Operation Error

'Error' was a British deception operation in Burma designed to persuade the Japanese that the British-controlled forces in India were considerably larger than in fact they were, and were also being reinforced to a major degree (April 1942).

The deception, which was undertaken even as the British forces were being driven from Burma back into north-eastern India in the later stages of the Japanese 'B' (iii) operation, involved the placement of false documents, in a location which the Japanese would discover as the British fell back to the west of the Irrawaddy river, to suggest not only the spurious information about the British strength in India, but also that General Sir Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief, India, had been involved in the ongoing Burma campaign and had been injured.