A Brief Overview of WWII
World War II was a global conflict fought from 1939 to 1945 in Europe and during the 1930s and 1940s in Asia. The two sides were the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. The leading Axis powers were Italy, Germany, and Japan and the leading Allied powers were the United States, Britain, France, and eventually the USSR.
This map demonstrates the troop movements of the Allied forces during World War II.
Other Pictures from Interviews
T-Shirt That Mr. Poulin Wore To The Interview
Newspaper Clippings About Mr. Poulin
Newspaper Clipping About Mr. Poulin's Combat Badge
Mr. Poulin On An Aircraft Carrier On His Way Home From WWII - December 15, 1945
Picture of Mr. Poulin's Company After The War Ended
Family Mr. Poulin Was Stationed With In Italy
Mr. Poulin In Front of St. Mark's Church In Venice
Mr. Poulin With a Friend He Made From Service In Italy
Young Boy Mr. Poulin Met In Italy, Still Remains In Contact To This Day
Picture of Church Near Leaning Tower of Pisa
Leaning Tower of Pisa - Mr. Poulin Walked 27 Miles to See It
Mr. Poulin With His First Car After The Service (1947 Chevrolet)
Mr. Poulin in Venice, Italy
.88mm Cannon - "Worst Dreaded Weapon They Had" According to Mr. Poulin
Mr. Poulin in Venice, Italy
Mr. Poulin During His Time In The Service
Mr. Poulin When He Entered The Service
Mr. Warren Riebe, Now vs Service Picture
The Role of Deception in World War II
By Matthew Salemi
World War II was the largest war in history. It started in 1939 when Poland was attacked by Germany under the leadership of the Nazi regime. The war grew to encompass Europe before it spread to the rest of the world. At first the United States attempted to stay neutral and aid the Allied European nations economically but more support was needed as France fell to the Axis powers in 1940. The German blitzkrieg or "lighting war" strategy relied on quick moving forces to quickly conquer Europe from the English Channel to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had also created the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact meaning they would not take military action against each other so Nazi Germany could concentrate its forces in the West and South. The United States' public opinion was very divided but in 1941 the United States entered World War II to join the Allied powers after the Attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Also in 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa which was the invasion of the Soviet Union. Raids continued in The Blitz as Germany bombed London and pushed East. However, the United States mobilized to help Britain and invaded Western Europe in conjunction with Britain with Operation Overlord or the Battle of Normandy. In the East, the tides turned with the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Allied forces which now included the Soviet Union, pushed towards Germany in the Race to Berlin. Germany surrendered in 1945 after the Battle of Berlin but Japan continued to fight until September when it surrendered after the use of two atomic bombs by the United States. World War II was a massive war fought by over 60 countries and resulted in over 60 million casualties on all sides. Many battles were fought with sheer force such as the Battle of Stalingrad which resulted in over one million deaths. However, the outcome of the war was impacted by other factors. Other factors such as public opinion changed the course of the war as it shaped the actions and goals of the governments and militaries that fought. Governments attempted to influence the public's opinion through propaganda not always based on fact and influence their enemies through careful planning and strategies with new machines that could create coded messages. Although military strength influenced the outcome of World War II, deception in the form of military tactics, propaganda and cryptography played a decisive role in the victories of both sides.
First, one of the largest deception strategies ever used in warfare was Operation Bodyguard. The Allied forces had been pushed out of mainland Europe by Germany in 1942. Once the United States had fully mobilized, the next step for the Allies was to invade mainland Europe as a part of Operation Overlord. However, an invasion from the ocean onto land would leave the Allied soldiers very vulnerable and the invasion would be almost impossible with the massed Nazi forces ready to destroy every Allied ship that landed. In order to decrease the amount of resistance faced, Operation Bodyguard was proposed at the Tehran conference between Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It was named as Winston Churchill as he said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."[1] The goal of Operation Bodyguard was to spread false information to the Germans about the invasion date and location. Operation Bodyguard created Operation Fortitude which finalized Normandy as the actual invasion location. Its goals were to deceive Germany about the timing and location of the Normandy invasion, make the main landing site seem to be Pas de Calais, and even after the invasion, to make Normandy just seem like another deception plan. Operation Fortitude included 35 sub-operations including Fortitude-North which set up diversions in Norway and Sweden, and Fortitude-South which rumored Pas de Calais was the main invasion site and Normandy was only a diversion. The implementation of Operation Bodyguard was to include the "movement of forces, camouflage, diplomatic approaches to Sweden and Turkey, leakage and rumors, and political warfare."[2] Operation Bodyguard also included political action to confuse Germany about diplomatic relations with other nations. When the Allies invaded with Operation Neptune, there was minimal resistance by the Germans. After the invasion, reinforcements were requested by Field Marshal von Rundstedt but denied by Hitler who had not been convinced yet that Fortitude was just a deception.[3] Operation Fortitude therefore effectively reduced the amount of German resistance during the invasion of mainland Europe and helped the Allies win a decisive victory and entrance into the main land. With minimal resistance met and no reinforcements to fight against, the Allies successfully invaded mainland Europe with minimal resistance because deception had confused the Germans where the Allies would land and when. Overall, the deceptive Operation Bodyguard helped the Allies successfully invade Europe and push back the Germans in a position that would have otherwise been a huge disadvantage.
The Soviets also used deception during World War II. Russian military deception was also known as Maskirovka and was an integral part of winning the battle of Kursk and Operation Bagration. The goal of the Battle of Kursk was to stop the German's Operation Citadel which was the last chance for the Germans to attack in the East. Maskirovka while setting up for the battle included creating dummy airfields, simulated communications centers, and false gun positions as well as travelling at night.[4] Local communications were also used to prevent interception by Germans. While most deceptions were used to conceal a smaller group or break through lines, deception was used to hide the sheer number of Soviets troops that would be used in the counterattack.[5] The Germans greatly underestimated the amount of troops the Soviets had which was about 30 percent of the Red Army. The Battle of Kursk resulted therefore in a complete destruction of the German invaders and resulted in the last German offense since Maskirovka helped conceal the Soviet Troops. Maskirovka also assisted the Soviet troops during Operation Bagration where the soviets had to advance troops without the knowledge of the Germans. According to General Kurt Zeitzler, "...the Russian concentration here and at the Autobahn clearly indicates that the enemy attack will be aimed at the wings of the Army Group."[6] Instead, reserve troops had be building up behind the main mass to push directly into the unprotected front, resulting in victory for the Soviets and recapturing of more parts of the Western Soviet Union when the battle occurred. The hidden movement of Soviet troops were able to successfully use their position to launch a surprise counterattack and crush the German offense. The Soviet tactic of Maskirovka helped conceal troops and win decisive battles against the Germans that otherwise would have resulted in retreats and stalling defensive standoffs.
Deception in the form of propaganda played an integral part of gaining victory through the support of the people. Propaganda was unique in that it was not designed to deceive the enemy, but instead to deceive the citizens of the nation that produced the propaganda. Propaganda usually served one of two purposes. First, it could be used to try to motivate and sway people's opinions on the war. Before the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was much debate in the United States if it should join the war. Some artists that supported joining created propaganda to change people's opinions. The second form of propaganda focused on dehumanizing the enemy. It was aimed at the general public and soldiers to cause them to disassociate with enemy troops. American propaganda against Germans typically showed them as looking like Adolph Hitler, with a short moustache and greasy skin.[7] However, the United States was also fighting a war with Japan in the Pacific. American artists drew Japanese soldiers as short, monkey-like looking creatures with stretched skin and long teeth.[8] Although it may have been difficult for soldiers to rationalize killing other human beings, the propaganda made other races look like horrifying beasts that Americans needed to rally against to protect the world. Soldiers would also be more aggressive and less questioning of the massive amount of killing if they could not identify with the enemy. Propaganda against Japanese Americans also created racism within communities and the deception only worsened when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which started to put Japanese Americans into internment camps within the United States, clearly violating their rights as citizens.[9] The rampant racism and propaganda only made this problem worse, as other Americans were happy to single out and betray their fellow neighbors in a time of war, instead of standing up for their rights, as they might have without the feelings of the public which had turned against the Japanese. Propaganda in the United States caused deception of the American people and effectively united Americans by uniting them against an alien people, but also creating racism and violating Japanese American rights.
Deception in the form of propaganda was also used by other nations including Germany. The leader of the Nazi Party, Adolph Hitler, personally blamed Jews for the current state of poverty that Germany was in after World War I. He published Mein Kampf in 1925 with his plans for future Germany. His plan also involved the creating of an Arian, or perfect, race and the elimination of the Jewish Faith and other people that he deemed imperfect such as homosexuals and political opponents. As he rose to power, Hitler used propaganda to dehumanize the Jews and rally the Nazi power against them. In 1933 he established the Reich Ministry of Public Englishmen, whose job was to spread the Nazi ideals to all of Germany. It published posters that showed Jews as old men with long beards and big noises that conspired against Germans.[10] Pamphlets and articles were also published and approved for use in education which showed Jews as evil and oppressive. One 1942 article claimed, "They build hate against the awakening peoples with all the resources at their disposal. They depend on...world democracy. With ice-cold, devilish calculation, they unleash a new world war..."[11] Karl Baumnock wrote this propaganda which was distributed to turn the readers against Jews and their use of democracy to bring down the "awakening peoples". Overall, the dehumanization and propaganda was unfortunately effective. During World War II, Nazi Germany started the Holocaust, or a genocide against the Jews and other dissenting or imperfect groups. Jewish people were sent to concentration camps and systematically murdered with guns, or gas chambers by Nazi soldiers who had been changed by propaganda to see the Jews as their enemy instead of the human beings that they are. In total, over six million Jews, two out of every three in Europe, were killed by the end of the second world war, making it the deadliest genocide in history.[12] Deception through propaganda was used by the Nazi party to effectively dehumanize and genocide many of the Jews in Nazi controlled Germany.
Finally, deception in the form of cryptography played a deceive role in deciding the victors of battles during World War II. German messages could be easily intercepted by Allied spies and the Germans needed a system to effective make it impossible for the Allies to figure out while still being able to share information with troops. The Enigma machine was invented in 1918 by Arthur Scherbius.[13] It was a machine that used a and a circuit running through a series of rotors to encode a message. Knowing the settings of the machine used to encode the message would allow anyone who knew the settings to decode the encrypted message. At first, the machine was sold commercially, but soon was purchased by the German military for use during World War II. The military also added two more rotors and a plug board to make the total possible number of combinations equal to 158,962,555,217,826,360,000.[14] The shear amount of combinations made it impossible for the Allies to easily decode the German messages. The enigma machine was the best way to encode messages at the time, and one of the key reasons the German army could share messages in every battle without fear of the enemy finding out what they said. The German army and navy both used different variants of the code to encode messages which included troop positions and other essential information and soon the Luftwaffe and railways followed suit. The enigma code gave every branch of the military the ability to encode messages, but using the same system left the Germany army ultimately vulnerable when it was cracked in 1941. All in all, the enigma machine was an extremely useful tool for the German army to deceive the Allies of their true messages and effectively communicate to gain victories through cryptography.
Although the Enigma machine gave Germany a huge advantage allowing for victories, once broken, it allowed the Allies to create better encryptions and therefore assisted in winning the war. British cryptographers were able to break the enigma code with its flaw. It never made a letters itself and a machine was created called The Bombe to break the key for the code. With the ability to break the enigma code in early 1941, the Allies were able to decode important German messages and effectively work against them. Not every message could have been fully used but some information was used and appeared to be luck to the Germans. For example, in the invasion of Normandy, the position of Axis troops were known and the Allies effectively used this information to maneuver and gain an advantage during the successful invasion.[15] The Typex Cipher Machine was a machine that was created but as an improvement to Enigma. The major flaw in the Enigma machine was that the rotors would step regularly, resulting in noticeable patterns such as letters never appearing as themselves. The Typex machine was an improvement of the Enigma machine and allowed the Allies to encode messages similarly to the Germans but with improved encryption.[16] It had the ability to have a letter be itself which fixed the flaw in the Enigma machine. Since the Germans considered Enigma unbreakable already, with improvements it was never broken by them and allowed the Allies to send encoded messages safely throughout the rest of the war. In conclusion, once the Allies broke the enigma code they were able to use the information to win major victories and create the Typex machine as a secure way to encode messages, giving them a large advantage during the second half of the war.
Although World War II was a war of military strength, deceptive military strategy, propaganda and cryptography greatly influenced the success of both sides and ultimately the outcome of the war. Over time, the deceptive tactics used during the war have not gone away, and have instead evolved to still be present and important during more recent wars such as the Iraq war. Deceptive military tactics have changed slightly over time from building troops in certain areas to using radar invisible high altitude planes and guerilla warfare within populated areas. Propaganda in the form of posters is much less common but media has greatly expanded. News networks covering different stories and social media allow public opinions to be shared over information created with possible bias. Finally, encoding has been taken to an entire new level with computer encryption. The exponential growth in the power of computers has allowed cryptography to become much more advanced and lead to the rise of certain groups such as Anonymous who use hacking to work against terrorist groups without physically damaging them. Although war may change over time, it will always be influenced by deceptive factors which are critical to the army and citizens of any nation in order to obtain victory.
Bibliography
Baker, Robert K. Precise of Plan "BODYGUARD". Letter. From Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. 1944. Web.
Baumböck, Karl. "The Jews in World Politics." Nationalpolitische Aufklärungsschriften (1942). German Propaganda Archive.
Breuer, William, B. The Secret War with Germany. New York: Jove books, 1989.
Brown, Anthony C. Bodyguard of Lies. New York, 1975, p.432
Callahan, Katelyn. "The Impact of the Allied Cryptographers on World War II: Cryptanalysis of the Japanese and German Cipher Machines." Georgia College and State University. 1987.
Calvocoressi, Peter. Top Secret Ultra. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. New York: Random House, 1980.
Chang, Kelly, "CRYPTANALYSIS OF TYPEX" (2012). Master's Projects. Paper 235.
Gerwehr, Scott and Russell W. Glenn. The Art of Darkness: Deception and Urban Operations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2000.
Grime, Dr James. 158,962,555,217,826,360,000. Directed by Brady Haran. United States: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 2013.
Jardins, Julie D. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Niepold, Gerd. Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre June 1944. London: Brassey's, 1987.
Showalter, Dennis E. Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II. New York: Random House, 2013.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath." 1936.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLOCAUST." 2016.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service. "Our carelessness, their secret weapon : prevent forest fires." 1943.
[1] Brown, Anthony C. Bodyguard of Lies. New York, 1975, p.432
[2] Baker, Robert K. Precise of Plan "BODYGUARD". Letter. From Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. 1944. Web.
[3] Breuer, William, B. The Secret War with Germany. New York: Jove books, 1989.
[4] Gerwehr, Scott and Russell W. Glenn. The Art of Darkness: Deception and Urban Operations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2000.
[5] Showalter, Dennis E. Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II. New York: Random House, 2013.
[6] Niepold, Gerd. Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre June 1944. London: Brassey's, 1987.
[7] U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service. "Our carelessness, their secret weapon : prevent forest fires." 1943.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Jardins, Julie D. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
[10] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath." 1936.
[11] Baumböck, Karl. "The Jews in World Politics." Nationalpolitische Aufklärungsschriften (1942). German Propaganda Archive.
[12] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLOCAUST." 2016.
[13] Grime, Dr James. 158,962,555,217,826,360,000. Directed by Brady Haran. United States: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 2013.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Callahan, Katelyn. "The Impact of the Allied Cryptographers on World War II: Cryptanalysis of the Japanese and German Cipher Machines." Georgia College and State University. 1987.
[16] Chang, Kelly, "CRYPTANALYSIS OF TYPEX" (2012). Master's Projects. Paper 235.
First, one of the largest deception strategies ever used in warfare was Operation Bodyguard. The Allied forces had been pushed out of mainland Europe by Germany in 1942. Once the United States had fully mobilized, the next step for the Allies was to invade mainland Europe as a part of Operation Overlord. However, an invasion from the ocean onto land would leave the Allied soldiers very vulnerable and the invasion would be almost impossible with the massed Nazi forces ready to destroy every Allied ship that landed. In order to decrease the amount of resistance faced, Operation Bodyguard was proposed at the Tehran conference between Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It was named as Winston Churchill as he said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."[1] The goal of Operation Bodyguard was to spread false information to the Germans about the invasion date and location. Operation Bodyguard created Operation Fortitude which finalized Normandy as the actual invasion location. Its goals were to deceive Germany about the timing and location of the Normandy invasion, make the main landing site seem to be Pas de Calais, and even after the invasion, to make Normandy just seem like another deception plan. Operation Fortitude included 35 sub-operations including Fortitude-North which set up diversions in Norway and Sweden, and Fortitude-South which rumored Pas de Calais was the main invasion site and Normandy was only a diversion. The implementation of Operation Bodyguard was to include the "movement of forces, camouflage, diplomatic approaches to Sweden and Turkey, leakage and rumors, and political warfare."[2] Operation Bodyguard also included political action to confuse Germany about diplomatic relations with other nations. When the Allies invaded with Operation Neptune, there was minimal resistance by the Germans. After the invasion, reinforcements were requested by Field Marshal von Rundstedt but denied by Hitler who had not been convinced yet that Fortitude was just a deception.[3] Operation Fortitude therefore effectively reduced the amount of German resistance during the invasion of mainland Europe and helped the Allies win a decisive victory and entrance into the main land. With minimal resistance met and no reinforcements to fight against, the Allies successfully invaded mainland Europe with minimal resistance because deception had confused the Germans where the Allies would land and when. Overall, the deceptive Operation Bodyguard helped the Allies successfully invade Europe and push back the Germans in a position that would have otherwise been a huge disadvantage.
The Soviets also used deception during World War II. Russian military deception was also known as Maskirovka and was an integral part of winning the battle of Kursk and Operation Bagration. The goal of the Battle of Kursk was to stop the German's Operation Citadel which was the last chance for the Germans to attack in the East. Maskirovka while setting up for the battle included creating dummy airfields, simulated communications centers, and false gun positions as well as travelling at night.[4] Local communications were also used to prevent interception by Germans. While most deceptions were used to conceal a smaller group or break through lines, deception was used to hide the sheer number of Soviets troops that would be used in the counterattack.[5] The Germans greatly underestimated the amount of troops the Soviets had which was about 30 percent of the Red Army. The Battle of Kursk resulted therefore in a complete destruction of the German invaders and resulted in the last German offense since Maskirovka helped conceal the Soviet Troops. Maskirovka also assisted the Soviet troops during Operation Bagration where the soviets had to advance troops without the knowledge of the Germans. According to General Kurt Zeitzler, "...the Russian concentration here and at the Autobahn clearly indicates that the enemy attack will be aimed at the wings of the Army Group."[6] Instead, reserve troops had be building up behind the main mass to push directly into the unprotected front, resulting in victory for the Soviets and recapturing of more parts of the Western Soviet Union when the battle occurred. The hidden movement of Soviet troops were able to successfully use their position to launch a surprise counterattack and crush the German offense. The Soviet tactic of Maskirovka helped conceal troops and win decisive battles against the Germans that otherwise would have resulted in retreats and stalling defensive standoffs.
Deception in the form of propaganda played an integral part of gaining victory through the support of the people. Propaganda was unique in that it was not designed to deceive the enemy, but instead to deceive the citizens of the nation that produced the propaganda. Propaganda usually served one of two purposes. First, it could be used to try to motivate and sway people's opinions on the war. Before the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was much debate in the United States if it should join the war. Some artists that supported joining created propaganda to change people's opinions. The second form of propaganda focused on dehumanizing the enemy. It was aimed at the general public and soldiers to cause them to disassociate with enemy troops. American propaganda against Germans typically showed them as looking like Adolph Hitler, with a short moustache and greasy skin.[7] However, the United States was also fighting a war with Japan in the Pacific. American artists drew Japanese soldiers as short, monkey-like looking creatures with stretched skin and long teeth.[8] Although it may have been difficult for soldiers to rationalize killing other human beings, the propaganda made other races look like horrifying beasts that Americans needed to rally against to protect the world. Soldiers would also be more aggressive and less questioning of the massive amount of killing if they could not identify with the enemy. Propaganda against Japanese Americans also created racism within communities and the deception only worsened when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which started to put Japanese Americans into internment camps within the United States, clearly violating their rights as citizens.[9] The rampant racism and propaganda only made this problem worse, as other Americans were happy to single out and betray their fellow neighbors in a time of war, instead of standing up for their rights, as they might have without the feelings of the public which had turned against the Japanese. Propaganda in the United States caused deception of the American people and effectively united Americans by uniting them against an alien people, but also creating racism and violating Japanese American rights.
Deception in the form of propaganda was also used by other nations including Germany. The leader of the Nazi Party, Adolph Hitler, personally blamed Jews for the current state of poverty that Germany was in after World War I. He published Mein Kampf in 1925 with his plans for future Germany. His plan also involved the creating of an Arian, or perfect, race and the elimination of the Jewish Faith and other people that he deemed imperfect such as homosexuals and political opponents. As he rose to power, Hitler used propaganda to dehumanize the Jews and rally the Nazi power against them. In 1933 he established the Reich Ministry of Public Englishmen, whose job was to spread the Nazi ideals to all of Germany. It published posters that showed Jews as old men with long beards and big noises that conspired against Germans.[10] Pamphlets and articles were also published and approved for use in education which showed Jews as evil and oppressive. One 1942 article claimed, "They build hate against the awakening peoples with all the resources at their disposal. They depend on...world democracy. With ice-cold, devilish calculation, they unleash a new world war..."[11] Karl Baumnock wrote this propaganda which was distributed to turn the readers against Jews and their use of democracy to bring down the "awakening peoples". Overall, the dehumanization and propaganda was unfortunately effective. During World War II, Nazi Germany started the Holocaust, or a genocide against the Jews and other dissenting or imperfect groups. Jewish people were sent to concentration camps and systematically murdered with guns, or gas chambers by Nazi soldiers who had been changed by propaganda to see the Jews as their enemy instead of the human beings that they are. In total, over six million Jews, two out of every three in Europe, were killed by the end of the second world war, making it the deadliest genocide in history.[12] Deception through propaganda was used by the Nazi party to effectively dehumanize and genocide many of the Jews in Nazi controlled Germany.
Finally, deception in the form of cryptography played a deceive role in deciding the victors of battles during World War II. German messages could be easily intercepted by Allied spies and the Germans needed a system to effective make it impossible for the Allies to figure out while still being able to share information with troops. The Enigma machine was invented in 1918 by Arthur Scherbius.[13] It was a machine that used a and a circuit running through a series of rotors to encode a message. Knowing the settings of the machine used to encode the message would allow anyone who knew the settings to decode the encrypted message. At first, the machine was sold commercially, but soon was purchased by the German military for use during World War II. The military also added two more rotors and a plug board to make the total possible number of combinations equal to 158,962,555,217,826,360,000.[14] The shear amount of combinations made it impossible for the Allies to easily decode the German messages. The enigma machine was the best way to encode messages at the time, and one of the key reasons the German army could share messages in every battle without fear of the enemy finding out what they said. The German army and navy both used different variants of the code to encode messages which included troop positions and other essential information and soon the Luftwaffe and railways followed suit. The enigma code gave every branch of the military the ability to encode messages, but using the same system left the Germany army ultimately vulnerable when it was cracked in 1941. All in all, the enigma machine was an extremely useful tool for the German army to deceive the Allies of their true messages and effectively communicate to gain victories through cryptography.
Although the Enigma machine gave Germany a huge advantage allowing for victories, once broken, it allowed the Allies to create better encryptions and therefore assisted in winning the war. British cryptographers were able to break the enigma code with its flaw. It never made a letters itself and a machine was created called The Bombe to break the key for the code. With the ability to break the enigma code in early 1941, the Allies were able to decode important German messages and effectively work against them. Not every message could have been fully used but some information was used and appeared to be luck to the Germans. For example, in the invasion of Normandy, the position of Axis troops were known and the Allies effectively used this information to maneuver and gain an advantage during the successful invasion.[15] The Typex Cipher Machine was a machine that was created but as an improvement to Enigma. The major flaw in the Enigma machine was that the rotors would step regularly, resulting in noticeable patterns such as letters never appearing as themselves. The Typex machine was an improvement of the Enigma machine and allowed the Allies to encode messages similarly to the Germans but with improved encryption.[16] It had the ability to have a letter be itself which fixed the flaw in the Enigma machine. Since the Germans considered Enigma unbreakable already, with improvements it was never broken by them and allowed the Allies to send encoded messages safely throughout the rest of the war. In conclusion, once the Allies broke the enigma code they were able to use the information to win major victories and create the Typex machine as a secure way to encode messages, giving them a large advantage during the second half of the war.
Although World War II was a war of military strength, deceptive military strategy, propaganda and cryptography greatly influenced the success of both sides and ultimately the outcome of the war. Over time, the deceptive tactics used during the war have not gone away, and have instead evolved to still be present and important during more recent wars such as the Iraq war. Deceptive military tactics have changed slightly over time from building troops in certain areas to using radar invisible high altitude planes and guerilla warfare within populated areas. Propaganda in the form of posters is much less common but media has greatly expanded. News networks covering different stories and social media allow public opinions to be shared over information created with possible bias. Finally, encoding has been taken to an entire new level with computer encryption. The exponential growth in the power of computers has allowed cryptography to become much more advanced and lead to the rise of certain groups such as Anonymous who use hacking to work against terrorist groups without physically damaging them. Although war may change over time, it will always be influenced by deceptive factors which are critical to the army and citizens of any nation in order to obtain victory.
Bibliography
Baker, Robert K. Precise of Plan "BODYGUARD". Letter. From Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. 1944. Web.
Baumböck, Karl. "The Jews in World Politics." Nationalpolitische Aufklärungsschriften (1942). German Propaganda Archive.
Breuer, William, B. The Secret War with Germany. New York: Jove books, 1989.
Brown, Anthony C. Bodyguard of Lies. New York, 1975, p.432
Callahan, Katelyn. "The Impact of the Allied Cryptographers on World War II: Cryptanalysis of the Japanese and German Cipher Machines." Georgia College and State University. 1987.
Calvocoressi, Peter. Top Secret Ultra. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. New York: Random House, 1980.
Chang, Kelly, "CRYPTANALYSIS OF TYPEX" (2012). Master's Projects. Paper 235.
Gerwehr, Scott and Russell W. Glenn. The Art of Darkness: Deception and Urban Operations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2000.
Grime, Dr James. 158,962,555,217,826,360,000. Directed by Brady Haran. United States: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 2013.
Jardins, Julie D. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Niepold, Gerd. Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre June 1944. London: Brassey's, 1987.
Showalter, Dennis E. Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II. New York: Random House, 2013.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath." 1936.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLOCAUST." 2016.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service. "Our carelessness, their secret weapon : prevent forest fires." 1943.
[1] Brown, Anthony C. Bodyguard of Lies. New York, 1975, p.432
[2] Baker, Robert K. Precise of Plan "BODYGUARD". Letter. From Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. 1944. Web.
[3] Breuer, William, B. The Secret War with Germany. New York: Jove books, 1989.
[4] Gerwehr, Scott and Russell W. Glenn. The Art of Darkness: Deception and Urban Operations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2000.
[5] Showalter, Dennis E. Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II. New York: Random House, 2013.
[6] Niepold, Gerd. Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre June 1944. London: Brassey's, 1987.
[7] U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service. "Our carelessness, their secret weapon : prevent forest fires." 1943.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Jardins, Julie D. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
[10] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath." 1936.
[11] Baumböck, Karl. "The Jews in World Politics." Nationalpolitische Aufklärungsschriften (1942). German Propaganda Archive.
[12] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLOCAUST." 2016.
[13] Grime, Dr James. 158,962,555,217,826,360,000. Directed by Brady Haran. United States: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 2013.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Callahan, Katelyn. "The Impact of the Allied Cryptographers on World War II: Cryptanalysis of the Japanese and German Cipher Machines." Georgia College and State University. 1987.
[16] Chang, Kelly, "CRYPTANALYSIS OF TYPEX" (2012). Master's Projects. Paper 235.
Deception in World War II
By Aidan Enright
War is an aspect of human nature. Be it man against man, tribe against tribe, nation against nation; humanity has waged war amongst itself since the beginning of its existence. One group has wanted something another group has; whether its land, power, or resources makes no matter. Whether one group is the aggressor or defender makes no matter. Whether a group is righteous or immoral in their cause makes no matter. War is war and that is that. The Paleolithic humans fought over game because it was either have food or die. The Neolithic humans fought over crops because that was the most valuable resource of their time. Alexander the Great fought the Persians because he wanted the land they held and to assert his vengeance. The Christians of the middle ages surged into southern Europe and the Middle East to spread the influence of their religion and punish non-believers. The North fought against the South in the United States over the immorality of slavery. The allied forces fought against the Germans in World War two because their countries and people were being threatened and the people of other countries were being brutalized. Many wars have been fought for numerous reasons in the past and many wars will continue to be fought in the years to come. Though it is not the result or impact of the wars that are especially important, on the contrary it is the way in which they were fought that holds the most significance. The tactics are what we can learn from, it is no use to memorize the winner of this war or that but to research and fully understand which tactics have worked throughout history is of inconceivable value. Through the knowledge of such successful tactics one could be far more prepared than his rival in the means of conducting winning war campaigns. The most important tactic used throughout history would, in no manner of doubt, be deception. As Sun Tzu once said in his famous novel, The Art of War, “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near”. Such strategies have worked since the beginning of time. Was it not deception when the Greeks used a wooden horse to invade Troy? Was it not deception that allowed Julius Caesar to capture Rome and leave Pompeii to flee into the countryside with his loyal senators in tow? Deception is the precedent of many if not all great victories in war. Though the greatest and most prevalent use of deception to win a war came in the midst of World War Two – arguably the most significant war to ever erupt in the history of humanity. The Nazi totalitarian dictator Adolf Hitler had taken over the greater part of Europe in his attempt to spread German power and influence throughout the world. He endeavored in many natural and civil rights violations, most historically his genocide against the Jewish populations of German controlled countries. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 th, 1941 the United States joined in an alliance with Britain and Russia to bring an end to Nazi rule in Europe. The Allied and forces and Nazi’s both used deceptive tactics in order to get an upper hand on their aggressors, these include: the enigma machine, General Patton’s Ghost army, and Propaganda. During the war both the Allies and the Germans needed to send messages to each other. Though if they simply just sent messages they could be intercepted by the opposition revealing troop movements and many other details of one sides strategy and plan against the other. The Germans engineered what they called the enigma machine which was a series of electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines developed and used after World War One to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication. This very complex machine was used to encode messages and deceive the Allied forces. Although this deception was an overall failure as it was decoded and figured out very early into the war by friends of the Allied forces. What had once been one of the Germans greatest advantages soon turned into their greatest weakness as they were unaware that the Allied forces had captured key tables and hardware. This new data about the encryptions allowed Allied forces to take apart German messages containing troop movements and other important information that allowed the them to turn the tide during the war. This failure at deception was ultimately very costly for the Nazi Army, though if it had been done in the right manner may have changed the outcome of the war. The False invasion plan of the Allied forces during the war is another example of deception, albeit this was a successful use of such deception unlike the Germans use of the enigma machine. The “Big Three” (Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin) were the leaders who outlined and approved the deception plans used for D-Day at the Teheran conference in November 1943. The Main plan for deception was through operation Fortitude. Fortitude was a split plan consisting of a Fortitude North and a Fortitude South. Although the Fortitude South plan was much more instrumental in the preparation of D-Day as it was used to indicate the fake invasion at the Pas de Calais keeping the Germans unaware of the actual invasion location. The Fortitude North plan was the actually D-Day invasion. The Deception of Fortitude South worked perfectly and ultimately led to the end of the war and the victory of the Allied forces. Hitler was so worried about an attack at Pas de Calias that he kept the central concentration of his troops there leaving the beaches at Normandy less defended and more vulnerable for an attack. Thus the Normandy beach was not only weaker but Hitler was so deceived he didn’t even send troops from Pas de Calias to Normandy in relief because he was still convinced there would be an attack there as well. Propaganda is given an almost ubiquitous negative connotation throughout the world and in literature. Walter Lippmann went so far as to describe propaganda as inherently "deceptive" and therefore an act evil and immorality. Propaganda is made to influence others' beliefs and prompt action in the direct benefit of the propagator. These Propagators continually drill these ideas into those they influence through use of images, slogans and symbols that feed off of the prejudices and emotions of the propaganda’s audience. A propagators goal is to get their audience to accept their ideas willingly through enticement. Such an act is deceptive by definition, tricking people to fight for you by appealing to their fears, hates, and grudges. During World War two both the Germans and the Allied Forces used propaganda in an effective way to promote people entering the military and negative sentiment against the opposition. Many of the ideas of the Nazi’s were outrageous and terrible but by appealing to the German people’s hate and anger German leadership was able to muster a lot of support. Deception is a very powerful tool in war. It has been used for thousands of years in an effective manner and will continue to be used for many years to come. The success of deception is overwhelming in the face of history and it would be unwise to ignore its benefits. Someone who has a good understanding of such benefits would be better able to conduct a successful war campaign. There are many types of deception; encryption, false movement, and propaganda are just a few. Works Cited Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Cerca500BC. Shea, Andrea. Cerca500BC. http://www.wbur.org/2012/06/06/ghost-army. Murphy, Brian J. http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/pattons-ghost-army/. Shield, James H. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822 Lippmann, Walter