Double Cross: Deception Techniques in War

by Paul B. Janeczko

How does deception factor into fighting wars, and is it effective? In an intriguing companion to The Dark Game, Paul B. Janeczko reveals the truth about the strategic lies of war.

The biblical account of Gideon. The ancient story of the Trojan horse. Deceptive techniques have been used in war through the ages. But while the principles have changed very little, the technology behind fooling the enemy has evolved dramatically. Paul B. Janeczko s fascinating chronology focuses on the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf Wars to reveal evolving attitudes toward the use and effectiveness of deceptive operations. Find out the secret plan behind the invasion of Normandy and the details of General Schwarzkopf s "Hail Mary play" during the Gulf War, among many other strategies and maneuvers designed to pull the wool over enemies' eyes. Back matter includes source notes, a bibliography, and an index."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, War, Military History, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

Published May 23, 2017

About the author

Paul B. Janeczko is a poet and teacher and has edited more than twenty award-winning poetry anthologies for young people, including STONE BENCH IN AN EMPTY PARK, LOOKING FOR YOUR NAME, SEEING THE BLUE BETWEEN, and A POKE IN THE I, which was an American Library Association Notable Book.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Candlewick for the Arc of this book. We know Janeczko from his wonderful poetry anthologies, but do you know that he's also written books about codes (Top Secret) and spies (The Dark Game) as well as professional books for teachers? His name is an important one to know.
This book is fascinating and detailed, although I did wish there were a few more personal stories given. For anyone who is beginning to be interesting in deception in war, this book will spark interest and further research. It offers ancient background deception examples, but quickly moves and focuses on United States history, from the Civil War all the way to the Gulf Wars. The complexity of planning the huge operations like D-Day are amazing to learn about. I liked that there were maps and photos included which aided the explanations. It is also interesting that artists and people who had previously been employed by the movie industry played important roles in creating important deceptions.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating! Deception techniques in warfare from the Israelites to the Gulf War. The majority of the book focused on the wars in Europe, especially WWI and WWII. The chapters on the extremely important and intricate deceptions surrounding the D-Day invasion of Europe were exceptionally rich with detail. I knew some of the story but I was astonished by the extent of the effort! "The Twenty Committee" that oversaw the operation considered even the tiniest pieces of the deception puzzle and an enormous amount of people were involved. Somehow the secret was kept.

This is definitely a book for someone very interested in the subject but I think any teen with a strong interest in history will find lots to explore here. Chapters on the Korean War and Vietnam War were interesting too but got less attention. Definitely a British/American focus but I'm sure the 220 page length dictated the need to make choices. Excellent sources and suggested bibliography.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction chronicle of deception techniques in war is a fascinating read. At 220 pages of text it is a decent size for a research source, yet reads very smoothly. Many photographs are included which aid in understanding the concepts. The techniques listed give the reader hope that a military conflict might be avoided by being clever. Even the cover is great. This will give you lots of interesting facts to share in conversations.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great nonfiction read for middle school age teens. Liked this author's other work about spies. Most focus of the book was WWII European front (with no mention of any deceptions in WWII Asian war front). Gulf War received about 14 pages, scant few for Korean and Vietnam War compared to WWII European front.
Would have loved more research about pre-1900 Asian wars and conflicts and the use of deception.

[Anne Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. I kept thinking I would just read a small portion of the book as part of a project I am doing and I couldn't put it aside. I kept reading. I found out some very interesting facts about the deception techniques used during wars. I found the information about WWII deceptions especially interesting. I hope there is a niche group of students who are also attracted to this book. I tis very well-written, has excellent source notes, bibliography, and image credits.

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An at times fascinating, at other times plodding overview of the history of wartime deception strategies. This dug really deeply into particular deceptions, like those that enabled the Allies to successfully invade on D-Day, while others were more briefly described. Personally, the more detailed descriptions were a bit of a chore to get through, but this would be great for teens interested in combat history.

[Seutonius X · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. Saw this in the kids section of the library when I was there with my kids. Good but only focuses on Western Anglosphere deception efforts . Their coverage on WWII was entertaining. Also come to think of it, they don’t mention any failed deceptions. Well hats off for something well researched and quick to get through

[Sue Poduska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about fooling the enemy and many of the ways that’s been accomplished. Well-researched and loaded with information, the text is nevertheless very exciting and wonderfully readable for a history book.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this quick overview of deception techniques. Recommended for grades 5-8.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good young adult non-fiction book.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book 10 out of 10 books

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not systematic and at places it gets bogged down in repetitive minutia but it's just so darn interesting.

[Kaitlyn R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favourite thing from this book is the idea of Notional armies and notional troops. That's hilarious. Also the fake props they used to make it look like there was stuff on the ground, or to disguise stuff on the ground.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for professional publication.

[Vinayak Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative book. A little pedantic but a good read

[Jaina Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I agreed to review Double Cross months ago, but didn't get around to it until now–which just so happens to be the exact same time that we're covering WWII and the Cold War era in my APUSH class. Deception techniques from WWII, the Korean war, and the Vietnam war make up the bulk of the content, so it works out perfectly for me: I get to study and work on my blog at the same time!

Because Double Cross is definitely educational. It talks a lot about military maneuvers on the Allied side during WWII, and on the American/UN side in the more recent wars. It also touches on the Trojan Horse story, but I already knew about that. What I really enjoyed reading about was the new stuff. Did you know that Britain invented a whole new army that was going to invade Europe at Pas-de-Calais (rather than Normandy), and that they had a group of people driving around Scotland to send out telegraph messages simulating conversations between the different parts of the army? Not only that, but they also built props on the ground to look like trucks. And they put little articles in the newspaper about how, say, the presence of thousands of soldiers was demoralizing the young Scottish women. The attention to detail that went into the operation was incredible–and it worked beautifully. Hitler actually kept a large amount of his troops near Pas-de-Calais even after the invasion of Normandy because he thought a second attack would still be coming from there!

There are way more stories in here than just the one about Scotland's notional (fake) army, though. I don't want to go into all of them too much, because Janeczko does a better job explaining all of them than I ever could, but suffice it to say that there have been some very fascinating deception operations over the years. I don't love reading about war as a rule, just because it's too horrible to think of all that death, but I really enjoyed learning about all the stranger-than-fiction ideas people had that actually worked and fooled the enemy. It's also cool to see how, in some instances, these deception tactics saved many thousands of lives. I'm all for cutting down on the casualties!

Anyway, this is a very interesting book that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. If you're interested at all in trickery, or war-time strategy, or a combination of both, then I definitely recommend you give Double Cross a try. It's also a great bouncing-off book for a variety of other war-time topics, because it has inserts with information about cool spy stuff and technology scattered throughout its pages as well.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.