In North Africa a whole harbor was moved to confuse the German airmen and the Suez Canal “hidden”. Not so easy today but deception is a powerful weapon still.
Ya they hired magicians to do it. They used lights in one circumstance to make the Germans think the target was “there” instead of where it actually was.
They used fake tanks etc, to fool Rommel into thinking the attack were coming from another area.
And it worked.