WW2 produced some very strange weapons. In 1943, OSS psychological warfare strategist Ed Salinger attempted to use glowing foxes against the Japanese. Under the belief an illuminated fox was the harbinger of evil omen for Shintoists, Salinger experimented with Fox Shaped balloons covered in a radioactive chemical that glowed in the dark accompanied with fox sounding whistles and artificial fox odors. This was deemed impractical and canceled, because it was stupid. Thus Salinger went to his original plan to catch live foxes in China and Australia and spray paint them with radioactive glowing paint before releasing them in Japanese villages. In the summer of 1945 the OSS released some of these foxes in a Chesapeake park as a test. Operation Fantasia never got past the testing phase and this is pretty much the dumbest pacific war thing I’ve ever discovered.
#fyp #pacificwarchannel #history #ww2 #pacificwar #japan #fox
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1940s US War Dept- (Hold my beer!) We gotta find a way to get soldiers on the ground covertly in the Pacific Theater. What if we train them to jump out at low level without a parachute and use the jungle canopy to cushion the fall?
Military Intel – Who are we gonna test that stupid idea on?
War Dept – I dunno, how about convicted soldiers with life sentences? We'll commute to time served if they survive!
(yes, it was a real thing!)