Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thirty Six Stratagems - Military Wiki - Fandom
Thirty Six Stratagems - Military Wiki - Fandom
Openly repair the gallery roads, but sneak through the passage of Chencang Edit
Deceive the enemy with an obvious approach that will take a very long time, while surprising him by taking a
shortcut and sneak up to him. As the enemy concentrates on the decoy, he will miss you sneaking up to him. This
tactic is an extension of the "Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west" tactic. But instead of simply
spreading misinformation to draw the enemy's attention, physical baits are used to increase the enemy's certainty on
the misinformation. These baits must be easily seen by the enemy, to ensure that they draw the enemy's attention.
At the same time, the baits must act as if they are meant to do what they were falsely doing, to avoid drawing the
enemy's suspicion.
The phrase originated from the Chu-Han contention, where Liu Bang retreated to the lands of Sichuan to
prepare for a confrontation with Xiang Yu. Once he was fully prepared, Liu Bang sent men to openly repair the
gallery roads he had destroyed earlier, while secretly moving his troops towards Guanzhong through the small
town of Chencang instead. When Xiang Yu received news of Liu Bang repairing the gallery roads, he
dismissed the threat since he knew the repairs would take years to complete. This allowed Liu Bang to retake
Guanzhong by surprise, and eventually led to his victory over Xiang Yu and the birth of the Han Dynasty.
In 263 during the Three Kingdoms era, Deng Ai was facing off against Jiang Wei in one of the many battles
between the two. Jiang Wei's goal was to take one of the Wei fortresses. Deng Ai engaged Jiang Wei's forces
and was able to win a few early battles, and Jiang Wei retreated for a short distance before making camp.
Deng Ai order his troops to set up defences along a river, since the nearby Jiang Wei forces would certainly
return. After 3 days, Jiang Wei's forces did indeed return. But they simply camped and did not prepare to cross
the river. Deng Ai sensed that Jiang Wei's main forces had gone around the river to take the fortress directly,
so he ordered all forces to retreat back to the fortress to defend. Everything was just as Deng Ai had predicted,
and due to his prior preparations, Jiang Wei's siege at the fortress ended in a failure. Jiang Wei had used the
tactic wrongly, because his forces at the river did not draw enough enemy attention to cause them to stay at
the river.
Prior to the Battle of Normandy, the Allies wanted to draw the Axis attention away from Normandy. An entirely
fictitious First U.S. Army Group ("FUSAG"), was created for this purpose. Dummy tanks, trucks, planes and
camps were made. They were placed in an area which led Germany to believe that the actual large scale
invasion would take place in Pas de Calais. The air defense in this area was at a minimum, to allow Luftwaffe
to photograph them easily. Allied naval bombardment was focused on Pas de Calais instead of Normandy.
Dummy paratroopers were also used to create further uncertainty on the Germany side regarding the actual
location of the invasion. This led the German defense forces into disorder, and allowed the Normandy
operation to be carried out with relative ease.
Instead of directly attacking the Japanese 1944, the Allies created a twofold strategy: the Americans
concentrated on island hopping. The Japanese concentrated their forces against the Americans, while the
Commonwealth troops were free to attack from west, at Burma and Sumatra, effectively re-conquering the
territories lost 1941-1942.
Point at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree Edit
To discipline, control, or warn others whose status or position excludes them from direct confrontation; use analogy
and innuendo. Without directly naming names, those accused cannot retaliate without revealing their complicity.
Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof Edit
With baits and deceptions, lure your enemy into treacherous terrain. Then cut off his lines of communication and
avenue of escape. To save himself, he must fight both your own forces and the elements of nature.
The Grande Armee was destroyed in the 1812 invasion of Russia by a combination of the Russian winter, a
scorched earth strategy, and the Russian army. Napoleon had been spurred on by the prize of capturing
Moscow and with it the defeat of Russia; however, all he found was a burnt out and empty city and his forces
cut off in hostile terrain and weather with no supplies.
Let the enemy's own spy sow discord in the enemy camp Edit
Undermine your enemy's ability to fight by secretly causing discord between him and his friends, allies, advisors,
family, commanders, soldiers, and population. While he is preoccupied settling internal disputes, his ability to attack
or defend, is compromised.
During the Second World War the German intelligence agency the Abwehr under Wilhelm Canaris actively
colluded with the Allies to undermine the Nazi regime.