I was well into David Fisher’s The War Magician: How an Illusionist Changed the Course of World War II before I realized that it was a novel based on a true story rather than a work of historical non-fiction. The confusion was mine. The cover clearly states that the story is “based on an extraordinary true story,” which would have given me a clue if I hadn’t been reading it on my Kindle.* My bad.

That said, The War Magician is a fascinating story based on the experiences of Jasper Maskelyne, a famous British stage magician who used his talents at building illusions on behalf of the British army in North Africa. He was the commander of the small “Camouflage Experimental Section,” more popularly known as “the Magic Gang.” Fisher describes how they created the illusion of tanks (and submarines) where there were none and camouflaged naval vessels as pleasure boats and fishing scows. On  one occasion, they concealed the entire city of Alexandria from German bombers.  On another, their tour de force,  they convinced German Field Marshal Rommel that the British planned to attack from the south when in fact they planned to attack from the north, contributing to the British victory at Alamein. I’m not going to give you details, because half the fun of the book is following along as Maskelyne plans his illusions and his crew scrapes together material to create them.

Once I realized that I was reading a novel, I spend some time down the rabbit hole trying to decide just how accurate Fisher’s account is. It isn’t clear. Fisher doesn’t provide a reader’s note discussing his sources.** Ever since the publication of Maskelyne’s 1949 memoir, Magic ,Top Secret, critics have suggested that he exaggerated his importance, though that is hard to prove either way. Exaggerated or not, there is no doubt that Maskelyne and the Magic Gang played a role in the war in North Africa.

The War Magician is worth a read if you’re interested in World War II or stage magicians.

*I seldom read narrative non-fiction on my Kindle because it doesn’t allow me to hold a conversation with the author in the margins and it is difficult to go back and forth between the text and the notes. (Another clue I should have caught:  no notes. )

**Or at least he doesn’t in the edition I read, which was released in 2023. The book originally came out in 1983.