18. The Fake Barbed Wire
Another of Baden-Powell’s deceptions revolved around barbed wire, of which he had none. Barbed wire was known to be effective in slowing down a charge, and since he wanted to discourage the numerically superior Boers from charging and overrunning his defenses, Baden-Powell set out to convince them that he had plenty of barbed wire. He had no barbed wire, but he did have plenty of the wooden posts from which barbed wire was strung. So he directed that they be hammered into the ground all around the defensive perimeter.
From a distance, even with binoculars, barbed wire is difficult to see. However, the wooden posts from which barbed wire is usually strung are readily visible, and the sight of a line of such posts in the distance is indicative of barbed wire fences. To further mislead the Boer watchers, Baden-Powell had his men drop to the ground whenever they reached a line of wooden posts, then crawl “beneath” the imaginary barbed wire to get to the other side. Upon reaching the “other side”, they would get back on their feet, dust themselves off, and carry on.
