Book Description
January 16, 1991. Operation Desert Storm's coalition forces are arrayed along the Saudi border with Kuwait, on the other side of which lurks the bulk of Saddam Hussein's army. While the battle for air supremacy is being waged in the skies, the coalition forces pull off a stunning, and ultimately decisive, deception. Later dubbed the "Hail Mary Pass," it consists of the abrupt relocation of the coalition ground forces hundreds of miles to the West. Meanwhile, as inflatable decoys, deceptive radio transmissions, and psyops leaflets all lead them to believe, the Iraqis are expecting an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf, hundreds of miles from where it is actually occurring. The world's fourth largest army is preparing to engage a horde of phantoms. The coalition forces are able to march deep into Iraq with little opposition. Within one hundred days, Kuwait City is liberated and a decisive victory by the coalition forces is won.
Deception on the battlefield is surely as old as warfare itself. The examples stretch from the very beginnings of recorded military history—Pharaoh Ramses II's campaign against the Hittites in 1294 B.C.—to modern times, when technology has placed a stunning array of devices into the arsenals of military commanders. Military historians often underestimate the importance of deception in warfare. This book is the first to fully describe its value. Jon Latimer shows how simple some tricks have been, but also how technology has increased the range and subtlety of what is possible—bogus radio traffic, virtual images, even false smells. He draws examples from land, sea, and air to show how great commanders have always had, as Winston Churchill put it, that indispensable "element of legerdemain, an original and sinister touch, which leaves the enemy puzzled as well as beaten."
Customer Reviews:
Engaging and lively, this is the best book on the subject.......2001-11-14
As an armchair historian I was intrigued when I saw this book on a topic not widely written on or understood in western military thinking. Covering deception from ancient history to the 20th century (and beyond) Latimer examines the theory and practice of deception in war.
Dividing the book into sections dealing with air, land, naval, tactical and operational deception and then providing a detailed look at how deception works at each level has proved an excellent way to break down this complex topic. Each chapter is also full of colorful examples of deception efforts in history (eg. the British in WW2 observed the Germans building a intricate wooden mock-up airfield. On the day of its completion they sent over a lone Lancaster and dropped a large wooden bomb on it!). The lessons from history serve to illustrate each point Latimer brings up and keep the book lively and interesting.
Latimer has excelled at making this a very accesabile book which while it provides the detail a military buff wants is interesting enough to capture readers with a more general interest. I was genuinely disapointed when I completed the book, wishing there was more to read!
Customer Reviews:
The Perestroika Deception.......2007-07-05
Here is a look inside the real Soviet Union, even now, 2007. Anatoliy's insights and warnings MUST be heeded by our Congress and Executive branch! From my own observations prior to reading his book, I was coming to the same conclusions. We must not be fooled by the communist party's hidden agenda and tactics! Read this book and then watch the abc, cbs, cnn or nbc evening news and see for yourself if the news is American news, or communist propaganda disguised as news!
The Russian Bear & Politics.......2007-02-13
After reading a few reviews, all who voted in favor of Golitsyn, I thought I would add a little information to clarify.
There is much ado about Golitsyn's "predictions" everywhere, on the web, in print and in media. This leads one to believe that there is chance involved in a sort of political prognostication; however, this is not the case, and he clearly states this, time and time again, in both "New Lies for Old" and "The Perestroika Deception."
Golitsyn's analysis of Russian activity is based upon a new analytical paradigm. This paradigm grew as a result to changes in policy which were designed to give false results to Western analysts stuck in the now outdated dogma.
Glasnost and perestroika were designed, according to Golitsyn, as politic tools to perform a sort of prestidigitation to lull and bedazzle Soviet opponents, while the true intentions and actions happened in the background.
History has proven Golitsyn's analysis to be extremely accurate. However, there seems to be a concerted effort to completely ignore his strategic analytical model, much like it happened in the 1980's and 1990's. This, to me, indicates that his model for interpreting data is reliable and bears consideration. It is through this model that he made "predictions," all which have either come to pass or will in the future (if his prediction rate is anything by which to judge the rest). For those that would like to understand seemingly esoteric or difficult to understand political moves, Golitsyn's work might help to shed light on the subject.
Communism is NOT dead.......2004-08-20
Anatoliy Golitsyn worked inside the system, inside the KGB.
He predicted what later has become reality - Russia clearly staged the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the KGB financed all so called dissidents that run the Eastern European governments, Golitsyn has analized the strategic communist plan in detail and yet our government is not listening and our so called media is not paying attention to this threat from Russia and China.
Communist World Domination will become horrible reality if we will not reasses Russia's military strength and the real intentions KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin and his communist Politburo have for America - destruction of her and instalation of the communist World Order around the Globe.
Golitsyn clearly states in this briliant analysis that the deceptive means of false friendship Russia is playing today
will only result in catastrofic consequences for America if America doesn't protect herself.
The means of communist infiltration and systematic subversion
of the West are clearly shown in detail by Mr. Golitsyn
and that's why he's still under direct death threat from Moscow
and he has to hide in the U.K.
Russia's connection to Islamic terrorism has been also proven
and Golitsyn mentioned Saddam's regime constant co-operation with Moscow.
Will America wake up ?
Only God knows that.
So many are warning us, but nobody seems to be listening!.......2001-04-07
This book is yet another book that I have read that tells the truth. After reading books like "Behold a Pale Horse", "Hope of the Wicked", "Bitter Legacy:Untold Story of the Clinton-Gore Years", there is no doubt that these books are cohererent in what they have to say. Why does our country continually fail to see the very obvious truth? This book is important and is a big part of the the whole true story of what is "really going on" in this world right now. Get this book and others like it, then inform everyone what you know and can see is the TRUTH! Especially Congress!
Wilderness of Mirrors.......2000-04-25
If you have the courage to stare the devil in the face, then read this book and see where we're headed. It's a tough read though. It jumps around. It's written on a master's degree level, or higher. And it challenges everything you've been told by your government over the past ten years. Russia is not our friend. China is not our friend. And the why's are all here for you to read. Not for the faint hearted.
Book Description
The definitive book on ancient military principles that is strikingly relevant to the War on Terror, the war in Iraq, and the rise of China as a geopolitical power
The history of China is a history of warfare. Wars have caused dynasties to collapse, fractured the thin faade of national unity, and brought decades of alien occupation. But throughout Chinese history, its warfare has been guided by principles different from those that governed Europe. Chinese strategists followed the concept, first articulated by Sun-tzu in The Art of War, of qi (ch'i), or unorthodox, warfare. The concept of qi involves creating tactical imbalances in order to achieve victory against even vastly superior forces.
Ralph D. Sawyer, translator of The Art of War and one of America's preeminent experts on Chinese military tactics, here offers a comprehensive guide to the ancient practice of unorthodox warfare. He describes, among many other tactics, how Chinese generals have used false rumors to exploit opposing generals' distrust of their subordinates; dressed thousands of women as soldiers to create the illusion of an elite attack force; and sent word of a false surrender to lure enemy troops away from a vital escape route.
The Tao of Deception is the book that military tacticians and military historians will turn to as the definitive guide to a new, yet ancient, way of thinking about strategy.
Book Description
Behind the astonishing success of D-Day was the most sophisticated deception scheme ever devised. Its code name was "Fortitude," and its objective was to persuade the enemy that the long-awaited landings would take place in the Pas-de-Calais and that any attack in Normandy could be safely ignored. The Nazis relied on aerial reconnaissance, wireless intercepts, news from London-based diplomats, and reports from the Abwehr's extensive network of agents to predict the time and place of the Allied offensive, and much of this misinformation was helpfully supplied by Roger Hesketh's team of deception specialists, who coordinated the most complex conjuring trick of the century.
The classified official history of the entire operation, written by Roger Hesketh as Allied counter-intelligence experts were gathering the evidence of what had been accomplished in early 1945, has at last been declassified and released. In Fortitude, the intricate details of this fantastic diversionary scheme are disclosed with the type of immediacy that can only come from first-hand material.
"An outstanding history of the most successful deception campaign in history...a must read." (Alan Gropman, The Washington Times)
"An authentic study, by a fully informed expert, of a subject once deadly secret." (The Times, London)
Customer Reviews:
Story Lost Among Too many Details.......2006-03-29
As a previous reviewer stated, this manuscript was written at war's end as an internal British Government report. I would assume that it was to be studied by future military leaders as a blueprint
for future military campaigns. I was so overwhelmed by all of the facts and details, that I could not find a "story line." Story as well as "character development" are sorely lacking. In fairness to the author, this was written as a "report" not a narrative. Nor
did the author have the benefit of time to gain an overall perspective of the events described. I would recommend that any prospective readers look for a different source!
VERY dry.......2002-12-03
I'm a big fan of this topic area, yet had to force myself to keep reading this one until I finally gave up. The problem is that the author writes this as really an "after-action report" to his superiors, so the prose is extremely heavy on orginizational details. Just to give you a flavor, here are passages from two pages chosen at random:
(1, p. 91): "It now became necessary to provide FUSAG with armies of its own. This wa done on the one hand by fictitiously detaching the First Canadian Army from 21 Army Group and putting it under the command of FUSAG"
(2, p. 275):"Under the new scheme, Three would be at the head, 7(2) would be called in to act as freelance, taking the place of Seven in that respect. The territory of 7 (4) would be enlarged to include Kent as well as Sussex, thus filling the gap caused by 7 (2)'s departure. 7(7) and 3(3) would continue as before, the former in the Eastern counties and the latter in Scotland".
I hope you get my point - authoritative and detailed, but not exactly a page-turner.
Inside account and thorough but a little dry.......2002-10-20
For WWII buffs this book will prove to be invaluable. The level of detail (specifically quotes from actually documents and interviews with captured German generals)will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered how we managed to get a foot hold in Europe in 1944.
The only negatives associated with this book are the lack of writing style (this man was, actually, not a professional writer) and a certain amount of data overload concerning formations, locations, and dates.
My suggestion is to read it slowly and don't mind if you find yourself skipping of a an Armoured Division here or an Infantry Division there. Just keep track of the narrative and you will be surprised at how 'tight' the story ends up being. Also, don't forget to skim the appendicies for some interesting perspective on how experts 'thought' the war in Europe would go.
Overall this is an excellent book for interested parties. If you don't have a strong interest in WWII or spycraft I would consider lighter fare.
They fooled Hitler, Rommel, and the German High Command........2001-07-16
This book is very detailed. "The author actually wrote the account at the end of the war, but its publication was delayed until the principal participants died or came out of hiding." (Thats all I should have to say.) I would highly recommend this book (hence the 5/5 stars). They fooled Hitler, Rommel, and the German High Command. How? Well, read this baby and you'll know how. (Project Fortitude) This goes beyond the inflatable tanks, fake radio broadcasts, double agents, spies, and etc. There are several intresting documents, too. I read and purchase several history books and documentaries. I must admit that I’m only 3/4 through. This book is worth the money!!! I could yap on instead check out an excerpt. Have FUN :-)
Chapter One
Early Planning
The decision to invade France in 1944 was taken at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. General Morgan was appointed Chief of Staff to the future Supreme Commander and established his headquarters at Norfolk House, St James's Square, in April of that year. On 26th April he received a directive from the Combined Chiefs of Staff which, besides instructing him to prepare plans for a full-scale assault against the Continent as early as possible in 1944 and for a return to the Continent in the event of German disintegration at any time, also demanded `an elaborate camouflage and deception scheme extending over the whole summer with a view to pinning the enemy in the West and keeping alive the expectation of large-scale cross-Channel operations in 1943. This would include at least one amphibious feint with the object of bringing on an air battle employing the Metropolitan Air Force and the Eighth US Air Force.' The deception plans which were prepared in compliance with that instruction and which received the name of COCKADE do not strictly lie within the scope of this report. Nevertheless, as they had a bearing upon subsequent events, a short account is included.
COCKADE had two distinct objects: to contain German forces in North-Western Europe, thus preventing them from being used on the active fronts, and to destroy German aircraft. The plan comprised three connected operations: TINDALL, the threat of a landing in Norway; STARKEY, of a landing in the Pas de Calais; and WADHAM, of one in the Bay of Biscay. STARKEY and WADHAM, so the story ran, were to be complementary operations. After the bridgehead in the Pas de Calais had been established by British forces, an American landing was to take place in Western France with the object of opening Brest, which could then be used to land troops sailing direct from the United States. The forces in the United Kingdom being held inadequate to support all three plans, the French and Norwegian assaults were presented as alternative undertakings. STARKEY was the most important part of COCKADE inasmuch as it included an elaborate embarkation exercise by 21 Army Group in which the landing craft actually sailed to within a few miles of the French coast, as well as real air attacks against the Pas de Calais. TINDALL and WADHAM relied mainly on the use of wireless, dummy devices and controlled leakage.
Book Description
Today, more than ever, the use of denial and deception (D&D) is being used to compensate for an opponent's military superiority, to obtain or develop weapons of mass destruction, and to violate international agreements and sanctions. Although the historical literature on the use of strategic deception is widely available, technical coverage of the subject is scattered in hard-to-find and out-of-print sources. This is the first technical volume to offer you a current, comprehensive and systematic overview of the concepts and methods that underlie strategic deception and, more importantly, to provide you with an in-depth understanding of counterdeception.
Moreover, this timely book offers you an excellent framework for the development of architectures and systems for deception detection and other countermeasures. You gain an in-depth understanding of the scope and complex nature of the D&D problem, and learn how to plan and organize research and development, system development, and operational activities focused on counterdeception. Further, the book suggests specific technical and organizational approaches to help you detect and defeat the D&D plans and operations of real and potential adversaries.
Book Description
The Soviet-German War of 1941-1945 was the most extensive intelligence/counterintelligence war in modern history, involving the capture, torture, deportation, execution, and "doubling" of tens of thousands of agents--most of them Soviet citizens. While Russian armies fought furiously to defeat the Wehrmacht, Stalin's security services waged an equally ruthless secret war against Hitler's spies, as well as against the Soviet population. For the first time, Robert Stephan now combines declassified U.S. intelligence documents, captured German records, and Russian sources, including a top-secret Soviet history of its intelligence and security services, to reveal the magnitude and scope of the brutal but sophisticated Soviet counterintelligence war against Nazi Germany.
Employing as many as 150,000 trained agents across a 2,400-mile front, the Soviets neutralized the majority of the more than 40,000 German agents deployed against them. As Stephan shows, their combination of Soviet military deception operations and State Security's defeat of the Abwehr's human intelligence effort had devastating consequences for the German Army in every major battle against the Red army, including Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, the Belorussian offensive, and the Vistula-Oder operation.
Simultaneously, Soviet State Security continued to penetrate the world's major intelligence services including those of its allies, terrorize its own citizens to prevent spying, desertion, and real or perceived opposition to the regime, and run millions of informants, making the USSR a vast prison covering one sixth of the world's surface.
Stephan discusses all facets of the Soviet counterintelligence effort, including the major Soviet "radio games" used to mislead the Germans--operations Monastery, Berezino, and those that defeated Himmler's Operation Zeppelin. He also gives the most comprehensive account to date of the Abwehr's infamous agent "Max," whose organization allegedly ran an entire network of agents inside the USSR, and reveals the reasons for Germany's catastrophic under-estimation of Soviet forces by more than one million men during their 1944 summer offensive in Belorussia.
Richly detailed and epic in scope, Stalin's Secret War opens up a previously hidden dimension of World War II.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
Customer Reviews:
Great addition to Eastern Front Literature.......2006-01-20
The author does an excellent job with this book. Descriptions of various Soviet operations, what happened during and the outcomes are all written out and described with details and excellent sources. The reader will see that the myth that all Soviet POW's who were either liberated or escaped back to their lines from encirclements or German POW camps were sent to Gulag labor camps is a lie. After thorough checking by the NKVD the majority, 90% or more, were sent back to their units or used in another form at the front or in the rear, only around 10% were put into Penal battalions and companies or sent to Gulag camps because of various reasons. An excellent section on how the Germans tried to penetrate the Red Army and NKVD by using POW's and others, the sheer volume of the amount of agents the Germans sent through Soviet front lines will give rise to an understanding that the NKVD had to be thorough in their jobs and many of those who did return might in fact have been working for the Germans in one way or another. All in all an excellent piece of literature on the time period and a great addition to our understanding of what went on during this war on the Eastern Front. As a comment to the other reviewer, the Soviets did not need to crack the German 'Enigma' codes, they had spies in top levels of the US and British secret services and through them received all the knowledge they needed about German activities. Sometimes British and US agencies shared information with the USSR and the NKVD or GRU (military intelligence) would then double check that information from their own spies in the respective agencies.
Gripping. I found it difficult to put down........2005-02-16
Robert W. Stephan's book explores hitherto ignored,hidden dimension of war on the Eastern Front:Soviet counter-intelligence ops and its impact in shaping the outcome of Great Patriotic War[1941-45]We know from the works of V.E Tarrant,Paul Carrel,Heinz Hohne Soviet penetration of German Armed Forces High Command,highest echelons of Nazi regime.Success of Soviet spynetworks[Red Orchestra]eroded Wehrmact's ability to defeat Red Army;derailed Hitler's plan to conquer Soviet Union.Concurrently GRU,NKGB's penetration of Abwehr,Gestapo,SD helped Soviets to uncover to the fullest extent possible German secret agent network operating in Russia.
German agents caught were turned into double agents.Using them as 'radioplaybacks'Soviets started feeding controlled information which fooled German High Command.Information supposedly coming from authentic sources made Germans misinterpret scope,magnitude,direction of Soviet thrusts.Maskirovka ensured the destruction of German Army Group Centre{Bagration] in summer of 1944.Intially to establish the credibility of information passed on by double agent Stavka with the connivance of Stalin betrayed few Red Army ops.Most important being 'MARS'launched by Marshal Zhukov to eliminate Rzhev salient in Nov 1942 which ended in a fiasco.
Soviet success in deceiving Germans hastened Wehrmacht's defeat on the Eastern Front.If not it would have prolonged hostilities or may have ended in a stalemate.In narrating Soviet counter-espionage ops author draws parallels with what British [XX]committee of MI5 did to dupe Germans.Like the British Soviets molded deception into a decisive weapon.
So far analogy holds good;but no further.Unlike British Soviet covert ops are shrouded in mystery.Why this secrecy even though 60 years have passed since capitulation of Nazi Germany is a conundrum which has continued to baffle experts.For instance the memoirs of top Soviet commanders Zhukov,Shtmenko,Rokkosovsky,Vassilievsky,Chuikov does not say anything about Soviet intelligence triumph.Another intriuging aspect it is not known wheather Soviets had cracked German Enigma codes.But one has to assume that Russians must have had some success if not how could they hope to monitor progress made in deceiving Germans.
This book establishes beyond doubt Bolsheviks were masters in the art of espionage ,counter-espionage,covert operations.I feel circumstances surrounding the birth of Soviet state dictated it to be so.Soviet Union was besieged by foes assailing it from different directions.Defence of revolution demanded Soviets have highly efficent secret service which could foil plots ,machinations of imperialist powers.
So in the secret war that followed German intelligence was outclassed,outwitted,outmanoeuvred.Inthe field of espionage Germans were made to look crass amateurs.Reader will get to know this while perusing chapters related to operations Monastery,Berezino in this book.Operation Barbarossa was colossal blunder ;Germans underestimated strength lay latent Soviet Union.Superior German intelligence would have helped them to uncover that strength.But that was not to be.
Book Description
BradyGames'
Mortal Kombat: Deception Official Strategy Guide includes the following:
In-Depth Character Strategy!
Insane Combos!
Full Coverage of Every Arena and Arena Fatalities!
Tips for Chess Kombat!
Tactics for Puzzle Kombat!
Exclusive Comic Book!
Exclusive Foldout Featuring Character Bios and the History of Mortal Kombat!
Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube
Genre: Fighting
This product is available for sale worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
Mortal Kombat: Deception Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games Signature).......2005-08-02
One think I can say is that it sucks!It didn't help me finish the konquest game of mortal Kombat deception. Don't even waste your money on this!
Good thing Wal-Mart lets you return stuff............2005-06-11
I'm so glad I bought this guide at Wal-Mart as opposed to an actual videogame store. I bought it for the Fatalities, the Konquest mode, and the Krypt. This strategy guide had NO INFORMATION!!!! It actually said to look up info online! I even went to the website listed and it still had no info. Besides, I have gamefaqs.com if I want to get guides online. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Komplete krap.......2005-01-18
I've never written a review before, because I've never been impressed enough or upset enough to do so. Believe me, I'm very much the latter right now.
Everyone that has played Mortal Kombat knows that the main thing that sets apart MK from every other fighting game on the market are the fatalities. So I bought the guide hoping to learn how to do these finishers... Boy, was I wrong! Not only is the print so small and the colors so similar that I could barely read them (and even then I still can't make out some of the directional arrows), but more than half of them aren't even listed! Sure, it lists every single move possible during kombat, but I could have checked the move list to learn them.
Next, Konquest Mode. Ugh, what an utter waste this "guide" is. The only quests it walks you through a blind hamster with a learning disability could have figured out on its own! And what about the subquests? If it wasn't for the tiny printing at the top of each map (which, by the way, are useless as well as you can check the map in-game anytime you wish) stating how many sub-quests exist in that world, I wouldn't believe that the author even knew they existed.
Third, the Krypt. I was not pleased when I plugged the game in to discover that I had to 'unlock' half of the playable characters. But hey, it gives inentive to play the Konquest Mode (which I likely wouldn't have touched otherwise). However, there is ~nothing~ in this guide that tells me which koffin contains which secret.
In short, this guide is hardly worth the pages it was printed on. Save your money, get your guide on-line. To those of you who I've saved $15 with this warning, you're welcome. To those who already bought it, my condolences.
In-komplete!.......2004-12-22
This guide is missing secret character moves and how to unlock them. No other secrets or krypt info was listed either.
completely useless.......2004-12-20
stupid. $14.99 for nothing. It has maybe 4 fatalities, and like 2 hara-kiris. And the konquest guide is no help. "Go to location A-8." Like I know where A-8 is! And there is no help for side missions. Only primary missions. And there are many grammar mistakes. And it doen't cover anything about the krypt! Of all things, this is one of the most important. Nobody cares about every single little move a character has. We want their fatalities! And some of the special moves are not even right. Don't get it look on the internet.
Book Description
They were Eisenhower's secret weapon-an elite troupe of artists, actors, electronics wizards, designers, and writers. These men created dazzling theatrical battlefield ruses, fooling the German high command into attacking the wrong place, defending the wrong bridgeheads, even retreating from phantom attackers.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. helped pioneer the tactics of this unlikely band of heroes, which included future fashion king Bill Blass, abstract painter Ellsworth Kelly, and artist Hal Laynor.
Drawing on recently declassified records, interviews, diaries, and letters, Secret Soldiers provides a fascinating and long-overdue tribute to these uniquely talented soldiers.
Customer Reviews:
Finally the Story of the 23rd HQ Sp Trp has been told.......2005-07-05
I am an admittedly biased reviewer, as I have a strong affinity to the events set forth in Mr. Gerard's book. My father, MSG Robert C. MacFarland, served in H&S Co, 603rd Engineer (Camouflage) Battalion. He never spoke of his wartime service, except in a few humerous ancedotes while he purportedly served in infantry, armored, airborne, and engineer units. Having read this book I now see that he was being truthful, albeit in a deceptive fashion. The only point of mild critism is that I wish more maps had been included, showing the positions of the various elements of the 23rd during the disparate and separate operations throughout the ETO. My personal thanks to Philip Gerard for a very fine book.
Balanced, very interesting story, told well.......2004-09-18
As an amateur history buff dabbling in several different periods, I found this book to be a very interesting read on a small but very important unit that arguably contributed greatly to the final year of the war.
This book gets into the technical details just enough to let the reader understand the basics of the various deceptions the units "played" without bogging the book down. Its strength is painting a whole picture of how the unit formed, the key leaders that made the unit successful, the unusual mix (for the Army) of artists that had the initiative and innovation to pull off their deceptions, the daily routines for the enlisted men, and of course the various operations that were conducted.
Well balanced between interviews with the actual soldiers and the facts of the operations while setting the scene of what wartime Europe was like during their short deployment, Gerard has done a great service in documenting the unit's once top-secret history.
5 Stars for Great Content, 3 Stars for "OK" Presentation.......2004-05-18
I picked up this book expecting one thing, and got another. The Hardback version ~seems~ to promise an overall history of Deception Warfare in WWII, the most famous of which is probably "Fortitude" - the deception of Rommel into believing Patton would lead the D-Day forces to Calais, closely followed in general public awareness by the story of "The Man who Never Was".
Well, while these are indeed touched on, they're not dealt with in depth. What you get in its place, however, is admirable. The story of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops is a great one - ESSENTIAL, I'd say, because it helps open your eyes to the activites of US Army "support" Units, which you must know to have a well rounded view of WW II.
As I've said in another review on the 3AD's WW II Maintenance Operations (Deathtraps), most books on the War in Europe give the view from the Foxhole or the View from HQ, with little said about the activities of other units, which were just as important to the success of the overall campaign.
The Good Points of this book:
- Needed light shown on a unfamiliar topic
- Great attention to the detail in portraying the individual work of the units of the 23rd(Camofleur ops with Dummy vehicles & Encampments, Sonic Operations, Radio Spoofing, etc), and how that work evolved and improved over the course of their operations
- Great attention to the personalities of the men who made up the unit. An unlikely mix of combat men, artists, showmen and techies who found a way to work together against the enemy and upon occasion, shortsighted leadership. Whoda' thunk Bill Blass or Douglas Fairbanks Jr. played such roles in WWII? The 2000 reunion at the end of the book was effectively recounted
Things I wish were better:
- The cover blurbs promise more than the book really aims to deliver. Probably more a marketing thing than the authors true intent, which was primarily the 23rd. However, I still wish the Author could have talked about Fortitude, and if/how the 23rd learned anything from the operation
- As another reviewer noted, we learn a lot about Douglas Fairbanks Jr's naval deception experience - a lot more than we learn about Fortitude, in fact. While this was welcome information, I would have preferred it to be covered in either a larger book about all WW II Decpeption OPs, or edited out of this book, where its a bit less relevant.
- The disorganized nature of the 23rd, which was really cobbled together from separate units, and their loose affiliations in the field, make for difficult history telling. The author does not always make it clear how the units worked together, and how they did not. A "chain of command" diagram would have been much appreciated
I do recommend this book. I think it could have used a bit more editing and could have been shorter, but the enthusiasm of the author for the material shines through, as does the depth of his research. The story is a great one, and the book is well worth purchasing for anyone seeking a well rounded view of WWII.
A Great Story Poorly Told.......2003-08-23
This is a great story about a company of soldiers who brought deception to WWII for America. Mush of the story was kept classified until the last few years (although the author never tells us why or when it was declassified). Unfortunately, the book is poorly organized.
The author also gets bogged down in minutae which often is not relevant to the story or just plain uninteresting. The book is at its best when it steps back and looks at the big picture of this small company or is describing the methodology it used. Those parts are too thin in the book.
Also, the author tries to walk the tightrope of relating a very specialized aspect of the US Army in WWII while at the same time attempting to put that small aspect into the overall. Thus the reader gets two sentence analyses of major events, which are often insultingly simplistic. One would expect that if a reader is going to pick up this book devoted to one company, he would know the general aspects of the war.
Many of the characters are compelling as are the battles (for lack of a better word for the activities of deception troops) in which they contributed. The technology is also interesting. I think this would have been a much better book had it been 100 pages shorter.
It also could have been improved if the author did not gush so over Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The amount of space devoted to him in the opening chapter is disproportionate to the role this Navy man in the US Army deception comapny. An example of the author's obsession with Fairbanks and the unorganized nature of this book is seen when, in the middle of a long chapter on the deception techniques the company is using France on its way to Germany, the author breaks in with a two page update on what Fairbanks was doing at the time -- in the Mediterranean and in the Navy and nothing to do with deception!!! Nothing at all to do with what was going on in the 75 pages before and after. A glaring example of the superfluous and disorganization running through the book.
I wish I could recommend this because of teh great accomplishments of those described in this book. Unfortunately, it is a long hard journey to get from beginning to end.
A must read for any WWII history buff.......2003-03-31
I commend Mr. Gerard for bringing this amazing story to print. It should be required reading by all students and buffs of WWII history. It is an excellent story and well told.
This book is about the 23d Headquarters Special Troops; a group of actors, artists and skilled illusionists that became soldiers in one of America's most secret outfits of WWII. Not until 1979 were any of them permitted to openly tell of their exploits during the war.
The book begins with the concept of using deception in warfare and carries forward through examples in various battles. It then tells of the birth of this deceptive warfare unit and the men instrumental in its formation. Among them Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
The sections on the formation of the various units, Sonic Deception, Camouflage, Radio etc, explain the importance of using these techniques in combat. Battle plans are "scripted" and the soldiers are "actors." But what the reader comes away with is the knowledge that these artists and actors, in doing their jobs, became frontline combat soldiers. To insure their success, missions frequently were kept secret from the other soldiers in the area. Many times they purposely drew enemy fire into their formations of "rubber" tanks, and artillery pieces so that the real weapons and soldiers could move to a new position undetected.
Mr. Gerard sprinkles through out the book, reflections from the surviving members of this unit. And finishes the book at a small reunion of the dwindling number of veterans of the 23rd Special Troops, reminding me so much of the reunions I've attended of my father's 29th Infantry Division and the awe of being in the company of heroes. By Dale Lane, author of "All My Love, Forever: Letter's Home From A World War II Citizen-Soldier"
Customer Reviews:
Advanced Reading for National Security Practitioner-Students.......2002-07-25
This is a really excellent collection of advanced reading on strategic denial and deception, and it makes the vital point that denial and deception are at the core of 4th generation warfare and asymmetric offense and defense strategy.
The two contributing editors are the best-qualified experts possible. Roy Godson's work in the 1980's and 1990's on intelligence requirements, carrying on today with his advanced thinking on restoring covert action and counterintelligence as well as the synergy among these and collection with analysis, makes him the premier policy-scholar in this arena. Jim Wirtz, author of the very insightful "The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War," and now chairman of the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School where very advanced work is being done on the new craft of intelligence (both human and technical, both secret and open), adds a combat practitioners perspective.
While there are some similarities among a few of the contributions, on balance each one is sufficiently unique. Two key thoughts that jumped out:
1) Most of the lessons learned come from World War II. The authors were hard-pressed to find modern examples. The one used from the Gulf War (an amphibious feint) is in my recollection false--we were planning an amphibious attack, and it was only at the last minute that CINCCENT was persuaded to do a Hail Mary end run, prompted in part by some exceptional work from the Navy's intelligence center that showed the beach obstacles in great detail.
2) Two perennial lessons learned are that policy makers do not want to hear about possible hostile denial and deception--they want to stick with their own preconceptions (which of course make denial and deception easier to accomplish against us); and second, that intelligence experts tend to be under great pressure to cook the books in favor of policy preconceptions, while also being generally unwilling to believe the enemy can deceive them or accomplish slights of hand that are undetectable.
All of the chapters are good, but two struck me as especially helpful today: J. Bowyer Bell's "Conditions Making for Success and Failure of Denial and Deception: Nonstate and Illicit Actors," and Bart Whaley & Jeffrey Busby, "Detecting Deception: Practice, Practitioners, and Theory." The latter, building on a lifetime of study that included a review of eight strategic cultures as well as the cost of major deceptions (D-Day deceptions that fixed German forces cost less than 1% of the assets and could have saved the entire force), examined 47 seven different kind of "detectives" from scientists and bank tellers to biographers and private eyes, and creates nine categories of "detectibles", concluding with the Law of Multiple Sensors, something that most stove-piped intelligence communities simply will not grasp for at least another decade.
This is both a serious work of scholarship, and a very valuable policy reader.
Snakes on Scanners! Shields Up!.......2002-05-14
Roy Godson and James J. Wirtz (Editors), Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge. Transaction Pub; ISBN: 0765801132; (March 2002).
This new volume signals a post Cold War revival of attention and interest in deception, a revival growing in Washington since the mid-1990s. Experiences with the deceptions of the Iraqis, Somalis, Serbs, North Koreans, various transnational terrorists, and narco-criminals have revived awareness in the United States that deception is among the time-honored techniques of asymmetrical warfare, capable of allowing the weaker, but deceptive opponent to surprise, wound, or even defeat a far stronger adversary. Attention to deception and counter-deception, focused in the 1980s on the Soviet threat, has revived to address the new post Cold War threats, what one observer called the "snakes in the grass." Attempts to bury deception inside the befuddled complexity of "information operations" are failing: deception is back, it's a problem, and people are doing something about it.
Academic conferences, research journal articles, and scholarly volumes of analysis and theory such as this one signify that deception and counter-deception, until recently buried in the classified world, limited to informal intelligence agency committees and think tank working groups, have again become quasi-respectable, if not altogether mainstream, stand-alone concerns in the American national security structure. The informal committees are becoming formally chartered, working groups turning into boxes on organizational charts, and analysts are going back to schools to catch up on theory, tactics, techniques, and procedures. Policy makers are pressed to take sides: for or against using deception; needing or rejecting the need for counter-deception. More conferences, journal articles, and volumes are on undoubtedly on the way. The participants all need to read this book.
On the bow-wave of this coming swell of deception concern is Godson and Wirtz's excellent statement of the problems of deception, its challenges to U.S. intelligence, the success and failure of deceptions by the various snakes under various conditions, and the prospects for detecting and deflecting deception. The posture they describe is wholly defensive: the snakes will deceive U.S. intelligence and the national security policy and decision makers. There is no offensive outlook on deception here, no argument that the U.S. needs a capability to cloak the employment its instruments of national security.
Like the starships of the Star Trek Federation, we do shields, deceptive cloaking is only for the Bad Guys. Brigadier General Walter Jajko's incisive commentary in this volume explains exactly why this is, and it likely not to change: the United States simply does not know how to employ deception for national security, and is effectively organized culturally, socially, traditionally, and organizationally not to learn. In the U.S. the practicing field of deception it seems has been yielded to advertising, politics, business, and other criminal enterprises.
Godson and Wirtz's chapters lay out the defensive challenge to U.S. national security. Their authors are flagship analysts and theorists of deception's problems, with a healthy leavening of reality-checking national security insiders among them: Abram Shulsky, Richards Heuer, Barton Whaley, M.R.D. Foot, J. Bowyer Bell, Lynn Hansen, Paul Rossa, James Bruce. This volume is a foundation for understanding what we are up against and what we can do about it.
Books:
- Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach, Third Edition (Delivering Health Care in America: A System Approach)
- Designing and Managing Programs: An Effectiveness-Based Approach (SAGE Sourcebooks for the Human Services)
- Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
- Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union (Culture and Society After Socialism)
- Evaluating Practice: Guidelines for the Accountable Professional (5th Edition)
- Evolution of the Social Contract
- Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian Hating & Empire Building
- Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret
- God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
- Governance (Key Concepts)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Operations Management & Student CD Package
- Herbs and Spices for Florida Gardens: How to Grow and Enjoy Florida Plants with Special Uses
- Agents' legal responsibility
- Asia Shock: Horror And Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, And Thailand
- Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
- History: Fiction or Science
- Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam
- e-Enterprise: Business Models, Architecture, and Components
- Accounting, 1993 Edition, Chapters 1-19
- Stranger Things Happen
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge
The Man Who Never Was: World War II's Boldest Counter-Intelligence Operation
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
Strategic Deception in the Second World War
Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC
