ABSTRACT
Despite the writings of Soviet military theorists on maskirovka, as the Second World War approached there remained a significant gap between the theory and practice of deception. As the events of June 1941 proved, the Soviets still lacked a serious appreciation of the nature and potential impact of strategic deception. Moreover the shock and chaos produced by Germany's surprise invasion ruled out constructive Soviet use of deception during the opening months of war. At the operational and tactical level ineptness and technological backwardness hindered Soviet attempts to implement deception measures.
