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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
This is a military history book with a difference. So many about the two world wars are concerned with grand events, personalities, battles, how many people died, tales of heroism and tragedy and political analysis. I'm not really into military history for the reason that it is done to death, that and the fact that my interests lay in periods much earlier than the 20th century!
However, this is a book with a difference. It deals entirely with the propaganda wars of both world wars. There are some amazing stories in here that are even more incredible because they are true. Dead bodies dressed in RAF uniforms dropped behind enemy lines with fake TOP SECRET documents, entire battleships made from plywood to deceive the enemy over the actual sizes of fleets, setting up fake airfields and even towns that at night were indistinguishable from the real thing, faked movements of tanks and supplies and fake German newspapers and radio stations and even networks of false German agents operating in Britain sending daily reports to the Nazi high command. One bluff worked so well that Hitler halted the advance of one of his armies across France because a false lead had convinced him of an attack on the other end of the coast. Equally amazing is the refusal of the Nazi high command to attack British occupied Cyprus that intelligence had led them to believe was heavily fortified and would cost them dearly. In actual fact, Cyprus was defended by local militia who would have been little resistance to the Nazi war machine.
Rankin's writing style is sometimes quite dry. The stories he has to tell are amazing feats of military genius and it is not difficult to wish that he had at been a little more light-hearted at times and at 600 pages it is a heavy book requiring a reading of "little and often". Comprehensively researched, he drops in anecdotes and personal feelings for how the events he researched influenced fiction of the era particularly the Richard Hannay books (The 39 Steps etc).
An interesting read for military history buffs and non experts alike.
See more book reviews at my blog
However, this is a book with a difference. It deals entirely with the propaganda wars of both world wars. There are some amazing stories in here that are even more incredible because they are true. Dead bodies dressed in RAF uniforms dropped behind enemy lines with fake TOP SECRET documents, entire battleships made from plywood to deceive the enemy over the actual sizes of fleets, setting up fake airfields and even towns that at night were indistinguishable from the real thing, faked movements of tanks and supplies and fake German newspapers and radio stations and even networks of false German agents operating in Britain sending daily reports to the Nazi high command. One bluff worked so well that Hitler halted the advance of one of his armies across France because a false lead had convinced him of an attack on the other end of the coast. Equally amazing is the refusal of the Nazi high command to attack British occupied Cyprus that intelligence had led them to believe was heavily fortified and would cost them dearly. In actual fact, Cyprus was defended by local militia who would have been little resistance to the Nazi war machine.
Rankin's writing style is sometimes quite dry. The stories he has to tell are amazing feats of military genius and it is not difficult to wish that he had at been a little more light-hearted at times and at 600 pages it is a heavy book requiring a reading of "little and often". Comprehensively researched, he drops in anecdotes and personal feelings for how the events he researched influenced fiction of the era particularly the Richard Hannay books (The 39 Steps etc).
An interesting read for military history buffs and non experts alike.
See more book reviews at my blog
An uneven history--certain segments were absolutely fascinating, but others were mind-numbingly boring. I'd highly recommend finding other books to learn the incredible stories of the British deception campaigns during the run-up to the Sicily and Normandy invasions.
Also: the very beginning and the very end had very discordant notes: at the very beginning, the author mentions Mohammed and then promptly adds "peace be upon him." Is the author a muslim? If not, what is that about?
And at the end, the author tries to somehow draw a lesson for our times, times in which, he says, our politicians are using deception on their own people to lead them into war--explicitly accusing Blair and Bush for lying to their own people on Iraq. This is utter nonsense. If anything, Saddam's maskirovka campaign that had the whole world convinced he had WMDs deserves a book.
Also: the very beginning and the very end had very discordant notes: at the very beginning, the author mentions Mohammed and then promptly adds "peace be upon him." Is the author a muslim? If not, what is that about?
And at the end, the author tries to somehow draw a lesson for our times, times in which, he says, our politicians are using deception on their own people to lead them into war--explicitly accusing Blair and Bush for lying to their own people on Iraq. This is utter nonsense. If anything, Saddam's maskirovka campaign that had the whole world convinced he had WMDs deserves a book.
There is a good amount of research and collection of scarce and ambiguous information for this book. The way the author has ended the book is another thing I liked about this book. Could have included more photos. If you want an adventure packed novel experience, it is not the book for you.
A reasonable history of British military deception in World War I and II. The scope of the book is very broad, somewhat to the book's detriment. The book covers the earliest use of camouflage, propaganda, deception, spying, code breaking, concealment - pretty much every tactic used to misdirect or misrepresent to the enemy. The problem is that in trying to cover so much ground the subject matter flits about quite a bit and consequently the book lacks focus at times. It's quite hard to read in long sittings and a chapter here and there seemed to work for me. The book can be quite dry at times and a little more of the authors personality could have come through.
I'll be honest, this book was for my book group and we've read a lot of WWI and WWII themed books recently and I'm a little overwhelmed by it all and a little tired of the subject. I also read this during the terrible period of Israeli aggression against Gaza in 2014 and consequently am not in the mood to celebrate military success and deception - rather it seems the world is without hope - particularly poignant writing this the day after Britain entered WWI 100 years ago.
If I'm being frank I do not see Churchill as a hero and see him as a war criminal (but aren't they all...). Therefore the positioning of Churchill as the centre of the book and the bridge between the two wars, whilst an effective marketing tool did irk me somewhat. Not really fair as the title and positioning of Churchill shouldn't detract from the content of the book.
The author makes a few political opinions in the book, presented as 'fact' (in particular in relation to Palestine) which also irked me a little although his epilogue and conclusions are a fine way to end the book. It isn't exactly 'the ends justify the means' but there is a clear link to having to get one's hands dirty sometimes to save many lives.
There is lots of great stories in this book. I enjoyed the sections concerned with military tactical deception and spying. The amount of bluffs and double bluffs which came off were remarkable. It's hard to fully comprehend the success of these deceptions and sleights as it's never clear what worked and what didn't. It's clear that the crowning achievement was the misdirection which led to the relative success of the D-Day landings. The story of 'The Man That Never Was' seems unethical today but almost certainly hoodwinked the German high command (in this act a corpse dressed in military uniform and carrying secrets was dropped off the coast of Spain and left to be 'found').
The characters of Dudley Clarke and Sefton Delmer deserve books of their own and it's a shame 'official secrecy' has prevented their stories being told in full. Delmer's black propaganda on the German airwaves chipped away at the morale of the Germans whilst Clarke's list of plots, feints and 'notional' armies is substantial. What does come through in this book was just how close Britain was to losing World War II and getting the Germans to believe that Britain had substantially larger armies probably helped them win the war in hindsight.
There's so much material in here there's probably two or three really good books in here rather than one 'okay' one. The book is meticulously researched and provides extensive source notes for those who want to investigate further. Despite its size, this book is not the definitive book on the subject matter but due to the size and scope is a great start. I'd recommend this book to military history buffs, others may just want to dip into someone else's copy. As an aside I've recently read Connie Willis' fictional 'Blackout/All Clear' which covers similar subject matter and is a wonderful companion to this.
I'll be honest, this book was for my book group and we've read a lot of WWI and WWII themed books recently and I'm a little overwhelmed by it all and a little tired of the subject. I also read this during the terrible period of Israeli aggression against Gaza in 2014 and consequently am not in the mood to celebrate military success and deception - rather it seems the world is without hope - particularly poignant writing this the day after Britain entered WWI 100 years ago.
If I'm being frank I do not see Churchill as a hero and see him as a war criminal (but aren't they all...). Therefore the positioning of Churchill as the centre of the book and the bridge between the two wars, whilst an effective marketing tool did irk me somewhat. Not really fair as the title and positioning of Churchill shouldn't detract from the content of the book.
The author makes a few political opinions in the book, presented as 'fact' (in particular in relation to Palestine) which also irked me a little although his epilogue and conclusions are a fine way to end the book. It isn't exactly 'the ends justify the means' but there is a clear link to having to get one's hands dirty sometimes to save many lives.
There is lots of great stories in this book. I enjoyed the sections concerned with military tactical deception and spying. The amount of bluffs and double bluffs which came off were remarkable. It's hard to fully comprehend the success of these deceptions and sleights as it's never clear what worked and what didn't. It's clear that the crowning achievement was the misdirection which led to the relative success of the D-Day landings. The story of 'The Man That Never Was' seems unethical today but almost certainly hoodwinked the German high command (in this act a corpse dressed in military uniform and carrying secrets was dropped off the coast of Spain and left to be 'found').
The characters of Dudley Clarke and Sefton Delmer deserve books of their own and it's a shame 'official secrecy' has prevented their stories being told in full. Delmer's black propaganda on the German airwaves chipped away at the morale of the Germans whilst Clarke's list of plots, feints and 'notional' armies is substantial. What does come through in this book was just how close Britain was to losing World War II and getting the Germans to believe that Britain had substantially larger armies probably helped them win the war in hindsight.
There's so much material in here there's probably two or three really good books in here rather than one 'okay' one. The book is meticulously researched and provides extensive source notes for those who want to investigate further. Despite its size, this book is not the definitive book on the subject matter but due to the size and scope is a great start. I'd recommend this book to military history buffs, others may just want to dip into someone else's copy. As an aside I've recently read Connie Willis' fictional 'Blackout/All Clear' which covers similar subject matter and is a wonderful companion to this.
Really really good. I'm only annoyed it took me so long to get around to reading this. Its a fascinating insight into the deceptions and trickery practiced by the British in World War One and Two. Well worth a read - especially if you're looking for an introduction to the subject.
The concepts of camouflage, propaganda, double agents, secret intelligence, snipers, guerilla units and commandos are all so much a part of our modern image of warfare that it's hard to remember that most of these developments only came in with the twentieth century. I suppose it took the horror and carnage of the trenches to finally bury the notion that warfare could ever be civilised, a gentlemanly game between two sides who both played by the same rules. Once it became a matter of 'win at all costs', the ends could always justify the means, and deception instead of honour became one of the cardinal rules.
The British as a nation have always been in two minds about deception and honour. On the one hand as a people we love dressing-up, pageantry, showmanship, acting, and rarely ever say what we mean. On the other hand there's still a very strong streak of 'old-fashioned values', and these twin aspects of the national character show up in the military perhaps more than elsewhere. Throw two world wars into the mix, and what results is a fascinating blend of trial and error, genius and blundering incompetence, triumph and disaster.
Many intriguing and well-known characters pass through these pages, from TE Lawrence to Ian Fleming, George Bernard Shaw and John Buchan. Indeed, many of the earliest of those individuals involved in the art of camouflage and deception were deliberately drawn from the arts - painters, sculptors, writers. That said, anyone looking for a rollicking, fast-paced thriller scattered with famous names had better look elsewhere. Whilst dummy tanks, spies, forged documents and double agents are here a-plenty, this book takes the longer and more general viewpoint. This is however a thoroughly interesting overview of how deception came to be an established weapon in the military arsenal, or at least the British military arsenal in world wars 1 and 2.
Just a warning - despite the title, this isn't purely about Churchill's role in fostering this kind of underhand warfare - I suspect the title is simply a publishers' gambit to sell more copies. Churchill sells, after all.
The British as a nation have always been in two minds about deception and honour. On the one hand as a people we love dressing-up, pageantry, showmanship, acting, and rarely ever say what we mean. On the other hand there's still a very strong streak of 'old-fashioned values', and these twin aspects of the national character show up in the military perhaps more than elsewhere. Throw two world wars into the mix, and what results is a fascinating blend of trial and error, genius and blundering incompetence, triumph and disaster.
Many intriguing and well-known characters pass through these pages, from TE Lawrence to Ian Fleming, George Bernard Shaw and John Buchan. Indeed, many of the earliest of those individuals involved in the art of camouflage and deception were deliberately drawn from the arts - painters, sculptors, writers. That said, anyone looking for a rollicking, fast-paced thriller scattered with famous names had better look elsewhere. Whilst dummy tanks, spies, forged documents and double agents are here a-plenty, this book takes the longer and more general viewpoint. This is however a thoroughly interesting overview of how deception came to be an established weapon in the military arsenal, or at least the British military arsenal in world wars 1 and 2.
Just a warning - despite the title, this isn't purely about Churchill's role in fostering this kind of underhand warfare - I suspect the title is simply a publishers' gambit to sell more copies. Churchill sells, after all.
The winners of any war always proclaim their superior bravery, skill and intelligence as the means of defeating the inferior enemy. Despite all the glories listed in the official description of this book, the more detailed story paints a less stellar picture. No surprises there. Still, the accounts of the experiments and successful illusions made for an interesting read. The detective series I recently finished, The Magic Men, had its roots in one group of fictional tricksters who developed some of those deceptions (though things weren't quite as straightforward as that). There's another book, The War Magician, that talks about the similar exploits of real life magician Jasper Maskelyne. I'll be rereading that book, and reviews of it, as I remember years ago reading that that book was more fanciful than accurate. I'll let you know.
This had some good stuff in it, but way too much detail. I was a little disappointed after reading reviews and expecting better writing. The content itself was fascinating, but bogged down. I liked Silk and Cyanide way more, even though it was specifically about code breaking.