Thread "War Magician"

War Magician
Direct link to this message	War Magician Kenneth J. McCormick. kenmccor@yahoo.com.
	On Saturday, June 23, 2001 Ken wrote: On the history channel on cablevision they ran a show about a magician who was hired by the English in WWII and fooled the Germans into thinking the Suez Canal was in a different area, causing them to drop bombs for 3 days on the wrong spot. I was wondering if anyone ever heard of this before?
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Gombe. Mognet.
	On Saturday, Jun 23, 2001, Kenneth J. McCormick wrote: > > On Saturday, June 23, 2001 Ken wrote: > > On the history channel on cablevision they ran a show about a magician who > was hired by the English in WWII and fooled the Germans into thinking the > Suez Canal was in a different area, causing them to drop bombs for 3 days > on the wrong spot. > > I was wondering if anyone ever heard of this before? > Sounds like one of those "urban legends" that come up many years after the events took place. (Un)fortunately I don't know anybody who participated in WWII in the Northern African area and is still alive. ;-) However I know that there were many effective ways to divert bombers. So I don't see why they would have had to hire a magician. The problem was, when the diversion was successful the attacks often hit civilians. -Gombe
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Margaret Rummens. missrum@pacbell.net.
	I think this is about Jasper Maskelyne. Tom Cruise is suppose to be considering the role in an upcoming movie. http://www.cometamagico.com.ar/maskelyne2.htm
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Sean Barry-Weske. sean1631@earthlink.net.
	Here is the answer to your questions: was the unique story of the British Stage Magician, Jasper Maskelyne who, when war broke out, offered his 'special skills' to the War Dept. He promptly enlisted in the British Army and attempted to convince the Generals that his skills as an illusionist could be put to use against the Germans. At first, he was laughed at, "What could we possibly use a magician for?" He was asked. "If I could fool an audience only twenty feet away, I could certainly fool the enemy a mile away or more!" He answered. He was put into Camouflage School, where he succeeded in hiding a Machine-gun Bunker so completely that the Inspecting General couldn't find it (even when he was standing right on top of it). Jasper had made his point! He was sent to North Africa, where he put together a hand-picked team of men. His first job was to hide Alexandria Harbour from the Luftwaffe's nightly bombing raids. With the Magician's ability of 'mis-direction', he and his team created a phony harbour some miles away, which looked so like the original, that the invading bombers dropped their cargo on that instead of the correct target. His next task was to hide the Suez Canal, which by using a series of Anti-Aircraft searchlights combined with a collection of mirrors, Jasper and his team caused a 'blinding effect', which confused the Luftwaffe Pilots so, that they couldn't see the target to bomb it. He then put his 'skills' to disguising British tanks to look like harmless trucks and vice-versa. Rommel placed his main forces to oppose, what he thought was a strong force of British tanks, which in reality, were only trucks disguised as tanks. Meanwhile the real British tank force (disguised as trucks) were about to attack many miles away, against a now, very small opposing force. It was due, in no small part, to the stage illusionist, Jasper Maskelyne, that the British 8th Army won the battle of El Alamein, which spelled the end of the Afrika Korps' and General Field Marshall Rommel's aspirations in North Africa. Tom Cruise will be playing the part of Jasper Maskelyne in the upcoming movie which was first portrayed by Sean Barry-Weske in the Television Production "The War Illusionist" for the History Channel.
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Lee Munsick. leemunsick@earthlink.net.
	Delighted to learn that a new film is forthcoming with Tom Cruise as Jasper Maskelyne, "The War Magician". Perhaps a bit young, but he's a fine actor, I think better than most give him credit. I would have preferred Tom Hanks. In any case I'll look forward to the new film. Meanwhile, can anyone tell me where to find a video of "The War Illusionist" which has been aired by The History Channel? Many thanks. Lee Munsick, leemunsick@earthlink.net
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Lee Munsick. leemunsick@earthlink.net.
	On Tuesday, Jun 26, 2001, Gombe wrote: > > On Saturday, Jun 23, 2001, Kenneth J. McCormick wrote: > > > > On Saturday, June 23, 2001 Ken wrote: > > > > On the history channel on cablevision they ran a show about a magician who > > was hired by the English in WWII and fooled the Germans into thinking the > > Suez Canal was in a different area, causing them to drop bombs for 3 days > > on the wrong spot. > > > > I was wondering if anyone ever heard of this before? > > > > Sounds like one of those "urban legends" that come up many years after the > events took place. (Un)fortunately I don't know anybody who participated in > WWII in the Northern African area and is still alive. ;-) > However I know that there were many effective ways to divert bombers. > So I don't see why they would have had to hire a magician. > The problem was, when the diversion was successful the attacks often hit > civilians. > > -Gombe I strongly urge anyone interested in this to read "The War Magician", the fine study of Jasper Maskelyne, who did everything indicated above except harm "friendlies" or civilians, as far as I could determine. The British military initially shared Gombe's understandable reaction (why...hire a magician?) but soon learned it was a very worthwhile undertaking. Could very well have changed the whole outcome of WW2, certainly in Africa. -Lee Munsick >
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician toow. ..
	> On the history channel on cablevision they ran a show about a magician who > was hired by the English in WWII and fooled the Germans into thinking the > Suez Canal was in a different area, causing them to drop bombs for 3 days > on the wrong spot. I saw this programme advertised a month or two ago (on UK Channel4 I think) but forgot to watch it. Wish I had done now! Might try and get the book, sounds interesting from this thread.
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Direct link to this message	Re: War Magician Sean Barry-Weske. sean1631@earthlink.net.
	On Monday, Aug 19, 2002, Lee Munsick wrote: > > Delighted to learn that a new film is forthcoming with Tom Cruise as Jasper > Maskelyne, "The War Magician". Perhaps a bit young, but he's a fine actor, > I think better than most give him credit. I would have preferred Tom > Hanks. In any case I'll look forward to the new film. Meanwhile, can > anyone tell me where to find a video of "The War Illusionist" which has > been aired by The History Channel? Many thanks. Lee Munsick, > leemunsick@earthlink.net Lee. The History Channel are selling this video from their website. I hope you like it, because it is a good story. It will make a good film. Sean.
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