Deception in War: The Art of the Bluff, the Value of Deceit, and the Most Thrilling Episodes of Cunning in Military History, from the Trojan Horse to the Gulf War - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jon Latimer served for sixteen years as an officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, as Platoon Commander, Assault Troop Leader and Battalion Intelligence Officer. He has published widely in military journals, and is also the author of Operation Compass 1940 and, with Jim Laurier, of CAM080 Tobruk 1941.

Rezensionen

Seeming to be strong where you are weak and weak where your force lies ready in concealment, making your intentions seem plain enough to be credible when you're really ready to do something else these have been part of the art of combat since ancient armies fought wars. Written by a former officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, this overview of the history of warfare and its various examples of subterfuge describes various tactics, including tying lamps to a herd of livestock to simulate a moving army at night, false bragging at local bars, simulating the sounds of tanks on bivouac, and initiating an entire blizzard of radio communications intended for enemy interception. The examples run right up through the end run used in the Gulf War against Iraqi defenders in Kuwait. Recommended for students of military tactics. Mel Lane, Sacramento

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From simple low-tech tricks to the digitized crackle of false data, Latimer, a combat-experienced British intelligence officer, offers a wide-ranging history of military deception. He divides the ruses into their respective warfare modes "Naval Deception"; "Deception in Air Operations"; "Deception in Counter-Revolutionary and Irregular Warfare," etc. and analyzes the fundamentals of deception, "always aimed clearly at the mind of the enemy commander." Although the bulk of the book centers on WWII, Latimer also shows how the Hittites lured Ramses II into an ambush, tells the familiar biblical story of the Israelite commander Gideon and how he panicked a much larger Midianite soldiery, then looks at Venetian-Genoese rivalry in the Mediterranean. British decoy aircraft, Operation Bodyguard (one of 36 bluffs covering the allied invasion of Europe in 1944 that is a chapter in itself), and commanders and theorists like Eisenhower, German Generaloberst Franz Halder and China People's Liberation Army commander Liu Po-Ch'eng are all put through their paces, along with the now much talked-about "Hail Mary" maneuver that enabled coalition forces to rout Saddam Hussein's large army in the Gulf War. The end result is a broad study of military bluff and how it has influenced decisive wars, campaigns and battles. Perhaps it should be classified. 10 maps; 35 illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Latimer, a military writer and former British officer, brings insight and appreciation of warfare to this look at deceptive battle tactics. From the Trojan Horse to the more high-tech strategies of modern warfare, including the Persian Gulf War, Latimer recounts the uses of guile, subterfuge, and outright bluffing. Recalling myth and history, Latimer explores changes in military strategies as soldiering became a profession and changes in technology altered the means and ways of deceiving the enemy. He recalls great strategists from Hannibal to Shaka, as well as the intelligent maneuvers of commanders of less renown. Latimer examines the principles and methods of deception, including intelligence and counterintelligence, and the psychological elements used in strategies by sea, land, and air. Military buffs will particularly enjoy this book, but general readers will also appreciate the clever tactics. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved