By this ruse the British were able to get within two miles (3 km) of the harbour before the defences responded, where the explosive-rigged Campbeltown and commandos successfully disabled or destroyed the key dock structures of the port. The old destroyer Campbeltown, which the British planned to sacrifice in the operation, was provided with cosmetic modifications that involved cutting the ship's funnels and chamfering the edges to resemble a German Type 23 torpedo boat.
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The British used a Kriegsmarine ensign in the St Nazaire Raid and captured a German code book. While Kormoran was fatally damaged in the engagement and its crew captured, the outcome represented a considerable psychological victory for the Germans. (Contrary to some accounts, the RMS Carmania had not been altered to resemble the Cap Trafalgar.)Īnother notable example was the World War II German commerce raider Kormoran, which surprised and sank the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in 1941 while disguised as a Dutch merchant ship, causing the greatest loss of life on an Australian warship. In 1914 the Battle of Trindade was fought between the British auxiliary cruiser RMS Carmania and the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar, which had been altered to look like Carmania. Such masquerades promoted confusion not just of the enemy but of historical accounts. Auxiliary cruisers operated in such a fashion in both World Wars, as did Q-ships, while merchant vessels were encouraged to use false flags for protection. Similarly, in naval warfare such a deception is considered permissible, provided the false flag is lowered and the true flag raised before engaging in battle. In land warfare, such operations are generally deemed acceptable under certain circumstances, such as to deceive enemies, provided the deception is not perfidious and that all such deceptions are discarded before opening fire upon the enemy. Similarly deceptive activities carried out during peacetime by individuals or nongovernmental organizations have been called false flag operations, but the more common legal term is a " frameup", "stitch up", or "setup". The term today extends to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression or foreign military aggression. It later was deemed an acceptable practice during naval warfare according to international maritime laws, provided the attacking vessel displayed its true flag once an attack had begun.
The tactic was originally used by pirates and privateers to deceive other ships into allowing them to move closer before attacking them. The term was famously used to describe a ruse in naval warfare whereby a vessel flew the flag of a neutral or enemy country in order to hide its true identity. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrepresentation of someone's allegiance.
This US Douglas A-26 C Invader located at Tamiami Executive airport was painted in Cuban Air Force colors for the Bay of Pigs Invasion undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 in April 1961.Ī false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party.
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