Operation Bertram

Operation Bertram
Constructing a dummy tank at the Middle East School of Camouflage at Helwan, near Cairo, photo by Captain Gerald Leet, 1942
El Alamein Location within Egypt
Operational scope	Whole of Eighth Army
Location	El Alamein, Egypt 30°50′N 28°57′E / 30.833°N 28.950°E / 30.833; 28.950Coordinates: 30°50′N 28°57′E / 30.833°N 28.950°E / 30.833; 28.950
Planned by	Dudley Clarke, Charles Richardson (strategy); Geoffrey Barkas (tactics)
Objective	1) to conceal preparations for the real attack in north 2) to suggest attack in south 3) to minimise apparent scale of non-concealable preparations in north 4) to suggest attack would not be ready for 2–3 days
Date	September – October 1942
Executed by	Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate
Outcome	Complete tactical surprise

Operation Bertram was a major Second World War deception operation practised by the allied forces in Egypt led by Bernard Montgomery in the months leading up to the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942. Bertram was devised by Dudley Clarke to deceive Erwin Rommel about the timing and location of the allied attack. The operation consisted of physical deceptions using dummies and camouflage, designed and made by the British Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate led by Geoffrey Barkas. These were accompanied by electromagnetic deceptions codenamed "Operation Canwell" using false radio traffic. All of these were planned to make the enemy believe that the attack would take place to the south, far from the coast road and railway, and about two days later than the real attack.

Bertram consisted both in creating the appearance of army units where none existed, and in concealing armour, artillery and materiel. Dummy tanks and guns were made mainly of local materials including calico and palm-frond hurdles. Real tanks were disguised as trucks, using light "Sunshield" canopies. Field guns and their limbers were also disguised as trucks, their real wheels visible, under a simple box-shaped "Cannibal" canopy to give the shape of a truck. Petrol cans were stacked along the sides of existing revetted trenches, hidden in the shadows. Food was stacked in piles of boxes, and draped with camouflage nets, to resemble trucks.

To achieve the deception, trucks were parked openly in the tank assembly area for some weeks. Real tanks were similarly parked openly, far behind the front. Two nights before the attack, the tanks replaced the trucks, being covered with "Sunshields" before dawn. The tanks were replaced that same night with dummies in their original positions, so the armour remained seemingly two or more days' journey behind the front line. To reinforce the impression that the attack was not ready, a dummy water pipeline was constructed, at an apparent rate of 5 miles (8.0 km) per day. Some days' worth remained to be built at the time of the actual attack. Dummy tanks, guns and supplies were constructed to the south.