You’ll enjoy this Smithsonian Magazine article, I think: The Fake British Radio Show That Helped Defeat the Nazis. Summary:
By spreading fake news and sensational rumors, intelligence officials leveraged “psychological judo” against the Nazis in World War II.
See? It’s just what you want to read while you sip your coffee.
There are so many good stories still to come out of the Second World War (and probably every other war). My father was part of the Siege of Tobruk in 1941. They used to listen to German radio broadcasts (which they thought were hilarious). It was from a German radio description of them “…trapped like rats…” that they devised their nickname and the name of an organisation – The Rats of Tobruk – which was part of my childhood. I’m not sure if the organisation still exists; even in Dad’s lifetime the old boys were getting fewer and fewer. Anyhow every Christmas every child of a Rat used to get a present from the organisation. They also provided financial assistance to help with education. I still have a framed certificate on the wall recording that I won the Rats of Tobruk Senior Bursary award for 1963.
Thanks for that detail, Peter. That’s a great story.