"Thought This might bring a chuckle. " Topic

I don't know if this has been posted before so forgive me if it ha. Even if this isn't true it still is good for a chuckle.

"It should be apparent that the level of sophistication of deception equipment and techniques have far surpassed the canvas and baling wire approach of decoys and dummies that were used in World War II. Ad hoc efforts to deceive the enemy simply won't work on today's battlefield. Our deception devices and techniques must be able to fool an array of sophisticated enemy sensor technology. Our deception efforts must be believable. They must be afforded the same secrecy and security as real items. After World War II, Allied pilots enjoyed telling the story of a decoy airstrip that the Germans were painstakingly constructing entirely of wood, They made wooden aircraft, hangers, fuel points, and gun emplacements. The Germans, however, were lax in their security and camouflage during construction and Allied photo experts were able to identify the ruse. On the day after the construction was finally completed, a lone RAF bomber swung in low, circled the airfield once, and dropped one large wooden bomb,"
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Robert

Gotta love the RAF's sense of humor!

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And like I said "Even if this isn't true it still is good for a chuckle." LOL Robert

Sorry, just meant to bring another version to light. I heard it as a WWI joke, and the Huns were armed with the wood bomb.

No Prob there :). Robert

I have heard the wooden bomb story but the other way around the RAF had taken time to construct the perfect dummy field.

The Germans arrived and dropped dummy bombs.

But still you have to love the story.

And didn;t NATo bomb a lot of Serb dummy tanks onlt a few years ago.

M

I seem to recall a story on these lines being one of the short (eight pages, I think) "bonus" stories at the end of a "Commando" war comic. That time I think it was the Italians and the British involved.

All the best,

John.

Deception is not all technology. Most of it is psychological based on intelligence of the enemy. You figure out what the other guy is looking for and show it to him where he expects to see it while rigorously camouflaging the real location. My last job in the Army was command of the deception detachment for I Corps. It was a lot of fun making recon guys think a lie was real while the truth was a lie. And incredibly easy if you had good intel.

There's a video game called RUSE based around exactly this. In my opinion it's one of the best and most innovative RTS games I've come across. Recce is vital to locate the enemy and the deceptions are provided by the titular 'ruses', which range from dummy bases, radio silence or camouflage nets to hide your units or buildings, and inverted intel which makes the enemy see your armoured units as infantry and infantry as armour (unless their recce spots you). Anyone into computer gaming who hasn't already come across it, I urge you to give it a try.

Regards,

Fletch

One of the best stories I heard (which I believe to be true) was where a pair of Royal Engineer Commandos swam ashore at night onto one of the future Normandy landing beaches, to recce the beach profile/composition. Unfortunately, while they obtained superb intelligence and samples of the beach, one of the Sappers left his trowel behind.

Not wanting the enemy to be alerted to the Allies' specific interest in that particular beach, the Allied Supreme Headquarters ordered RAF bombers to be dispatched at once, with identical trowels, to be scattered on beaches all over NW Europe! :o)

Wonderful R Mark!

Yes Patton may not have been half a good a general as he told everyone he was, but thanks to his media exposure when he was put in charge of the phantom army opposite Calais the Germans totaly bought it as the main thrust in '44….

A classic case of employing a man according to his talents -even a publicity hungry braggart has his uses!

Deception doesn't have to be sophisticated to work. In Desert Storm the Iraqi's lit fires under destroyed tanks to draw the fire of IR-targetting air assets.