11 During the Cold War, the CIA considered airdropping condoms on the Soviets.

The actual plan was to drop enormous condoms labelled “medium” in an effort to demoralize soviet troops.(source)

12 Cats were dropped from aircraft during World War 2 with bombs strapped to them in hopes the cat would avoid water and aim toward the decks of enemy ships. 

This plan was proposed by the Office of Strategic Services (prior to the CIA), although didn’t work as the cats would become unconscious while falling through the air. Cats have actually been used in many ploys against the enemy, sometimes successfully – such as by the Persians against the Egyptians who would rather surrender than hurt their feline overlords.(source)

13 The British started a rumor that eating carrots improved eyesight in a bid to hide the fact they had developed radar from the enemy.

Although vitamin A is present in carrots which is vital to eye health, the British RAF expanded upon this to create the myth that carrots improve eye sight to help explain why their night operations were so successful due to radar.(source)

14 The British wined and dined senior German officers during WW2 as an effective means of gathering intelligence.

Rather than going the traditional route and forcing senior officers into poor conditions and interrogating them for intelligence, when the British captured senior German officers they sent them to a beautiful country mansion. Here they plied them with fine meals and drink, and allowed them to read German newspapers and listen to German radio. However, the whole mansion was “bugged” and a team of intelligence officers working in the basement learnt a great deal – such as the relationships between different commanders and Hitler, as well as military tactics and strategy.(source)

15 Indian kings would adorn their horses with “trunks” as the opposing elephants would refuse to attack the horses thinking they were elephants.

The Merwar rulers, led by Udai Singh, were well known for riding horses into battle with elephant trunks. They did this because horses are faster than elephants, and the trunk would make the enemy’s elephants believe they were baby elephants, and so refused to attack them.(source)

16 There was a 7 feet thick layer of mud around Lohagarh Fort in Rajasthan that withstood countless attacks.

The 7 foot thick layer of mud that surrounded the fort remained wet because of the water in the surrounding lake. Subsequently, cannonballs would get stuck in the mud and then taken and used by the enemy. The British attacked it four times between the 9th January and 21st February 1805, but failed miserably. (source)