Ghost Army

The Story

It is a story of deception, showmanship, art and ingenuity kept secret for nearly 50 years. Author and historian John Gawne says it is "one of the last great stories of World War II," while the National World War II Museum proclaims, "The Ghost Army's  story is one that needs to be told."

In June of 1944, an exceptional U.S. Army unit went into action in Normandy. Its weapons included hundreds of inflatable tanks  and a one-of-a-kind collection of sound effects records, and it carried out its battlefield mission without firing a shot. The unit was officially called the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, but it was known to its men as The Ghost Army.

The mission of this top-secret unit was to create a traveling road show to deceive the Germans about the location and strength of American troops on battlefields across Europe. From Normandy to the Rhine, they staged 20 battlefield deceptions, employing an array of inflatables (tanks, trucks, jeeps, airplanes), sound trucks, phony radio transmissions and even playacting to fool the enemy.

Like actors in a repertory theater, the men of the 23rd had to ask themselves with each mission: Who are we this week? Whats our story? Then they would put on a show, with the Nazis as their audience.

But that is only half the story. Many of these soldiers were artists, recruited from New York and Philadelphia art schools to form a camouflage battalion that wound up handling the Ghost Army's visual deception. Their unit became an incubator for young artists who literally sketched and painted their way through Europe. More than 60 years later, their artworks, and the stories behind them, offer a unique and highly personal perspective on one of the most crucial chapters of American history: the 1944-45 invasion of Europe.

Some of the soldier-artists of The Ghost Army went on to have a major influence on postwar art and design in America, including fashion designer Bill Blass, sculptor and painter Ellsworth Kelly, and photographer Art Kane.

The surviving veterans of the 23rd are now in their 80s and 90s, but their recollections remain vivid.  Through interviews with Ghost Army vets, rare archive footage, artwork created by the soldiers themselves during the war, and carefully researched recreations of their deception operations, the film will bring to life the story of this extraordinary unit.

last updated Saturday, December 26, 2009 @ 5:35 PM