| |  | Troops carry a dummy Stuart tank, 3 April 1942 |
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| How did a large-scale operation of deceit help Britain win the war in the desert? | For much of the Second World War, Britain’s military strategy focused on North Africa and the Mediterranean. Italy's entry into the war in 1940 threatened British interests in the region, including the vital Suez Canal in British-occupied Egypt.
In 1941, Hitler dispatched the Afrika Korps, under the leadership of General Erwin Rommel, to support their Italian ally. As a result the war in North Africa assumed greater importance for Britain.
By 1942, Churchill was desperate for a victory in North Africa and a decisive end to the see-saw campaign between Allied and Axis forces. He appointed two new commanders, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery, under General Harold Alexander, to lead the British Army.
The sparse desert terrain offered little opportunity for concealment against enemy forces. Visual deception would play a crucial part in Allied operations.
The turning point for the British in North Africa was the Second Battle of El Alamein which began on the 23 October 1942 and lasted until 11 November.
In the months before the battle a group of Royal Engineers, artists, painters, sculptors and set designers were enlisted. Known as the Camouflage Unit, they were to support a complex operation code-named Operation Bertram.
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Family Activities This October Half Term
Activities vary, we recommend checking details at the admissions desk on arrival |  | | The Dazzle Design Studio | This October Half Term play a game of nautical hide and seek.
Create your very own designs of Dazzle camouflage and test them out on the high seas.
IWM London: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Sunday 30 October. Drop in 10am-4pm.
Free entry.
IWM North: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Sunday 30 October. Drop in 10am-4pm.
Free entry. | | | |
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 | | We Were There: Family Days | Hear an array of personal stories from veterans and eyewitnesses of conflict. Gain a first-hand insight into the impact of war.
IWM London: Monday 24 and Wednesday 26 October.
Free entry.
IWM North: Tuesday 25 and Thursday 27 October.
Free entry.
HMS Belfast: Friday 28 October. Free with admission. | | | |
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|  | | Story Seekers: Camouflage & Disguise | This October, uncover the secrets of camouflage by getting up close with objects focusing on illusion and deceit.
Use your imagination and embark on a special mission that’s fun for all the family.
IWM London: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Sunday 30 October. Drop in 10am-4pm.
Free entry.
IWM North: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Sunday 30 October. Drop in 10am-4pm.
Free entry. | | | |
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 | | The Camouflage Unit Camp | Join the camouflage unit and try your hand at code-breaking, don desert disguises and witness some mirror ‘magic'.
IWM London: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Friday 28 October.
10:30am, 11:45am, 2pm, 3:15pm.
Free entry.
BSL interpreted performance on Wednesday 26. Booking essential.
IWM North: Daily from Saturday 22 October until Friday 28 October.
10:30am, 11:45am, 2pm, 3:15pm.
Free entry. | | | |
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| Conceived by Dudley Clarke, the plan was to deceive German forces about the intention, timing, and location of the main assault. One of the first tasks was to conceal the build-up of supplies in the northern sector, where the offensive was to be launched.
2,000 tonnes of fuel, 600 tonnes of food and over 400 tonnes of engineers’ stores were built into stacks to resemble lorries. The ‘dummy’ lorries were covered with netting, making them indistinguishable from real lorries from above.
To conceal their intention to attack in the north, the British set about advertising movement in the south. They created convincing dummy supply stores and camps to deceive Rommel's forces about their true plans.
To help with this deception, a dummy pipeline code-named ‘Diamond’ was created. Made from beaten and shaped petrol tins, it stretched twenty miles south from the real water supply.
The pipeline led towards dummy supply dumps, drawing attention away from genuine supplies in the north.
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|  | Family Activities at
HMS Belfast | Take charge of HMS Belfast in our interactive family activity Find Your Sea Legs and complete tasks around the ship.
Hop on the balance board to test how steady you’ll be on choppy seas and discover how to keep HMS Belfast in tip top condition.
Every weekend, then daily from Monday 24 to Sunday 30 October. | | | |
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 | Family Activities at
IWM Duxford | This October, put your paper plane making skills to the test with Flight Academy and travel back to 1944 and D-Day with our Family Mission.
Or learn about the Cold War as you help restore our hacked system in Airforce Action Stations.
Daily from Monday 24 October until Sunday 30 October. | | | |
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| Attention was also paid to maintaining signs of activity in the dummy camps. Fires were lit, blankets hung out and real lorries driven through towing sand channels to create dust.
A week before the battle, dummy gun pits and dummy guns were also erected south of where the main attack was to come. In a double bluff, the Germans were first led to believe that these were dummy guns, only for them to later be replaced with the real thing.
When the battle began, German forces came under fire from the guns they had thought were dummies. This was a further attempt to convince the enemy that the main attack would come from the south.
A crucial component of Operation Bertram was to mask the movements of Xth Corps as their tank division moved towards the front. Before the offensive, real tanks stationed fifty miles to the rear replaced trucks which had been parked for weeks on the tank assembly line.
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| |  | Crusader tanks and other vehicles out on patrol in the Western Desert, 26 August 1942 |
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| Equipped with sunshields, the newly positioned tanks could be disguised to look like trucks from above. Dummy tanks were then positioned where the real tanks had been.
Artillery guns were hidden under dummy lorries, known as the 'cannibal method'. The wheels of the gun were then disguised to look like the wheels of the lorry. On the 23 October, a complete force of tanks and guns had amassed on the frontline.
Yet, to the Germans, no tanks or guns had appeared to have moved. These deceptive measures were vital in shifting the balance in favour of the British. The efforts of the Camouflage Unit were a significant factor in the British victory at El Alamein.
On 11 November 1942, Winston Churchill announced the victory in the House of Commons. In particular, he praised the success of Operation Bertram:
'By a marvellous system of camouflage, complete tactical surprise was achieved in the desert.'
In November, Anglo-American divisions landed in French Algeria and Morocco. This forced Rommel to retreat into Tunisia. The Germans, trapped between two Allied armies, surrendered their North African campaign in May 1943. |
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