Master of Deception by Alan Ogden

Author:Alan Ogden
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2020-08-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Sleight of hand in the order of battle

The principal task allocated by Fleming to Major Peter Thorne was Strategic Deception and specifically to exaggerate the Allied Order of Battle, initially to deter the Japanese from attacking India and, later, to convince them that Britain had sufficient forces to launch overland or seaborne attacks long before it actually had enough landing craft or properly trained assault troops available. Thorne wrote that

in this context a notional Order of Battle meant the one we wanted the Japanese to accept as genuine. It was composed of both bogus and real units and formations. One could, for instance, have a notional Army Corps consisting of one real and two bogus divisions, with some of their constituent brigades and battalions being real or in the process of formation, but with the majority being non-existent though plausible sounding. The fact that Japanese Intelligence had a good picture of the 1941/42 Order of Battle of the Army in India, but only guesswork about how the Army was going to expand to make good its losses, gave D. Division ample opportunity to create a whole shoal of bogus units. 1

Sir Ronald Wingate saw the Order of Battle as central to deception:

The weapon of deception is of very little use unless the side using it has the initiative, or wishes to take the initiative. The maxim of concentration of all available forces at the decisive point implies that you intend to attack the enemy, and the other side of the medal is that he should be induced to move as much of his forces as possible away from the decisive point which you wish to attack. That he will not do so entirely may be taken for granted, but any weakening of his resistance at the point which you intend to attack will be a contribution to your success. The plans of opposing commanders are always based upon their appreciation of the other side’s ‘order of battle’. Where exactly are his formations? What is their composition and strength? Deception is based on producing in the mind of the enemy’s intelligence a precise but false picture of our own order of battle designed to make him conclude that the main threat, or in any case a strong threat, which he must provide against, is due somewhere other than our intended objective. 2

There was a peculiar Indian slant on the subterfuge employed since entirely new units could be formed from groups hitherto considered unsuitable by the British who traditionally had a penchant for the martial races of North West India, the Sikhs, Rajputanis, Punjabis and so on. Thorne gives as examples the Mahar Regiment from a Maharatta sub-cast and the Chamars from the Sikh sweeper class. Given a sprinkling of good officers and NCOs, they proved themselves in battle to be quite as good as the average Sikh battalion drawn from the higher castes. In addition, the princely states like Hyderabad and Kashmir made some of their home service battalions, normally only employed in quasi-police duties, available for use overseas.

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