Dummy tank
Encyclopedia
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
.
s. These were constructed from a wooden framework, covered with painted, Hessian cloth. 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. Dummy tanks, representing Allied models, were also found to have been constructed by the Germans, even though they deployed only a small number of real tanks. It is possible they were used in training, rather than for military deception.
In World War II, both the Allies
and the Axis
used dummy tanks. The British
, who designed them, called them "spoofs." The Americans
used them as well. Before the war began, the Wehrmacht
utilized mock tanks to practice tactics and train their troops.
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 Regiment
s, and another in November that same year. These were foldable, and thus portable, however, the Royal Engineers improved them further. Jeep
s 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. 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.
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.
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. Similarly, during Operation Shingle
at Anzio
, Italy
, inflatable Sherman tanks were deployed when the real tanks were elsewhere. 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
.
The Red Army
also employed dummy tanks to increase their apparent numbers, and mask their true movements.
, 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.
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, compared to $4.35 million for a real M1. 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. Occasionally, real tanks carry a dummy on board, to deploy when needed.
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
is a type of decoy
Decoy
A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, but were not widely used until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
World War I
During World War I, Allied forces made use of dummy versions of the British heavy tankMark I tank
The British Mark I was a tracked vehicle developed by the British Army during the First World War and the world's first combat tank. The Mark I entered service in August 1916, and was first used in action on the morning of 15 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, of the Somme...
s. These were constructed from a wooden framework, covered with painted, Hessian cloth. 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. Dummy tanks, representing Allied models, were also found to have been constructed by the Germans, 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
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
and the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
used dummy tanks. The British
Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
Britain along with most of its dominions and Crown colonies, and British India, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. War with Japan began in 1941, after it attacked British colonies in Asia...
, who designed them, called them "spoofs." The Americans
Military history of the United States during World War II
The military history of the United States during World War II covers the involvement of the United States during World War II. The Empire of Japan declared war on the United States of America on 7 December 1941, immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the same day. On 11 December 1941,...
used them as well. Before the war began, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
utilized mock tanks to practice tactics and train their troops.
One of the first uses of dummy tanks during the Second World War was in the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
. The Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
stationed there constructed two per day; between April and June 1941, they were able to build three dummy Royal Tank Regiment
Royal Tank Regiment
The Royal Tank Regiment is an armoured regiment of the British Army. It was formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is made up of two operational regiments, the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment...
s, and another in November that same year. These were foldable, and thus portable, however, the Royal Engineers improved them further. Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
s 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. 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.
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.
Dummy tanks were used extensively in Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude was the codename for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy during the build up to the 1944 Normandy Landings...
, 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. Similarly, during Operation Shingle
Operation Shingle
Operation Shingle , during the Italian Campaign of World War II, was an Allied amphibious landing against Axis forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. The operation was commanded by Major General John P. Lucas and was intended to outflank German forces of the Winter Line and enable an...
at Anzio
Anzio
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, inflatable Sherman tanks were deployed when the real tanks were elsewhere. In the Pacific Theater of Operations
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
, the Japanese also utilized decoys; one recorded instance was during the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. A "tank" was surrounded by American infantry, which had been under artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
bombardment: they found it was not real, but merely a sculpture, carved out of volcanic ash
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
.
The Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
also employed dummy tanks to increase their apparent numbers, and mask their true movements.
Modern era
During the Kosovo WarKosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
, the Yugoslav Army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
regularly placed dummy tanks in Kosovo which misled NATO forces into thinking that they were destroying far more real tanks than actually occurred.
The United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
has developed a modern dummy tank. It imitates the M1 Abrams
M1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams is a third-generation main battle tank produced in the United States. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The M1 is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for...
tank not only in appearance, but also in its heat signature, in order to appear real to infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
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, compared to $4.35 million for a real M1. The decoy is also practical: when disassembled, it weighs only fifty pounds, and is roughly the same size as a duffel bag
Duffel bag
A duffel bag is a large cylindrical bag made of cloth with a drawstring closure at the top....
. Its generator—about the size of a 12 inch television—facilitates inflation, so that two people can erect the decoy in a few minutes. Occasionally, real tanks carry a dummy on board, to deploy when needed.