The Illusionist: The True Story of the Man Who Fooled Hitler

by Robert Hutton

Cairo, 1942: If you had asked a British officer who Colonel Clarke was, they would have been able to point him always ready with a drink and a story, he was a well-known figure in the local bars. If you then asked what he did, you would have less success. Those who knew didn't tell, and almost no one really knew at all.

Clarke thought of himself as developing a new kind of weapon. Its components? Rumour, stagecraft, a sense of fun. Its target? The mind of Erwin Rommel, Hitler's greatest general. Throughout history, military commanders have sought to mislead their opponents. Dudley Clarke set out to do it on a scale no one had imagined before. Even afterwards, almost no one understood the magnitude of his achievement.

Drawing on recently released documents and hugely expanding on the louche portrait of Clarke as seen in SAS: Rogue Heroes, journalist and historian Robert Hutton reveals the amazing story of Clarke's A Force, the invention of the SAS and the Commandos, and the masterful hoodwinking of the Desert Fox at the battle of El Alamein. The Illusionist tells the dazzling tale of how, at a pivotal moment in the war, British eccentricity and imagination combined to thwart the Nazis and save innumerable lives - on both sides.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Military History, Biography, Egypt

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2024

About the author

All of Robert Hutton’s career moves have been accidental. He started as a computer scientist but fell into journalism, and then stumbled across a true WW2 spy story that so excited him he wrote a book about it, Agent Jack.

His new book, The Illusionist, is about Dudley Clarke, the eccentric genius who realised how the Allies could use stage magic to deceive the Nazis.

Robert’s day job is as political satirist for The Critic magazine, and he hosts the podcast War Movie Theatre.

He lives in south east London with his wife and sons.

Reviews

[CavyNomes · Rating 5 out of 5]

War non-fiction about Dudley Clarke and the various work he did to mislead the axis and promote allied victory during WWII.
Deception - a field previously only studied by magicians - is covered in depth in its many iterations. Operation Mincemeat may have gotten all the glory, but the full story running the length of the war is contained herein.

An absolutely fascinating read covering a man whose war achievements have remained largely unacknowledged.
Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in wartime deception, counterintelligence, and espionage.

[Mercy Sakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow and informative

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book after reading about Dudley in a history magazine. Unfortunately the magazine article was more interesting… This book is slow going and the author seems to enjoy going on little walkies around the chapter for about four pages before actually getting to the point. I’m sure I would learn lots from reading it and maybe I’ll give it another go at some point but for me, right now, not my favourite read.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all the World War Two novels I’ve read, none of them have ever been set in the North African part of the war, and for that reason this book was doubly interesting to me. The deception that was concocted to fool the Nazis is amazing, and learning more about that theater of the war was really fascinating. Well written and researched!

[Roger Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of Dudley Clarke and his deceptions in World War 2.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

A well read, written book about an, understandably, unknown and misunderstood element of the Second World War.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of new information for me. I honestly thought the illusion would be a tool or a strategy more than a person. Therefore, I learned history but was not surprised by the events in the book. War strategies and subterfuge have improved, but without the internet and technology, the ways of WW2 spies is much better, in my opinion.
Loved hearing Ian Fleming’s name.

[Peter Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of Dudley Clarke’s wartime exploits and the use of deception in the theatre of war that he was instrumental in developing. I will cover the awkward part first and get it out of the way. Not too many people would have heard of Clarke until the 2020’s and then it would be for one strange incident. In October 1941 in Madrid, Clarke was arrested dressed as a woman, even down to wearing a bra, which is hardly the most opportune thing for somebody working in clandestine operations. As the book sets out there have been several theories put forward and Clarke himself came up with more than one explanation, but it has never been adequately explained. As a result, he has been portrayed, even written off by some, as an oddball crossdresser and a figure of fun. This is something of a shame because as the book sets out, he was a formidable character, a high achiever who did as much as anyone to hasten the end of the war and save lives. He also came up with the idea of commandos and played a role in creating the SAS (Special Air Service) making for an incredible CV. Saving lives became something of a personal mantra, he was convinced that deception saved not only the lives of allied soldiers but also those of the enemy by removing them from the immediate battlefield. A measure of this success would be the German soldiers occupying Norway in large numbers right up the final days of the war, waiting for an invasion they were convinced was coming but never did.

Clarke’s uncle was something of a magician and the author, in a clever bit of writing has included descriptions of how magicians, conjurers and illusionists carry out their feats of magic and relate these to the activities described in the chapters. This helps the reader draw comparisons and see how they use distraction and how they work to draw the audience’s attention to exactly where they want when they want. Clarke and his men managed to achieve this on an epic scale, confusing and misdirecting the enemy to great effect.

The main thrust of the book is the deception work carried out by Clarke and his team, which is best left to the detail in within the pages, though I will give a brief overview. Clarke’s approach was to play a long game, leaking snippets of information, giving false clues and allowing the enemy intelligence service to piece the puzzle together. That way they believed they were being clever whilst they were being misdirected. So enjoy the descriptions of the fake tanks, dummy airfields, non-existent armies, stage props and development of camouflage, it is a fascinating account of just how inventive man can be when conditions require it. At this point in the war the allies were losing and struggling to stay fighting, being woefully equipped and ill-prepared for modern warfare.

Clarke was a fascinating, complex man who it seems few people really got a handle on. He joined the army but was disappointed not to see action in the first war, though did see time in the middle east under Palestine mandate. He seemed in his element in places like Cairo and Constantinople (Istanbul) where he could be one of the men scheming in the shadows and then enjoying the nightlife, an existence that could have come from the pen of Eric Ambler, though at times it was more like that of Evelyn Waugh’s hero William Boot in Scoop. He loved the cinema and sought to capture some of its magic in what he did, so the chance to work with David Niven and Douglas Fairbanks Jnr were not to be passed up. He was an inveterate name dropper, so his reports were peppered with David and Douglas whereas others made do with only their surnames. Beautiful women were drawn to him like moths to a flame, but it appears he was no lady’s man. More likely they knew they would have a great time and feel safe and unmolested in his company. In short probably nobody truly understood the man, making him almost a fictional character. Sadly, his attempts at fiction writing never bore fruit and his life in civvy street never quite reached his wartime peaks.

The author has done a brilliant job in using newly released documents to painting a vivid picture of a complex, intelligent and creative man and his achievements in such an accessible way. This is a world away from the dusty history books of the past. In doing so he has also dispelled a few myths, most notable the idea that men like Clarke were not supported by the generals. In fact, it seems quite the opposite, they merely needed convincing of the effectiveness of what were on the face of these madcap ideas. Resources were short and what they had needed to be used effectively. There is perhaps a little padding, Clarke had little to do with Operation Mincemeat, which is widely written about, but it does show there was rivalry and different approaches to the wider task.

[Tom Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

For readers interested in the history of WWII in Europe and North Africa, this book tells a key story about the success of the Allies and the deception campaigns that helped their success in battle. The book estimates that 50 Nazi divisions were placed in the wrong places (Crete, Norway, the Balkans, Northern France) due to the success of deception campaigns documented in this book.

British Army Colonel Dudley Clarke is virtually unknown but his deception campaigns were brilliant and successful. He recruited the right people with skills that were needed, but the deception campaigns were the product of his brilliant mind.

Clarke fooled German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel both in North Africa and France, causing his defeats. He was responsible for the "Man that Never Was" deception even though others took credit for it. His exploits are still hidden in wartime archives, even today. He caused Rommel to place his troops in the wrong place which led to the British El Alamein breakout. He ran double agents that the German Abwehr trusted.

Excellent book for WWII buffs.

[Alistair Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dudley Clarke was someone I'd read about in the past, and a name associated with some of the history of special operations units in the British military.

This was a well researched piece of work and steered clear of revolving around the SAS, although clearly made reference to them. At times a bit of a hagiography; Clarke was a complex and flawed individual. He made many mistakes in his career, but the tone of how these was complacent.

Overall, well worth reading.maintains a good pace and keeps the interest going.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow pace. Added a few crumbs of new insight into well described wartime deceptions covered in several other books about the early days of the SAS, “ungentlemanly warfare”, preparations for D-Day, etc. Even though the book is about Clarke I felt he was still largely floating in the periphery of much of the narrative.

[Alex Nagler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dudley Clarke, a man who fooled the Desert Fox, outsmarted the Abwehr with an actor playing a part, and kept thousands alive (on both sides) by convincing Hitler that Pas-de-Calais was going to be invaded in the summer of 1944, not Normandy.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting guy, very interesting stories of the real life deceptions the Allies perpetrated in WWII. Most people have heard of some of the more famous deception operations, but most were smaller scale and new info to me, at least.

[Jeff Sedlak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read! I found it very informative regarding some background on the British (and some American) deception operations against the Axis. Lot of information I didn't know and I'm a fairly well read WWII historian. Would recommend to a friend.

[Huw Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am fascinated by how deception is used in warfare and this book catalogues the history of how it was developed in modern warfare by one man, Dudley Clarke.

It is a fascinating and accessible read written telling the story at a good pace and with suitable cliffhangers.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very illuminating

[JANET · Rating 3 out of 5]

I question the "trueness" of the story since he admits he doesn't have access to many protected records and many memoirs are biased. Still I learned a lot of WWII history I was unaware of.

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a number of books about deception in wartime this was probably one of fullest and slow moving of its type.Though there was information that I had not readelsewhere.

[JUDY MILLER]

Leon

[Richard Sloman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book.

[Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely the best book I have read in years. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was familiar with much of the story already, but the details were fascinating. Hutton's use of the magicians' arts to explain the principles of deception worked well.