The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery

The Ghost Army is a breezy, mostly oral and visual history, of one of the strangest units of World War II. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops’ mission was one of comprehensive deception, using a few hundred men to simulate armored divisions and other heavy units. Using a combination of inflatable ‘tanks’, giant loudspeakers playing tape of real armored formations, radio units capable of mimicking other formations, and a bottom-up initiative called ‘atmosphere’, where men would essentially LARP as officers from the units they were mimicking, with classic loose lips.

The 23rd pulled off dozens of roadshows with theatrical flair. It’s tricky to evaluate their direct military impact, but there were operations that they were a part of, notably the breakout from Normandy and crossing the Rhine, where Nazi defenses were held in front of the deception for vital hours at the beginning of an attack.

Where this book excels is in the literal picture of the men involved. The heart of the 23rd was a lowkey mafia of New York artists and art students, and where other soldiers with downtime would gamble, the 23rd sketched and painted. The art is exceptional, and there are lots of excerpts from sketchbooks. Some of the men of the 23rd went on to great careers in art and design, and their talent shows through.

The authors do a solid job putting together the story, though real history buffs should probably just go right to the primary source with the 23rd’s Official History, which is arguably the most entertaining official history in the Army’s archives and only recently declassified. With this book and the PBS documentary, Beyer and Sayles have done an admirable job preserving the legacy of one of the oddest and most interesting military units.