Technology and manpower never guarantee a military victory by themselves. And neither can tactics and strategy - sometimes, it takes an extra measure of trickery and subterfuge to swing the tide on the battlefield. 

A group of Quora users sought to answer the question "What are the most mind-blowing tricks used during any war?" The answers provide a fascinating insight into some of the minds responsible for the most ingenious successes in the history of war. 

1. Operation Mincemeat

During World War II, the British launched a successful disinformation plan called Operation Mincemeat. The operation was created in an effort to convince the Germans that the Allies planned on invading Sardinia and Greece - instead of Sicily, where they actually landed in July of 1943. 

The operation was carried out successfully by obtaining the corpse of a homeless man in London, who was then given a false identity as a Major in the Royal Marines. This man was then given false plans documenting an invasion of Sardinia and Greece, before being thrown to the tide off the coast of Spain. 

The British alerted the Spanish, who were nominally neutral during the war, to be on the lookout for a British Marine carrying documents that had to be recovered. The papers were promptly handed over to the Nazis by the Spanish, and convinced Hitler to reposition troops away from Sicily....