Jasper Maskelyne was a magician who learned the trade from his father, who had learned it from his father before him. The Second World War broke out and affected Jasper’s stage show sales. As a result, Maskelyne decided to join the British army and use his magic to do his part in the war effort. In addition, this choice would end the financial difficulties he had at the same time. He was confident that if he could fool audiences only feet away, he could certainly fool the Germans from miles away.
The conservative Army was not too keen on having a magician in its ranks, but Jasper was assigned to the Camouflage Development and Training Centre in October of 1940. Although his superiors were not impressed with his contributions, Jasper persevered. He seized the opportunity when an inspector general arrived to review the unit’s progress. Using stage tricks, the magician hid a machine gun bunker from the inspector’s view. The general did not spot the emplacement until the man inside hit him with a broom handle. After this remarkable feat, Jasper was shipped to North Africa in 1941, where Erwin Rommel’s superior tactics were wreaking havoc on the British forces in the area.
Initially, the Army only let Maskelyne use his magic to entertain the troops. Jasper was by no means contented and said he would only do so if he could form his own “camouflage experimental section”. The Army granted his request. Moreover, a Brigadier Dudley Clarke asked Maskelyne whether he would join the ‘A Force’ to work with MI9 (Military Intelligence Section 9), the Army’s espionage section. Jasper agreed and was soon assisted by several tradesmen, including an architect, a carpenter, a chemist, and a stage-set builder. The group was soon nicknamed “the Magic Gang”.
The group did not get any real assignments until the Army ran into serious trouble in Egypt. Alexandria harbor was under constant attack of the Luftwaffe and, consequently, the supply routes were hampered. Maskelyne and his men were asked to solve the problem. They were well aware that the fate of the “Magic Gang” depended on the outcome.
The group, now tasked with defending the most important naval base in the area, realized there was no way to use the traditional means of camouflage: canvas and wood. There were simply too many ships and buildings to cover up. Maskelyne’s solution was brilliant: he decided to make the harbor disappear and have it reappear somewhere else. The ‘A Force’ traveled to Maryut Bay, several miles from Alexandria and built a small-scale version of the real harbor there, using lights and shadows in such a way that the German pilots overhead still had the same perspective they were used to.
With the lights in Alexandria harbor off, and the ground lights in Maryut bay on, the deception could begin. When the first night raiders appeared, explosive charges to mimicking exploding bombs were detonated, blowing up decoy buildings and ships. The German pilots observing the explosions believed their flight leader had started his attack and continued dropping their bombs on the fake harbor. To add to the deception, anti-aircraft batteries on the ground fired at the planes using fake shells. A team at the real harbor set up a rubble show for the next day, so German observers would see the effect of the previous night’s attack. Not only did the trick work on that night, but it continued to work for several consequent nights
Maskelyne and his team had proved their worth.
In the Fall of 1941, their next assignment took them to the Suez canal, where the Germans were attempting to damage the canal, sink British ships and cripple the supply line. The “Magic Gang” went to work and extend the range of the searchlights along the canal, making it easier to spot enemy planes and blinding the pilots. By placing cones of mirrors in front of the searchlight, the devices were turned into strobe light. Th idea was that the beams were flickering so fast that any object behind them became nearly impossible to see. In addition, the constantly shifting beams were supposed to confuse the pilots and bombardiers. The plan worked like a charm: many German bombers crashed and many bombs fell without causing any damage to the canal. Once again, Maskelyne had triumphed.
Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was still raging and Rommel was slowly but steadily pushing the British forces back. The “Magic Gang” was asked to help out once more. Their solution was simple, yet effective. The men constructed “sun shields”, frame works that fit over the British tanks and make them look like a trucks. To cover up the tank tracks, a device was fitted behind the tanks to make the tracks look like truck tracks. The trick worked wonders, and British forced managed to deceive the axis forces and break through their lines.
In June ’42, Rommel took Tobruk and the British were pushed back to El Alamein. The magician and his unit ordered to make ambushes to slow down the advancing “Desert Fox”. The men delivered: using explosives disguised as camel dung that took out German trucks.
Montgomery wanted to start an offensive from the north, but needed a decoy attack in the south as there was no way that his forces could defeat the entire German army opposing them. The “A Force” got to work and constructed dummy guns, tanks, aircraft and even men. Together with real units, these dummies gathered in the south. The deception was so effective that the Germans put their main force against the dummy force. The trap was set.
It sprung in the the middle of October. The real tanks —once again disguised as trucks— moved north. The Germans thought nothing of the harmless trucks leaving the area. The tanks that left, meanwhile, were replaced by dummies during the night. Then, the British attacked in the north, taking Rommel by surprise. As the Germans had less than half of their forces there, their line was penetrated and for the first time, the British had a mayor victory on their hands. It proved decisive: the German troops were on the retreat.
The “Magic Gang” was disbanded shortly after the battle. Maskelyne himself had been promoted to Major and had appeared on the Gestapo Black List with a bounty on his head. He returned to England and later moved to Kenya in 1948 where he ultimately passed away. He never really received the praise he deserved. Stories surfaced in which his role was downplayed. Some sources even went as far as stating that the “Magic Gang” never even existed and that some of the inventions created, like the strobe lights used on the Suez Canal, were never built. Other sources mention that, although Maskelyne did contribute, he was credited with many of the group’s work, rather than Dudley Clarke, the group’s commander. Clarke, however, had passed away by then and could not address the matter.
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