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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

28. A Lakeside Bushwacking

Romans were pushed into and slaughtered in Lake Trasimene. Look and Learn

In his eagerness to finally come to grips with Hannibal, Flaminius did not bother scouting the road for threats, before marching his army into the defile leading to the Carthaginians. Hannibal’s concealment of forces in the hills flanking the road was helped by a fortuitous fog, which reduced visibility.

‘Ducarius Beheads Flaminius at the Battle of Lake Trasimine’, by Joseph Sylvestre. Musee des Beaux Arts, Beziers

Once the last Roman entered the defile, trumpets were blown and the trap was sprung. The concealed forces rushed down from the hills to fall on the flank and rear of their surprised enemy. The Romans suddenly found themselves surrounded on east, north, and west by the enemy, while the lake blocked them to the south. Hannibal’s great deception had worked flawlessly, and Flaminius’ army was wiped out. Out of 30,000 Romans who marched into battle that day, about half were killed or drowned, while the other half were taken prisoner.

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.