JASPER MASKELYNE THE MAGICIAN WHO FOILED HITLER’S ARMY Admiral Graf Spee at Spithead, 1937. he Second World War plummeted the world into chaos, so it’s really no surprise that tales shoelaces embedded with wire strong and sharp at Lake Mariout were switched on. From 8,000 T of paranormal activity, supernatural events, and enough to saw through bars; packs of playing feet above in the dark, the Luftwaffe were unable unsolved mysteries continue to surface from a time of cards containing maps of the surrounding areas; to tell the difference, and proceeded to attack the : such trauma. Rumoured to be staunch believers in the board games with local currency; cricket bats fake harbour. To give the illusion that they were occult, Hitler and the Nazi party have since been tied concealing weapons in the handle and blades engaged in battle, ground troops feigned fighting to stories of otherworldly pursuits. You’d be correct to shaped in a way that allowed them to be used as back with fake shells. Meanwhile, a team used think that the influence behind Indiana Jones and The Last shovels. It has also been reported that a map was truck-loads of papier-mache bricks and painted Crusade isn’t purely fiction. While they didn’t confront hidden inside a gramophone record, concealed bomb craters to create the illusion of a devastat- a whip-wielding archaeologist, the Nazis did spend so carefully that it’s unlikely the prisoners ever ed harbour at the real Alexandria in anticipation time searching for religious artefacts, including the would have found it if it hadn’t accidentally been of reconnaissance aircraft the following morning. Holy Grail. This search was deemed so important that broken. Thanks to The Magic Gang’s brilliant It has been rumoured that this deception worked Heinrich Himmler himself – leader of the SS – was ideas that would have had James Bond watering a total of nine times! tasked with finding the all-powerful cup. It has been at the mouth, the MI9 managed to sneak over perhaps most notorious trick, was to hide documented that Himmler truly believed finding the 1,600 undercover gadgets into Nazi POW camps. the Suez Canal altogether. How does one hide a Holy Grail would grant him supernatural power, But Jasper’s most notorious cases of trickery 120-mile-long, well-mapped body of water? His allowing him to win the war for Germany. However, lie within North Africa, where he was recruited by the furthest Himmler ever got to completing his the head of the deception department, Brigadier quest was to arrive at Montserrat Abbey near Dudley Clarke. It was here that he helped devise Barcelona on the basis of an old Catalonian folk the aforementioned gadgets, but Jasper knew song, only to leave empty-handed. his illusions could be bigger. With British troops The Allies were quick to act upon this noto- setting up camp at various spots along the Suez rious tendency to superstition, with military Canal, it was a perfect target for enemy attacks. It strategy often taking strange routes during was around this area that Jasper would create three World War Two. For instance, playing upon the mind-boggling tricks to deceive the Axis forces. Nazis’ belief in astrology, the Brits employed His first was at the Alexandria Harbour. Just an astrologer named Louis de Wohl to create a short boat ride away from the Suez Canal, this false horoscopes in an effort to disrupt the harbour was critical to the Allies. It was not only Nazis’ plans. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t a primary Royal Navy base, but also acted as work – in fact, it’s now believed Hitler’s the main British port for deploying reinforce- Jasper interest in astrology was purely propa- Maskelyne. ments. To protect the harbour, Jasper devised ganda – and the MI5 later admitted their convince his superiors that an illusionist might be of use to a plan which involved moving the entire base embarrassment at hiring such a “dan- them on the battlefield, he used his skills to create a fake, as well as staging a full-scale, fake war zone to gerous charlatan”. If the Brits were to but realistic, version of the Admiral Graf Spee floating on the convince reconnaissance pilots that their target succeed in using the Nazis’ belief in Thames. This was no small task, as the German Panzerschiff had been destroyed and thereby prevent future the paranormal to defeat them, they was not only a 186-meter juggernaut, but had also been attacks. A dummy harbour was set up at Lake would perhaps have to use magic scuttled the year before. Jasper reportedly resurrected the Mariout, a body of water just one mile from themselves. battleship using balloons and mirrors. The illusion clearly Alexandria, separated only by a narrow strip of Jasper Maskelyne was a impressed his superiors, as Jasper was promoted to Major land. Using canvas ships and plywood buildings, third-generation magician, the and given his own unit made up of carefully selected elec- Jasper and his team recreated Alexandria’s light grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne tricians, magicians, artists, carpenters, and criminals called grid and lighthouse. On the night of the attack, who invented the illusion of lev- ‘The Magic Gang.’ With his new ragtag team in tow, Jasper Alexandria’s lights were switched off, and those Jasper Maskelyne and his Magic Troupe in Nairobi, 1950. itation, as well as the pay toilet was tasked with using magic to trick the Axis forces. which led to the creation of the Shortly before The Magic Gang was assembled, the British euphemism “spend a penny”. military established MI9. This special unit of intelligence With such notorious lineage to agents worked hard to provide aid for resistance fighters and live up to, Jasper was deter- to free captured prisoners of war. Many of their missions mined to add to his family involved smuggling key equipment into hostile environments, legacy. When World War Two including prison camps. This high level of trickery needed a broke out, he volunteered keen eye and creative mind to oversee the inventions. Enter to join the Royal Engineers. Jasper Maskelyne. Finding his training fright- As stated in the Geneva Convention, prisoners were fully dull, Jasper found allowed to receive care packages from humanitarian groups – himself spending more a rule the Allies keenly exploited. The Magic Gang was tasked time acting as a troop with creating clever contraptions that looked like everyday entertainer than aid- items to get past the guards but contained vital tools or infor- ing in the war effort. mation to help the prisoners survive and escape. In an attempt to Amongst some of these inventions were plan for this illusion was House of Commons, to give the Axis forces praising the plan as the ol’ razzle dazzle – a “marvellous system quite literally. Since the of camouflage.” Luftwaffe conducted The Magic Gang their raids at night, disbanded shortly Jasper believed that by after this mission, and using multiple huge, Jasper Maskelyne even- flashing lights would tually retired in Kenya. damage the Luftwaffe’s As a man who built his chances of hitting their Soldiers rush to battle at El Alamein, October 1942. remarkable career on target. The Magic Gang illusion and grandiose reportedly built giant spotlights comprising of revolving tin trickery, some are sceptical of his involvement in the mirrors with spinning searchlights which, when turned on, Second World War. The real details of his work have been would shine cones of light that stretched for nine miles, blurred by secrecy, lost documents, exaggerated sto- the idea being that as German bombers flew into the light, ries, and lack of eyewitnesses, leading many to discredit they would be too blinded to spot the canal. If sources are Jasper’s work. There is no photographic evidence of his to be believed, the impact was incredible, not only saving battleship illusion; many believe the Alexandria harbour the canal from devastation, but disorienting enemy pilots deception was someone else’s idea for which Jasper took and causing them to crash. the credit, if it had been possible in the first place; hiding As with all great magicians, Jasper was saving his the Suez Canal is believed to be utter nonsense, with lit- best trick until last. The Nazis were becoming desper- tle evidence to suggest the lights existed or that Jasper ate by October 1942, with their diminishing supplies was event there, with the canal instead protected by con- and the British hot on their tails. The dream of con- ventional defence methods; and despite the events at El quering Egypt was slipping from their grasp. It was Alamein being true, Jasper has been removed from almost all leading to the Battle of El Alamein. The Magic all accounts, with camouflage expert Anthony Ayrton Gang was once again employed in hope of deceiv- getting the credit. Reports about Jasper’s final days also ing the Axis forces just enough to tip the scales contradict. Some believe he was happily living in Kenya, a in the Allies’ favour. They were set the task for respected member of his community who taught driving tricking the Afrika Korps into believing an attack and magic lessons, while others believe he died a bitter would be coming from the south, when it would drunk. The real history of Britain’s magician who aided in actually be coming from the north. Once again, the war effort will never truly be known, but what is cer- Jasper and his crew set out to create a large- tain is that Jasper Maskelyne was a man who was every bit scale illusion.