21 of the Most Over-the-Top Strategies Ever Used in War

Releasing hundreds of cats onto the battlefield is insane
21 of the Most Over-the-Top Strategies Ever Used in War

War is hell, especially if your idea of hell is a “there are no bad ideas” brainstorming session. Game of Thrones might make it look as simple as circling the enemy or saying some Latin words to a dragon, but physically taking down a literal army of dudes isn’t easy, especially in the days before guns and bombs. People had to get creative, and sometimes that meant lighting pigs on fire.

That’s not a joke. Aside from all manner of other animal weapons, fake outs and straight-up pranks, that’s just one of the many over-the-top battle strategies brought up by Redditors after user twostroke1 asked r/AskReddit, “What is the craziest war tactic used in history?”

Fragraham 6mo ago Invading Rome on elephant back has to be up there.
AnybodySeeMyKeys 6mo ago Ancient Greeks were known to set pigs on fire and have them running towards the enemy.
Shadow948 6mo ago Releasing 100s of cats onto the battlefield to distract the Egyptian army
1984rip 6mo ago I was just watching a Vietnam documentary. They were using speakers in the forest to pretend to be ghost/spirits. Saying stuff likeI want to go home i didn't want to die. To psych out their opposition. Thought that was interesting.
Akuyatsu 6mo ago Ancient Rome, while fighting Carthage, realized they suck at the whole navy thing. Their solution, put giant bridges on their ships so their infantry can board the enemy ship to turn it into a land battle at sea.
LincHayes 6mo ago Inflatable tanks, trucks and fake paratroopers to make the Axis think D-Day was going to happen somewhere else.
hamrmech 6mo ago Tossing a dead body over the side of a submarine with top secret invasion plans in a briefcase cuffed to his wrist, to fuck the nazis when they fell for it.
6mo ago IVSBMN During the Normandy invasion the USS Texas intentionally flooded their compartments to lean onto one side. The lean gave their guns an elevated angle, increasing its range to shell German positions further inland.
CavemanSlevy 6mo ago Edited 6mo ago In the French Revolutionary Wars, a French Cavalry unit successfully traversed the ice of the frozen Den Helder harbor and captured the Dutch fleet as it was stuck in the ice. This was the first ever capture of naval units by a cavalry detachment.
fried_eggs_and_ham 6mo ago The guy who founded my home town was known as Stovepipe Johnson. Не was a Confederate Soldier (yeah, I know...) during the Civil War who captured an entire town that had been held by the Union Army by tricking them into thinking a length of stovepipe propped up on two wagon wheels was a canon.
IceClimbers_Main 6mo ago The Romans besieged a city called Themyscira in modern day Turkey. The Romans started digging tunnels beneath the city to breach the walls, and the defenders opened the tunnels on their end and released bears and wasps into the tunnels to attack the Romans. Now they lost the battle anyways but it was nuts irregardless.
The_Town_of_Canada 6mo ago Canadians made Spam a war crime. In WW1, allies would throw Spam to nearby German trenches. They would share it, ask for more, and more Germans would gather. Then we threw grenades. Technically, it's the is it food or a bomb? tactic that's now frowned upon.
pincheBrujo 6mo ago In Mexico a native tribe once destroyed a Spanish attacking force by setting up huge trenches and filling them up with all the peppers they could get their hands on. They proceeded to ligh it on fire making a toxic smoke that was extremely painful to breath. Chemical warfare babyyyy!!
bsam1890 6mo ago My history teach once told me Genghis Khan would mobilize his army and show up to the castle every single day and spend just six hours or so, just chilling. And he would do this for multiple months until the enemy just stopped caring. And one day the castle just stop closing its gates and he stormed the castle and took it over.
samuelson098 6mo ago How the Australians cracked the hindenberg line in 1918. Step 1: at 5am, fire a shit ton of gas into german lines, Germans get into gas masks and get ready to be attacked. Step 2: Don't attack. Repeat every day for a month. Germans will get used to the routine. Step 3: after 3 weeks, at 5am fire a shit ton of smoke shells and send 30,000 screaming Anzacs through the haze at masked up and confused Germans. Step 4: be back for breakfast.
Boomhauer440 6mo ago In the war of 1812, the British/Canadians were trying to take Detroit but were severely outnumbered. They only had a couple hundred British soldiers, and a few hundred Militia and native warriors. They couldn't wait because another American force was on the way. So as they set up camp across the river, they dug trenches, and would march by in full view of the Americans, then duck into the trench and sneak back to march by again. At night they would light extra fires, and at dinner time they would do the same trench trick, the same
Mr_miner94 6mo ago The spannish armada massivly outclassed the british fleet, a direct confrontation would end in disaster. Nor was there enough men to launch a defence when the spannish came ashore. So what was the only logical action? Blow up the spannish cork factory. No cork, no barrels, no fresh water, no spannish armada
Hotarg 6mo ago Wouldn't be a crazy war story threat without Bazooka Charlie. Flew a light observation aircraft, and realized he had a spare 200 something pounds of cargo weight. Не decided to strap bazookas to the wings and strafe enemy tanks. Не was credited with 6 tanks and an armored car.
Normal-Anxiety-3568 6mo ago In wwi the britsh air dropped opium laced cigarettes on the enemy and then when they started smoking and fell asleep they attacked the trenches. This happened twice.
Substantial-Desk-315 6mo ago The Persian Empire was noted as putting their largest men on their smallest ponies, and organizing them into parade units. Enemy cities saw them from far off and thought that they were giants riding normal sized horses, and would often either give up, or it would lower morale just enough in order to get the upper hand.
obscureferences 6mo ago When the ANZACs pulled out of Gallipoli they converted some of their rifles to be self-firing, using string to pull the trigger and water dripping out of a can for the timer, and left them behind to make it seem like they were still occupying their abandoned trenches. So for a few hours the Ottomans were defending against well armed beef tins.

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