The War Magician: Based on an Extraordinary True Story

Front Cover
Blackstone Publishing, 2023 M04 18 - 507 pages

Based on an extraordinary true story and soon to be a major film produced by and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The War Magician is the remarkable tale of the man who used the powers of illusion to fight the Nazis—and created the most remarkable feat of legerdemain since the Trojan Horse.

How an Illusionist Changed the Course of World War II

When England went to war against Hitler in 1939, it mobilized its entire military and industrial resources. But there was no place in that vast army for legendary stage magician Jasper Maskelyne, whose family was renowned for creating modern theatrical illusions. Maskelyne was determined to fight the Nazis using his only weapon: he intended to apply the techniques of popular magic to the battlefield. Initially ignored and ridiculed by the staid military leadership, he eventually cajoled his way into the Camouflage Section and was sent to the western desert, where he created a new type of warfare.

With his small group of artists, the Magic Gang, Maskelyne designed and developed ingenious weapons, then tricked the Desert Fox, General Rommel, and his fabled Afrika Korps into believing there were tanks and battleships where there were none, concealed the Suez Canal, and even successfully “moved” Alexandria harbor.

But it required all his skills to pull off perhaps the largest and most complex magic trick in history. As General Bernard Montgomery told Maskelyne on the eve of the Battle of El Alamein, “The entire war will turn on what happens here. What I am about to ask you to do is impossible. It can’t be done, but it must be done. I hope you’ve brought your magic wand with you.”

This is the fact-based story of the illusion that won the war in the desert.

 

Contents

Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
Section 13
Section 14
Section 15
Section 16
Section 17
Section 18
Section 19
Section 20

Section 9
Section 10
Section 11
Section 12
Section 21
Section 22
Section 23
Copyright

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About the author (2023)

David Fisher is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including 22 New York Times bestsellers. He has worked with George Burns, Johnnie Cochran, and Terry Bradshaw, among others. He lives in New York City.

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