The Japanese had brilliant inflatable tanks that looked incredibly real... even from up very close!
Posted on 04/27/2005 3:56:50 AM PDT by Flavius
Baghdad: US marines who suffered the highest casualty rate of any unit in Iraq have revealed that they were so short of soldiers that they used cardboard dummies to fool insurgents into believing they faced more men.
Company E of the First Marine Division dressed the cutouts in shirts and placed them in observation posts to trick rebels into thinking they were manned.
More than one third of the unit's 185 troops were killed or wounded during its six-month tour last year in the insurgent stronghold in Ramadi, west of Falluja, during which it faced 26 gun battles, 90 mortar attacks and nearly 100 homemade bombs.
The deception was revealed on Monday when the marines broke the corps' code of silence to detail the extent of shortages of equipment and manpower which they blame for many of their comrades' deaths.
The marines highlighted the lack of armoured Humvees, the four-wheel-drive vehicles favoured by the US military, which the company said meant they had little protection against roadside bombs.
When the unit arrived, none were fully armoured and the commanders had to find scrap metal to line the sides and bottom of their vehicles.
It was also issued with maps that were several years out of date and showed urbanised areas still to be farmland.
The unit, nicknamed the Magnificent Bastards, said it had only a handful of electronic devices that block the detonation of roadside bombs, which were responsible for the deaths of 13 of 21 deaths.
Telegraph, London
Where I grew up in Connecticut, they would occasionally plant a little device that sent out radar signals, even though no one was there to read them, so that the folks with the radar detectors would think they were being "pinged" and slow down, taking the rest of the traffic with them...
The deception was revealed on Monday when the marines broke the corps' code of silence to detail the extent of shortages of equipment and manpower which they blame for many of their comrades' deaths.
The marines highlighted the lack of armoured Humvees
It was also issued with maps that were several years out of date and showed urbanised areas still to be farmland.
..it had only a handful of electronic devices that block the detonation of roadside bombs, which were responsible for the deaths of 13 of 21 deaths.
This is a hit piece, IMO. If it was put out by the US Government, it probably would have been less critical of same.
Aside from the headline being biased, it's also completely ignorant. Militaries have used deception tactically and strategically for as long as we've made war on each other. I remember reading about an ancient Chinese general who had more and more troops hide during the day, and light fewer and fewer fires each night. The enemy assumed that his troops were deserting, and that miscalculation cost them dearly.
Using cardboard dummies is a much more garden variety sort of deception, but that's the kind of war we're in. The insurgents stuff 155mm artillery shells inside dead animals alongside the road. We've all got our tricks of the trade, and know to expect the unexpected.
I still don't like it.
The Japanese had brilliant inflatable tanks that looked incredibly real... even from up very close!
I thought it was the Brits that used them against the Nazis?
Search the name Jasper Maskelyne.
Of course it is a hit piece, but that doesn't really mean much. They could want the bad guys to think the sentry posts really are not manned when they are. I remember at the beginning of Gulf War I when the US government was angry that the 'amphibious invasion' plans were leaked to the press. Turns out Schwarzkopf was the one responsible for the leak. ;)
In this computer age, there is no excuse for having our best warriors fooled by old maps.
Btw, the cut-out tactic reminds me of Gideon and his 300 warriors, as described in the book of Judges in the Bible. Gideon and his men fooled the enemy into fleeing, by using a simple contraption to create the impression that there were many more Gideon's men.
The link for this alleged 'story' is a blog called 'Raging Bull". What gives???
I think both sides did. I was actually searching for an image of one of the Japanese inflatable tanks, but found that photo instead. The page I got it from identified it as a German decoy designed to fool the Brits.
That's an interesting photo of a decoy tank. Could you tell me where you found it?
I've researched the Jasper Maskelyne story. Most of it is mythical, but he did develop sunshields (tank camouflage) in May 1941, based on an idea by General Wavell.
Photos of this ingenious gimmick can be found at my website maskelynemagic.com
Interestingly,regarding the earlier marine photo, the dummy head/ sniper trick was used extensively in the First World War. The War Museum in London has an amazing set of photos along these lines. The British Army manufactured some very realistic helmeted faces which were stuck above the trenches.
Right click on my photo to find the URL.
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