mongol Empire (1206–1368 AD)
The largest contiguous land empire in history and the destroyers of a quarter of world population. That was an era when empires surrendered just by the name of Mongols.
How was such a small army able to conquer most of known world at that time?
Some of these tactics may seem obvious, but mind you, that was 13th century and Mongols were probably setting an example for the generations to follow:
The Mongol Horde has long been vilified and misunderstood in the west. Even the name was chosen badly; the term horde suggests an armed mob with no internal organization which blindly attacks whatever is nearby, like a plague of locusts. The reality was much different. At the time that Genghis Khan lived, the army he created was in fact the most disciplined and well organized armed force in the world. It was an extraordinary force capable of accomplishing the impossible.
At last, one interesting fact to know-
When Mongol armies attacked, their spoils were shared among the troops and officers, with one exception. The most beautiful women were reserved for the Khan, and as a result -
"One in every 200 men alive today is a descendant of Genghis Khan." :)
Sources:
MONGOL ARMY: TACTICS, WEAPONS, REVENGE AND TERROR
Mongol military tactics and organization
USS Clueless - The Mongol Horde
We owe it all to superstud Genghis
10 Amazing Facts About The Mongols - Listverse
The largest contiguous land empire in history and the destroyers of a quarter of world population. That was an era when empires surrendered just by the name of Mongols.
How was such a small army able to conquer most of known world at that time?
Some of these tactics may seem obvious, but mind you, that was 13th century and Mongols were probably setting an example for the generations to follow:
- The Mongols had the only major army in history consisting exclusively of cavalry. This provided them inexorable mobility (While playing Age of Empires if you prefer a all Paladin Army, you have Mongol blood :P). In the mechanized age of blitzkrieg in the 1940's in Europe, an advance of 30 miles in a day was considered near miraculous, and it couldn't be maintained. But the Mongols could move 50 miles per day and keep it up for weeks.
- Each Mongol warrior would usually travel with multiple horses, allowing him to quickly switch to a fresh mount as needed. The horse is viewed much like a cow in Mongolia, and is milked and slaughtered for meat as such. Mongols could survive a whole month only by drinking mare's milk combined with mare's blood.
- There was no such thing as a civilian population in Mongolia. War was a full job and either you were a soldier or somehow supported a soldier.
- The Mongols used composite recurved bows which were far higher technology than the Welsh Longbow; unmatched in accuracy, force and reach (around 400m !!)
- One of the most ruthless, yet efficient, parts of Genghis Khan’s reign was his brutal conquest of the Silk Road, the main trade route between Asia and Europe, and one of the largest (if not the absolute largest) sources of income for the Mongol empire.
- During the initial states of battlefield contact, while camping in close proximity of their enemies at night, they would feign numerical superiority by ordering each soldier to light at least five fires, which would appear to the enemy scouts and spies that their force was almost five times larger than it actually was.
- Opponent's Morale - Mongols inflated stories of their battlefield prowess to intimidate their opponents, and used other propaganda and pyrotechnics to break the opponent's morale before and during the battle. Even the present meaning of the word Horde in European languages 'to be a large overwhelming mass of people', rather than a 'small campsite' as it means in Mongol, is a continued result of such propaganda.
- Another way the Mongols utilized deception and terror was by tying tree branches or leaves behind their horses and letting the foliage drag behind them across the ground; by traveling in a systematic fashion, the Mongols could create a dust storm behind hills, in order to create fear and appear to the enemy to be much larger than they actually were, thereby forcing the enemy to surrender.
- Feigned Retreat - The Mongols very commonly practiced the feigned retreat, perhaps the most difficult battlefield tactic to execute. As the enemies came in pursuit of them, they would be ambushed and picked off one by one.
- The Mongols carefully scouted out and spied on their enemies in advance of any invasion. Prior to the invasion of Europe, Batu(grand son of Genghis Khan) and Subutai(military strategist of Genghis Khan) sent spies for almost ten years into the heart of Europe, making maps of the old Roman roads, establishing trade routes, and determining the level of ability of each principality to resist invasion.
- Unlike many of their foes, the Mongols also protected their ranking officers well. A General such as Subutai, unable to ride a horse in the later part of his career due to age and obesity, would have been ridiculed out of any European army of the time. But the Mongols recognized and respected his still-powerful military mind.
- Siege machines were an important part of Genghis Khan's warfare, especially in attacking fortified cities. The siege engines were not disassembled and carried by horses to be rebuilt at the site of the battle like European armies. Instead the Mongol horde would travel with skilled engineers who would build siege engines from materials on site.
- Survival - Here is where Mongols differed most drastically from other cultures such as Europe or Japan. Mongols placed high emphasis on surviving at all costs. There was no glorious defeat. There were no suicide troops, no unit was sent on a mission they would not be expected to survive. The only glory was in winning.
The Mongol Horde has long been vilified and misunderstood in the west. Even the name was chosen badly; the term horde suggests an armed mob with no internal organization which blindly attacks whatever is nearby, like a plague of locusts. The reality was much different. At the time that Genghis Khan lived, the army he created was in fact the most disciplined and well organized armed force in the world. It was an extraordinary force capable of accomplishing the impossible.
At last, one interesting fact to know-
When Mongol armies attacked, their spoils were shared among the troops and officers, with one exception. The most beautiful women were reserved for the Khan, and as a result -
"One in every 200 men alive today is a descendant of Genghis Khan." :)
Sources:
MONGOL ARMY: TACTICS, WEAPONS, REVENGE AND TERROR
Mongol military tactics and organization
USS Clueless - The Mongol Horde
We owe it all to superstud Genghis
10 Amazing Facts About The Mongols - Listverse
Operation Mincemeat. During WWII, the British convinced the German commanders that they had found top secret documents that explained the Allied plan to invade Sardinia and Greece. This allowed the Allies to invade their real target, Sicily, while German troops awaited invasions in Sardinia and Greece that never came.
They did this by first obtaining a corpse of a homeless man in London who had died by ingesting rat poison. (It was unclear if it was a suicide or an accident, but the cause of death would be hard to differentiate from hypothermia/drowning). They then gave him a false identity as a Major in the Royal Marines, dressed him as such, and attached a briefcase to his belt with a chain through his sleeve (similar to the handcuffed briefcases used by jewel deliveries). The briefcase contained the false identity papers and details of the false invasion plans. Then they put a life jacket on the corpse, and threw it out of a submarine near the Spanish coast, where they knew he would eventually wash up on shore.
Spain was officially neutral, but was known to cooperate with Germany, and when a fisherman found the body, it was taken to Spanish officials, who provided the documents to German officials. The British even sent requests to their ambassadors in Spain to be on alert because a plane crashed near the Spanish coast carrying important documents that they should attempt to retrieve at all costs. The fake major's fake name was included in the London Times' death notices, just in case the Germans checked.
Hitler bought it, and German troops were moved from Sicily, France, and the Eastern Front to Sardinia and Greece to await the invasion. Even after the invasion of Sicily began, Hitler was still convinced that it was a trick, and that Sardinia and Greece were the true targets. The Germans did not move troops to defend Sicily until it was too late. The Allies now had Sicily conquered, which was then used as a base to eventually advance through Italy.
Later in the war, when German officials found genuine secret documents with war plan details, they were often disregarded as similar deception attempts. Plans for the D-Day invasion at Normandy that were found by the Germans were ignored by Hitler, who believed them to be falsely planted documents, and he continued to incorrectly believe that the invasion of France would come into Calais.
They did this by first obtaining a corpse of a homeless man in London who had died by ingesting rat poison. (It was unclear if it was a suicide or an accident, but the cause of death would be hard to differentiate from hypothermia/drowning). They then gave him a false identity as a Major in the Royal Marines, dressed him as such, and attached a briefcase to his belt with a chain through his sleeve (similar to the handcuffed briefcases used by jewel deliveries). The briefcase contained the false identity papers and details of the false invasion plans. Then they put a life jacket on the corpse, and threw it out of a submarine near the Spanish coast, where they knew he would eventually wash up on shore.
Spain was officially neutral, but was known to cooperate with Germany, and when a fisherman found the body, it was taken to Spanish officials, who provided the documents to German officials. The British even sent requests to their ambassadors in Spain to be on alert because a plane crashed near the Spanish coast carrying important documents that they should attempt to retrieve at all costs. The fake major's fake name was included in the London Times' death notices, just in case the Germans checked.
Hitler bought it, and German troops were moved from Sicily, France, and the Eastern Front to Sardinia and Greece to await the invasion. Even after the invasion of Sicily began, Hitler was still convinced that it was a trick, and that Sardinia and Greece were the true targets. The Germans did not move troops to defend Sicily until it was too late. The Allies now had Sicily conquered, which was then used as a base to eventually advance through Italy.
Later in the war, when German officials found genuine secret documents with war plan details, they were often disregarded as similar deception attempts. Plans for the D-Day invasion at Normandy that were found by the Germans were ignored by Hitler, who believed them to be falsely planted documents, and he continued to incorrectly believe that the invasion of France would come into Calais.
The Battle of Mu'tah was fought in 629 (5 Jumada al-awwal 8 AH in the Islamic calendar), near the village of Mu'tah, east of the Jordan River and Karak in Karak Governorate, between the forces of the Islamic prophet,Muhammad and the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire.
An expedition was immediately prepared to take punitive action against the Ghassanids. Muhammad appointed Zayd ibn Harithah as the commander of the force. In the event of Zayd's death, the command was to be taken over by Ja`far ibn Abī Tālib, and if Jafar were to be killed, the command would be in the hands of Abd` Allah ibn Rawahah. In the event that all three were killed, the men of the expedition were to select a commander from amongst themselves.
All three named commanders were slain during the battle, and Khalid Ben Al-Walid was selected as the commander. He was able to maintain his heavily outnumbered army of 3,000 men against a massive army of 200,000 of the Byzantine Empire and Ghassanid Arabs in what would be known as the Battle of Mu'tah. Khalid assumed command of the Muslim army at the crucial moment, and turned what would have been a bloody slaughter into a strategic retreat and saved the Muslim army from total annihilation.
During nightfall, Khalid sent some columns behind the main army, and the next morning prior to the battle they were instructed to join the Muslim army in small bands, one after the other, giving an impression of a fresh reinforcement, thus lowering the opponent's morale. Khalid somehow stabilized the battle lines for that day, and during the night his men retreated back to Arabia. Believing a trap was waiting for them, the Byzantine troops did not pursue. Khalid is said to have fought valiantly at the Battle of Mu'tah and to have broken nine swords during the battle. After the Battle of Mu'tah, Khalid was given the title Sword of God for bringing back his army to fight another day.
An expedition was immediately prepared to take punitive action against the Ghassanids. Muhammad appointed Zayd ibn Harithah as the commander of the force. In the event of Zayd's death, the command was to be taken over by Ja`far ibn Abī Tālib, and if Jafar were to be killed, the command would be in the hands of Abd` Allah ibn Rawahah. In the event that all three were killed, the men of the expedition were to select a commander from amongst themselves.
All three named commanders were slain during the battle, and Khalid Ben Al-Walid was selected as the commander. He was able to maintain his heavily outnumbered army of 3,000 men against a massive army of 200,000 of the Byzantine Empire and Ghassanid Arabs in what would be known as the Battle of Mu'tah. Khalid assumed command of the Muslim army at the crucial moment, and turned what would have been a bloody slaughter into a strategic retreat and saved the Muslim army from total annihilation.
During nightfall, Khalid sent some columns behind the main army, and the next morning prior to the battle they were instructed to join the Muslim army in small bands, one after the other, giving an impression of a fresh reinforcement, thus lowering the opponent's morale. Khalid somehow stabilized the battle lines for that day, and during the night his men retreated back to Arabia. Believing a trap was waiting for them, the Byzantine troops did not pursue. Khalid is said to have fought valiantly at the Battle of Mu'tah and to have broken nine swords during the battle. After the Battle of Mu'tah, Khalid was given the title Sword of God for bringing back his army to fight another day.
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