Dummy tank

World War I, Australian troops carrying a dummy, Mark IV tank (1917)

A dummy tank is a type of decoy intended to fool an enemy into believing a fake tank, usually inflatable or wooden, is real. Dummy tanks emerged soon after the introduction of real tanks in World War I, but were not widely used until World War II.

World War I

During World War I, Allied forces made use of dummy versions of the British heavy tanks. These were constructed from a wooden framework, covered with painted, Hessian cloth.^[1] The tracks were non-functional so they moved on a set of concealed wheels underneath; they were towed from place to place by a pair of horses.^[2] Dummy tanks, representing Allied models, were also found to have been constructed by the Germans,^[3] even though they deployed only a small number of real tanks. It is possible they were used in training, rather than for military deception.

World War II

An inflatable dummy tank, modeled after the M4 Sherman.

In World War II, both the Allies and the Axis used dummy tanks. The British, who designed them, called them "spoofs."^[4] The Americans used them as well. Before the war began, the Wehrmacht utilized mock tanks to practice tactics and train their troops.^[5][6]

One of the first uses of dummy tanks during the Second World War was in the North African Campaign. The Royal Engineers stationed there constructed two per day; between April and June 1941, they were able to build three dummy Royal Tank Regiments, and another in November that same year. These were foldable, and thus portable, however, the Royal Engineers improved them further. Jeeps were used to make the "spoofs" more realistic: a steel frame covered with canvas was placed on them, making a self-propelled dummy tank. The Jeep did not realistically simulate the noise or movement of a tank, but allowed the dummy to be deployed quickly.^[7] Meanwhile, the reverse was also done, to make tanks look like trucks. A further device was put into use that both created simulated tank tracks, and erased real ones.^[8]

Inflatable dummys consisted of a fabric covering, supported by a network of pressurized, rubber tubes that formed a kind of "pneumatic skeleton". These were generally preferred in the field, despite their tendency to rapidly deflate if punctured by accident or shellfire. In one operation in September 1944, the British deployed 148 inflatable tanks close to the front line and around half were "destroyed" by fragments from German mortar and artillery fire, and by Allied bombs falling short.^[9]

Dummy tanks were used extensively in Operation Fortitude, prior to the landings at the Normandy Beaches. During this operation, they were used to confuse German intelligence in two ways: first, by making it seem that the Allies had more tanks than they did; and second, they were used to hide and downplay the importance of the location of their real tanks, in order to make it seem that the invasion would occur at the Pas-de-Calais rather than at Normandy.^[10] Similarly, during Operation Shingle at Anzio, Italy, inflatable Sherman tanks were deployed when the real tanks were elsewhere.^[11] In the Pacific Theater of Operations, the Japanese also utilized decoys; one recorded instance was during the Battle of Iwo Jima. A "tank" was surrounded by American infantry, which had been under artillery bombardment: they found it was not real, but merely a sculpture, carved out of volcanic ash.^[4]

The Red Army also employed dummy tanks to increase their apparent numbers, and mask their true movements.^[12]

Modern era

During the Kosovo War, the Yugoslav Army regularly placed dummy tanks in Kosovo which misled NATO forces into thinking that they were destroying far more real tanks than actually occurred.^[13]

The United States Army has developed a modern dummy tank. It imitates the M1 Abrams tank not only in appearance, but also in its heat signature, in order to appear real to infrared detectors. One of these decoys can take fire from the enemy and still appear to be operational, thus delaying the enemy by as much as an hour, as they are forced to destroy the decoy. These M1 decoys cost only $3,300,^[14] compared to $4.35 million for a real M1.^[15] The decoy is also practical: when disassembled, it weighs only fifty pounds, and is roughly the same size as a duffel bag. Its generator—about the size of a 12 inch television—facilitates inflation, so that two people can erect the decoy in a few minutes.^[14] Occasionally, real tanks carry a dummy on board, to deploy when needed.^[16]

See also

Tank portal

• Military dummy
• Quaker gun

Notes

1. ^ "E04935". Australian War Memorial. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/E04935. Retrieved 26 November 2010. 
2. ^ "Britannia: The Tank that Ruled the Trenches". The War Illustrated: p. 34. 1918-03-02. 
3. ^ "H04659". Australian War Memorial. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/H04659. Retrieved 26 November 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Wagner, Margaret E.; David M. Kennedy, Linda Barret Osborne, Susan Reyburn (2007). The Library of Congress World War II Companion. Simon and Schuster. p. 355. ISBN 0743252195. http://books.google.com/books?id=0bRaa7UuD6EC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PRA1-PA355,M1. 
5. ^ Habeck, Mary R. (2003). Storm of Steel: The Development of Armor Doctrine in Germany and the Soviet Union, 1919-1939. Cornell University Press. p. 85. ISBN 0801440742. http://books.google.com/books?id=bb0jAKufxNUC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA85,M1. 
6. ^ McKercher, B. J. C.; Roch Legault (2001). Military Planning and the Origins of the Second World War in Europe. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 75. ISBN 0275961583. http://books.google.com/books?id=qVeSClt5P9UC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA75,M1. 
7. ^ Cruickshank, Charles (1979). Deception in World War II. Oxford University Press; Book Club ed. edition. p. 195. ISBN 019215849X. 
8. ^ Holt, Thaddeus (2004). The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. Simon and Schuster. p. 28. ISBN 0743250427. http://books.google.com/books?id=E569Q7s1CnsC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA28,M1. 
9. ^ Cruickshank, Charles (1979). Deception in World War II. Oxford University Press; Book Club ed. edition. p. 196. ISBN 019215849X. 
10. ^ Zabecki, David T. (1999). World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 1118. ISBN 0824070291. http://books.google.com/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=World+War+II+In+Europe&client=firefox-a#PPA1118,M1. 
11. ^ Zaloga, Steven J.; Peter Dennis (2005). Anzio 1944: The Beleaguered Beachhead. Osprey Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 1841769134. http://books.google.com/books?id=wEI0R9yyWYAC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA72,M1. 
12. ^ Glantz, David M.. Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War. Routledge. p. 385. ISBN 071463347X. http://books.google.com/books?id=33g3ujB6mAoC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA385,M1. 
13. ^ BBC On The Record - Broadcast: 28.10.01
14. ^ ^{a b} Dunnigan, James F.; Albert A. Nofi (1992). Dirty Little Secrets: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know. HarperCollins. p. 43. ISBN 0688112706. http://books.google.com/books?id=CdKp9D3PN00C&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA43,M1. 
15. ^ "Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP)". Globalsecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/lima.htm#prof. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
16. ^ Dunnigan, p. 21.