5. From Blow Up Tanks to Bread Ovens: Military Deception and Workplace Negligence

So my story today is titled The Maddest World War Two Deceptions That Actually Worked.

So today we're heading back to World War II, a time when the stakes were horrifyingly serious, but some of the plans were so bizarre you'd think they'd been cooked up after six pints in a particularly ambitious game of Risk.

We're talking about inflatable tanks, fake spies, rubber feet and weaponised bats.

And the most remarkable part? Some of them actually worked.

So let's start with one of the greatest examples of wartime bluffing, an army that was in part made of rubber.

What did you say? Something tanks? What was that? Inflatable tanks.

Oh, inflatable.

Oh my goodness.

Okay.

I should have made you like guess.

Like, what did you think I said? I don't think you would have got it, would you? No.

Inflatable.

Yeah, crazy, isn't it? So during the war, the Allies developed dummy versions of tanks, trucks, artillery, and other military equipment.

Some were made from inflatable rubber and canvas and from a distance could look remarkably convincing.

Now before you picture British soldiers charging across France on giant rubber tanks like some sort of military bouncy castle, that's not what happened.

One of the biggest Allied deception efforts surrounding D-Day was Operation Fortitude.

The Allies wanted German commanders to believe that the main invasion of France would come somewhere other than Normandy, so they created an entirely fictional army.

The supposed force was called the 1st United States Army Group, or FUSAG, and it was supposedly commanded by General George Patton.

Now, the Germans knew Patton and knew he was an aggressive but highly respected commander.

So if intelligent reports suggested Patton was assembling a huge army in southeastern England, well, the Germans had every reason to take it seriously.

Except there was a slight problem.

The army wasn't really there.

Instead, the Allies created an enormous illusion.

Dummy tanks appeared in the fields.

Fake landing craft were positioned around ports.