Like markings to lure out/in the enemy. There were Ju 288 (?) fighter variants that had their noses painted to look like the glazed bomber noses. Sherman fireflies (?) with the extra barrel length painted a different colour, presumably to lure out the panzers. And the ersatz panthers posing as American tank destroyers...

Are there many other examples of this??

The first err... tanks were described as "Water Tanks" to disgiuse their purpose & movements....

There was an entire fake army & airforce based in east Anglia/Norfolk, UK pre-June'44 commanded by Patton, with rubber-blow-up tanks, vehicles, & a/c, and a lot of divisional level radio traffic designed to fool the German High Command that the D-Day landings were focused on the Pas De Calais area.

During the desert campaigns the British M3 Grants had a sunscreen, designed to make it look like a truck. I forget exactly what they were called.

During WW1 & 2 The Brits & Germans used 'Q'-Ships...

The Destroyer 'Campbeltown'....

The US Airforce experimented with porcupine-like massively over-armed B-17's to protect bomber formations.

Probably 100's more examples...

Ola Richard

There are so many examples of camo used to deceive the enemy. On both sides you can find some brilliant examples.

This is a nice example of a bunker for a divisionstaff which was located in the village of schagen close to where I used to live. They disguised it as a sort of schoolbuilding


And what do you think of this beautifull beachfront on the french coast.


The Germans used fake airfields that were just not that well camoflaged as the real airfields to attract allied bombs. Close to where I live now the Germans had an airfield and a few KM furhter they had a fake one where they even had a wooden ME109 that taxied constantly on a wooden rails

And as Jon rightly pointed out the allies made a lot of use of deception tactics. Which started of in England indeed forcing the Germans to believe the invasion would start in Calais. But the US deception units moved with the army to the European mainland to do their work there as well. If it is something you like to know more about I wholeheartedly recommend reading the book "Ghosts of the ETO, American tactical deception units in the european theater 1944-1945." Very informative book that deals with the tactics of these units and their materials ranging from inflatable tanks to completely fake artillery positions to Halftracks carrying huge speakers that played sounds of units moving in, Baileybridges being built and commands shouted around. pretty interesting reading material.

Also you could do a read up on Jasper Maskelyne. Even though sources disagree with each other he invented a lot of deception stuff. The following book is also a recommended one for those interested in deception tactics used in the war. It deals a lot with the inventions of Maskelyne but also about a load of other stuff.
http://www.abebooks.com/Trojan-Horses-Deception-Operations-Second-World/6763517549/bd

One of my favorite techniques was used by the Brits in North Africa where they painted bombcraters painted on huge canvas sheets which they used to put on runways of airfields to give the luftwaffe the idea they already bombed that airstrip. Only downside. To match the angle of the sun they had to turn the canvas sheet so the shadows would match.

Can't say I've seen many used as bait - mostly it is an attempt to make the vehicle less of a target. Fireflies were only useful if they lasted long enough to fire back at the enemy, so the camo on the barrel was an attempt to make them less different from the rest of the troop at typical ambush ranges in the hope they wouldn't become the prime target for all incoming rounds. Same goes for command tanks fitted with dummy guns to make them blend with the ordinary tanks - everyone knows you try to knock out the command structure first to cripple any response during an attack.

The only genuine case of camo as a lure that I know of is the Q-ship. These were supposed to lure U-boats to the surface by pretending to be unarmed merchants, and then open fire with concealed guns when the sub was exposed.

I believe in the serbia/croatia conflict one of the parties used to built up things that were roughly tankshaped out of wooden beams and tarps with a tub of boiling water in the back. On infrared cams these things showed up as a stationary tank. Which then got targeted with bombs.

My favourite story about these fake airfields is the one where they worked furiously constructing the decoy airfield, and the day they had it finished RAF aircraft flew overhead and dropped wooden bombs on it

@ Jessie
Allthough there is a bit of controversy if that really happened or not it is absolutely one of my favorite stories as well. And one of those stories actually originates from The fake airfield of Egmond aan zee (the one where they had the wooden ME109) close to Bergen airport that was used by the Germans. Which in turn is very close to where I live.

Edit: Thanks by the way for that link. It seems that what long time has been a myth is pretty much confirmed now. Pretty fun reading.

many ships had their front and back side of the hull painted in a different colour to make it look shorter from a distance so it would be identified as a different class. Some ships such as Bismarck had a false bow wave painted on the hull to make it look like it was moving at high speed. And then there is the famous dazzle paint scheme which made ships looks like some sort of zebras and could even make a ship look like it was going in a different direction.

So not much in the way of lures, thanks for the info on the fireflies Tom. Apart from the Q ships it all seems like good ol' misdirection to me.

There was a factory in England that recieved the customary "I'm just a little village" treatment, the water tower was made to look like a steeple and the luftwaffe occasionally used it as a navigation landmark! I'll try to find out which one that was.

Camouflage is so much fun. I should start another thread for weird and wonderful camo. Perhaps even a campaign?