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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

14. Lulling an Enemy Into Complacency

Alexander the Great marched his men up and down his side of the Hydaspes River each day. The Indians vigilantly shadowed those movements at first, but over time, it became routine, and they grew complacent. Alexander’s deception had worked. With the Indians lulled, Alexander quietly drew off the bulk of his army, leaving behind a contingent to make noisy demonstrations in order to keep King Porus’ men fixated on them.

In the meantime, Alexander hurried to a crossing upriver, and safely got his force across the Hydaspes, unopposed. Once he reached Porus’ side of the Hydaspes, Alexander advanced to attack him. He caught the Indians in a pincer between the main force under his command, and the smaller contingent he had left behind on the opposite side of the river. When the battle commenced and King Porus’ army turned to face Alexander, the smaller Macedonian contingent left behind crossed the river, and fell upon the Indians’ rear and flank. The result was a total Macedonian victory.

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.