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The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
Ebook1,650 pages31 hours

The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War

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In World War II, the Allies employed unprecedented methods and practiced the most successful military deception ever seen, meticulously feeding misinformation to Axis intelligence to lead Axis commanders into erroneous action. Thaddeus Holt's elegantly written and comprehensive book is the first to tell the full story behind these operations. Exactly how the Allies engaged in strategic deception has remained secret for decades. Now, with the help of newly declassified material, Holt reveals this secret to the world in a riveting work of historical scholarship.

Once the Americans joined the war in 1941, they had much to learn from their British counterparts, who had been honing their deception skills for years. As the war progressed, the British took charge of misinformation efforts in the European theater, while the Americans focused on the Pacific. The Deceivers takes readers from the early British achievements in the Middle East and Europe at the beginning of the war to the massive Allied success of D-Day, American victory in the Pacific theater, and the war's culmination on the brink of an invasion of Japan.

Colonel John Bevan, who managed British deception operations from London, described the three essentials to strategic deception as good plans, double agents, and codebreaking, and The Deceivers covers each of these aspects in minute detail. Holt brings to life the little-known men, British and American, who ran Allied deception, such as Bevan, Dudley Clarke, Peter Fleming, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Newman Smith. He tracks the development of deception techniques and tells the hitherto unknown story of double agent management and other deception through the American FBI and Joint Security Control.

Full of fascinating sources and astounding revelations, The Deceivers is an indispensable volume and an unparalleled contribution to World War II literature.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribner
Release dateMay 11, 2010
ISBN9781439103883
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War
Author

Thaddeus Holt

Thaddeus Holt is a lawyer, focusing primarily on litigation and administrative law. He served as Deputy Under Secretary of the Army from 1965 to 1967. His articles and book reviews have appeared in MHQ, The New York Times, The Journal of Military History, Virginia Quarterly Review, and various anthologies. He lives in Alabama.

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Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Oh dear. I have not abandoned a book in quite a while, but it had to happen sometime- and on one of my favorite subjects, no less. This book is LONG and BORING. Put off by the dizzying alphabet soup of military and spy acronyms, the gigantic cast of every characters (as in EVERY single person who ever concocted a military deception...) and the need to include ALL details, no matter how small or insignificant, I quit after more than 400 pages. (So I am patient with a subject I like.) It is just not worth it. The author clearly needed an editor and better sense of judgment- know when to quit or your reader will do it for you.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Okay, perhaps I was expecting more - a bit of action or more gritty details. The book goes into more personal than operation detail and as such, the title is accurate, but the subtitle is as deceiving as the deceivers themselves.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fascinating account of how the Allies deceived the Axis during the Second World War, including policies, inter-service and national rivalries. It was a little long winded in places.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Deceivers covers a fascinating topic, the amazing Allied deceptions in World War II. It's a good read; the early chapters in particular are quite instructive and give the reader a background in the history and development of deception as a formal practice, rather than the occasional inspiration of military leaders in the field.The structure of the book is basically linear, starting with the early British efforts, directed from Egypt, in the Middle East. If the book has a serious flaw, it is that Holt spends perhaps too much time on bureaucratic wrangling and organizational history. I understand this is necessary for following the narrative (why is so-and-so not in charge anymore) but it makes the book longer than necessary, and diverts attention from a typical reader's main interest, the actual deception campaigns themselves.

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The Deceivers - Thaddeus Holt

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