WWII Inflatable Tanks
In World War II, British intelligence sought to deceive the Germans about the time and location of the intended invasion of Europe in 1944. So they devised Operation Bodyguard, which had three goals. First, conceal the time and date of the invasion. Second, convince the Germans that the main invasion would land in the Pas de Calais instead of Normandy. Third, convince the Germans, even after the Normandy landings, to maintain a strong defense in the Pas de Calais for at least two weeks.
The hope was that if the Germans thought the Pas Calais was about to get invaded, they would keep their soldiers stationed there in place, rather than rush them to help the hard-pressed defenders in Normandy. A sub-plan, Operation Fortitude, created a fictitious First US Army Group in southeast England under the command of general George Patton. FUSAG sold its existence to the Germans with fake radio traffic between fictitious units. The Allies also allowed German spy planes to fly over concentrations of FUSAG tanks and transports that were actually inflatable dummies.
