In early 1945 the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe deployed floating decoys in the North Atlantic and Baltic that originated from pre-war factory recreational Gummitier (rubber toy) beach floats. Thousands of these were converted over for military roles as radar decoys against Allied search aircraft while others acted as U-boat decoys or baffled the Soviet Navy when spotted on the surface of the water in daylight or at night. Some were painted in fluorescent colors in odd patterns that caused panic when spotted at night; some were used with noise-making devices; some discharged chemical bubble cylinders (similar to Bold); while others carried Siegmund-derived small explosive devices. They were air-dropped by German aircraft and deployed by Kriegsmarine naval vessels in significant numbers over a period of two months. On several occasions the masses of floating devices caused enough concern that Soviet fighter aircraft and naval forces were delayed from intercepting German evacuation boats jammed with thousands of German citizens and soldiers on board, saving their lives. Instead, the Soviets were busy trying to identify what the strange-looking “mystery” weapons were. Once discovered, the Soviets were embarrassed by the ploy and the Soviet Navy was ordered by Stalin not to speak of those incidents. Information, therefore, was NOT supplied to the West which sent special naval forces to capture and inspect the decoys, some of which were armed and motorized. The radar decoy versions did not last long due to Allied changes in wavelengths used. But the odd assortment of Gummiwaffen attracted a lot of attention from the German military and civilians alike onboard evacuation vessels that reported sightings of “sea monsters” and strange “floating debris piles” in the area where they were deployed.

1920s German Gummitier at the beach. The Gummiwaffen had similar appearances but were in masses and painted in garish colors, often formed into strange configurations to cause panic and confusion: http://s4.tinypic.com/2vn565w.jpg