Operation Hardboiled was a Second World War military deception.
Undertaken by the Allies in 1942, it was the first attempt at deception
by the London Controlling Section (LCS) and was designed to convince the
Axis powers that the Allies would soon invade German-occupied Norway.
The LCS had recently been established to plan deception across all
theatres, but had struggled for support from the unenthusiastic military
establishment. The LCS had little guidance in strategic deception, an
activity pioneered by Dudley Clarke the previous year, and was unaware
of the extensive double agent system controlled by MI5. Although Clarke
preferred the fast and inexpensive approach of spreading false rumours
through agents and wireless traffic, Hardboiled was conducted as a
diversionary operation (training pictured). Resistance to the operation
by the chosen units interfered with preparations. Hitler ordered the
reinforcement of Scandinavia in March and April 1942, before Hardboiled
was shelved in May; it is unclear to what extent the operation
contributed to his decision.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hardboiled>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1233:
Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols captured Kaifeng, the capital of
the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_siege_of_Kaifeng>
1815:
Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba, an island off the coast
of Italy where he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau one year earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon>
1935:
With the aid of a radio station in Daventry, England, and two
receiving antennas, Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Watson-Watt
first demonstrated the use of radar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt>
1952:
Vincent Massey was sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor
General of Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Massey>
1995:
Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, collapsed
after its head derivatives trader in Singapore, Nick Leeson, lost £827
million while making unauthorized speculative trades on futures
contracts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
beaver away:
(idiomatic) To work hard at a task.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beaver_away>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. Of that divine tear and that human
smile is composed the sweetness of the present civilization.
--Victor Hugo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo>