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The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. [1] [2] The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission: to deceive Hitler's forces and mislead them as to the size and location of Allied forces, while giving the actual units elsewhere time to maneuver. [3]
From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units.
Mar 3, 2022 · A rubber (and clearly light) decoy tank designed to deceive German forces in World War II, shown in England, circa 1939. Ghost Army member Freddy Fox described his unit as “a traveling road...
Some of the units were either based on existing decommissioned formations (usually World War I formations) or created afresh. Many were used multiple times, Clarke in particular believed that reusing units in the long term would help establish their existence in the mind of the enemy.
FormationDatesInsignia6th Airborne DivisionMay – July 1944517th Regimental Combat Team 460th Field ...June – November 1944523rd Parachute Infantry Regiment 196th ...? – October 1944178th Infantry Regiment 352nd Infantry ...June – October 1944293rd Infantry Regiment 336th Infantry ...The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops was activated by the War Department through AGF’s Second Army on 20 January 1944. It assembled its units, trained quickly and prepared for overseas movement at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. By 6 June 44, the first of its detachments was in action against the enemy.
Activated on January 20, 1944, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the “Ghost Army,” was the first mobile, multimedia, tactical deception unit in US Army history. Consisting of an authorized strength of 82 officers and 1,023 men under the command of Army veteran Colonel Harry L. Reeder, this unique and top-secret unit was capable ...
Known as the “Ghost Army,” the top-secret unit waged war using inflatable tanks and weapons, fake radio traffic, sound effects, even phony generals—all to fool the enemy into thinking that the army was bigger, better-armed, or in a different place than it was.
