What were the most effective war tactics in history?

1. War Pigs were used in ancient warfare against elephants.

Image Source: Page on sharethe.buzz
War pigs were sometimes used as a counter measure against enemies that used elephants. It became known that elephants are scared of the squealing and “ramming” of boars and bolted in terror, often killing many of the enemy’s army in the process. Source: War pig

2. During WWII, a young actress decided to boost morale by attempting to kiss 10,000 young soldiers.

Image Source: Kiss the Boys: An Actress Puckers Up to Raise Troop Morale in WWII | LIFE | TIME.com
Her name was Marilyn Hare and she managed to pucker up to 733 of the soldiers on her first day in March, 1942. Source: Kiss the Boys: An Actress Puckers Up to Raise Troop Morale in WWII | LIFE | TIME.com

3.  A group of school children from the Soviet Union presented a U.S. Ambassador with a carved US Seal as a gesture of friendship in 1945 which turned out to be a listening device.

 

Image Source: Espionage – a modern day bug –
Known as “The Thing” or “The Great Seal Bug”, it actually hung in U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman’s office for 7 years before being it was discovered as a “bug”.
Source: The Thing (listening device)

4.  There was a dog called “Gunner”, who helped warn of incoming Japanese planes 20 minutes before they arrived in Australia during World War 2.

Image Source: File:Gunner (dog).jpg
Gunner was a Kelpie who could warn air force personnel with his acute hearing, and could actually tell the difference between allied and enemy aircraft. Source: Gunner (dog)

5. The author, Roald Dahl was actually a secret service agent during in 1940’s

Image Source: The Roald Dahl who wasn’t for kids | Rupa Huq
Known for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and a number of other books, Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in the RAF and then later a secret service agent during the 1940’s. He played the real James Bond and was known for seducing many “high class” women to gather intelligence. Source: Roald Dahl was a real life James Bond, claims new book

6. The Nazis invented a chocolate bar bomb during WW2. It was made of steel with a thin covering of real chocolate and was detonated when a piece of “chocolate” at the end was broken off after a delay of 7 seconds.

Image Source: Jenni Orme | The National Archives blog
Some war crimes haven’t been given a name, and tricking people with chocolate is about is evil as it gets! A chocolate bomb was actually sent to Winston Churchill, clad in black and gold wrapping, but was luckily discovered in time. Source: Nazis’ exploding chocolate plans

7. A Chinese general who only had 100 troops with which to defend a town against an army of 150,000 told his men to hide, opened the gates and sat on the walls playing a lute. Fearing a trap, the opposing general ordered a retreat.

Image Source: Three Kingdoms Art

8.The Nazis developed an experimental drug cocktail which allowed equipment-laden test subjects to march 88.5 km (55 miles) without resting.

Image Source: Drugs: The Influence of Mind-altering Substances on Society, Part 1
The drug was called D-IX and was a cocaine based experimental drug developed in 1944 for military application. Each tablet contained 5 mg of oxycodone, 5 mg of cocaine and 3 mg of methamphetamine. Source: D-IX

9. During the Cold War, the CIA considered airdropping condoms on the Soviets.

Image Source: CIA – Google Search
The actual plan was to drop enormous condoms labelled “medium” in an effort to demoralize soviet troops. Source: CIA Once Considered Convincing the Soviets That All Americans Had Huge Dongs

10. Cats were dropped from aircraft during World War 2 with bombs strapped to them in hopes the cat would avoid water and aim toward the decks of enemy ships.

Image Source: Cute Heroes: The unlikely army of World War I
This plan was proposed by the Office of Strategic Services (prior to the CIA), although didn’t work as the cats would become unconscious while falling through the air. Cats have actually been used in many ploys against the enemy, sometimes successfully – such as by the Persians against the Egyptians who would rather surrender than hurt their feline overlords. Source: 9 Insanely Strange Weapons of War (strange weapons) – ODDEE