Robert Baden-Powell

During the Second Boer War, Robert Baden-Powell was ordered to secure Mafeking for the British. Because his unit was running low on explosives, he ordered his men to start burying mysterious boxes filled with sand around town’s perimeter, telling people and enemy sympathizers that they were powerful landmines. After running low on barbed wire, he just hammered wooden posts around town border and his men acted around them like there were real barbed wire strung from them. From enemy positions, it looked convincing. They never attacked and Powell held Mafeking for 217 days.