Second World War Deception: Lessons Learned for Today's Joint Planner - World War II Allied Deception Operations Barclay, Mincemeat, Cockade, Bodyguard, Zeppelin, Fortitude North, Soviet Maskirovka

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this excellent book examines and analyzes six Allied deception operations to identify the fundamental reasons why Allied deception efforts were the most successful in history. Second World War history offers the military strategist a cornucopia of lessons learned on how to apply the art of military deception. The six deception operations reviewed were Barclay, Cockade, and Bodyguard as well as the Soviet deception operations at Stalingrad, Kursk, and White Russia. A critical analysis of these six operations identified seven major factors that made Allied deception efforts extremely effective. These seven factors were that the Allies controlled all key channels of information, had great intelligence "feedback" on their deception operations, had high-level and centralized control over deception planning, practiced sound deception techniques, subordinated deception to strategic and operational objectives, maintained adequate secrecy, and provided sufficient time for deception execution. These factors are relevant for today's operations and should be imbedded within US doctrine.

This study then examined Joint Publication 3-58, Joint Doctrine for Military Deception, and determined it could better incorporate the lessons learned from World War II. Current joint doctrine could be improved by underscoring the contribution that deception provides to surprise, the importance of integrating deception within all three levels of war, and the importance of exploiting an adversary's preexisting beliefs when creating a deception story. Applying these World War II lessons will bolster US deception capabilities.

Military deception has always played a vital role in warfare and will continue to do so as long as mankind has a propensity to wage war. Sun Tzu alluded to this role more than 2,500 years ago when he stated that all "war is based on deception." The importance of deception has surely not diminished over the millennia and, in fact, may be gaining in importance. With declining defense budgets, shrinking force structures, growing costs of high technology, and increasing reluctance to risk human life, today's military strategists and planners should be studying and applying deception with a renewed and heightened vigor. Military deception is a proven force multiplier that can shape the battlefield by providing surprise and security for military operations and forces. Thus, deception enables the joint force commander (JFC) to more quickly achieve mission objectives and to do so at a lower cost in casualties and resources—or in other words, deception allows the JFC to do more with less.