It’s a well-known fact that war is more than just a numbers game and this has been evident countless times over the years. It takes strategy and cunning to win. Even so, some of the war tricks and tactics used are surprising. Check out these 16 war facts below.

1 War pigs were used in ancient warfare against elephants.

War pigs were sometimes used as a counter measure against enemies that used elephants. It became known that elephants are scared of the squealing and “ramming” of boars and bolted in terror, often killing many of the enemy’s army in the process. There are also accounts of incendiary pigs to greaten the effect.(source)

2 During WWII, a young actress decided to boost morale by attempting to kiss 10,000 young soldiers.

Her name was Marilyn Hare and she managed to pucker up to 733 of the soldiers on her first day in March, 1942.(source)

3 A group of school children from the Soviet Union presented a U.S. Ambassador with a carved US Seal as a gesture of friendship in 1945 which turned out to be a listening device.

Known as “The Thing” or “The Great Seal Bug”, it actually hung in U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman’s office for 7 years before being it was discovered as a “bug”.(source)

4 There was a dog called “Gunner”, who helped warn of incoming Japanese planes 20 minutes before they arrived in Australia during World War 2.

Gunner was a Kelpie who could warn air force personnel with his acute hearing, and could actually tell the difference between allied and enemy aircraft.(source)

5 The author, Roald Dahl was actually a secret service agent during in 1940’s.

Known for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and a number of other books, Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in the RAF and then later a secret service agent during the 1940’s. He played the real James Bond and was known for seducing many “high class” women to gather intelligence.(source)