How a British Magician (May Have) Outsmarted the Nazis in World War II |
It would be fair to say that “magic,” in one form or another, played no small part in the Allied victory during World War II.
There was famously “Magic,” the Allied cryptanalysis program conducted by the United States Army’s Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) and the United States Navy’s Communication Special Unit, which decoded more than 4,000 diplomatic messages between the Japanese government and its embassies and consulates worldwide. The codebreaking effort began nearly two decades earlier, before the war, when the US Navy illicitly obtained a codebook from the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Magic may have worked in the Allies’ favor in other ways, too. The Nazi regime was notable for its fascination with the occult; many prominent members of the Third Reich consulted with astrologers or other spiritualists, and it is likely that some battlefield decisions were made on the dubious basis of those predictions—presumably to the Allies’ benefit.
The British largely did not consult with occultists in fighting the war. They did, however, employ the far more practical services of a literal stage magician, Jasper Maskelyne, who had performed to sold-out crowds across the UK before the war.
The story of Maskelyne has gained some attention thanks to the newly released Now You See Me, Now You Don’t, which includes multiple references to his work during the war. However, the actual story of this renowned prestidigitator is somewhat more complex—and much of it could itself be described as an illusion, as Maskelyne was once billed as “England’s Greatest Illusionist.”
The often-told story is that Maskelyne and the so-called “Magic Gang” of fellow illusionists aided the British military with a variety of large-scale acts of deception and camouflage. Of course, Maskelyne wasn’t the first or only individual to use sleight of hand, parlor tricks, and misdirection in warfare. There are rumors that Harry Houdini served as a spy for the United States, and German-born British magician and mentalist David Berglas also worked for the American military’s intelligence service.
However, by accounts, Maskelyne was a stage magician like no other. He came from a long line of popular British magicians, and during World War II, he joined the Royal Engineers, offering his skills to the British Army not with card tricks or sleight of hand. Instead, he demonstrated his ability to create effective camouflage and deception.
In one example, he reportedly created the illusion of a........