“All warfare is based on deception”

–Sun Tzu

Meinertzhagen’s Haversack is an actual reference to the Haversack Ruse, deployed by a British Colonel to defeat Ottomans and to gain Gaza’s territory. In October 1917, during the First World War, the British found it very difficult to defeat the Ottomans and capture Gaza strip. They mounted two futile assaults without triumph. Before its third endeavor, Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, an experienced officer in colonial wars and intelligence operations came up with a proposal. He falsified a set of fake strategies for war with a load of money, placed them in a bag and hoodwinked a couple of Turkish solders, to chase him on a horseback. During the course of this chase, he dropped the bag making sure its covered with horse blood in pretending of being injured while getting chased, to make it look real. The Turkish soldiers found the haversack and were persuaded that the files were authentic. They planned their military tactics accordingly. The strategy worked and the Turks found themselves on wrong positions so finally the British took Gaza. Later Meinertzhagen’s Haversack became a basic tactic for military deceptions.