← Back to the front page

A Memorable History of Deception and Spy Capers

Khalid Elhassan June 7, 2020 34 min

Operation Mincemeat - World War II — Items recovered from Major Martin and his briefcase. BBC

29. Preparing an Ambush

In preparing his ambush at Lake Trasimene, Hannibal formed his heavy infantry in front of his camp, facing the road down which the Romans would arrive. Their presence was an open challenge to battle. They were also baited in a carefully laid trap. On the forested hills north of the road, Hannibal concealed his cavalry, light infantry, and Gaulish allies. He then waited to see whether his deception would work. The waiting ended on the morning of June 24^th, 217, when Flaminius arrived with his Roman army at the defile’s entrance.

When he saw the Carthaginian camp, with the enemy army arrayed to offer battle, Flaminius was relieved to have finally caught up with his quarry. Unwilling to chance Hannibal’s slipping away again, he immediately advanced upon the Carthaginians. Tunnel visioned on the enemy he had been so hotly pursuing, the Roman consul failed to check whether the forested hills overlooking the road along which he would march contained any threats.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.