The Ghost Army in World War II
Introduction
This investigation will try to report with precision about the importance of division 23 of the Headquarters of American Special Troops, also nicknamed as a ghost army, during the development of World War II. Therefore, I have based mostly on secondary sources, despite the fact that one of the main sources is a compilation of all the information about the unit.
Source A: The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops (World War II)
This source is a secondary source, which consists of a web file, which describes how the work of the soldiers belonging to this famous unit was, entering a lot of depth regarding the history of its foundation, the tactics they used and how they helped developmentfrom the war. It also gives us data on how the recruitment of the troops that formed the group and the daily problems that they should face.
One of its main values as a source, which can also be partly seen as a limitation, is the fact that it does not offer any point of view regarding war sides, but it offers objective data on its history, withoutNo apparent intervention or opinion. It should be added that it does not give a contemporary vision to the facts, instead, appoint them and name them which leaves us only with the possibility of comparing and contrasting events in a clean form of subjective influences.
Source B: The Ghost Army Legacy Project.
This source consists of a compilation web file of official documents, Missions planning maps and other different historical data and is, in fact, composed of a wide variety of sources and files on the division, after it was declined in 1996.
It is a secondary source in which different primary sources can also be found, as well as the previous source, it is only limited to precise data on the movements and hard works that these units had to do, but it does not focus onthese. Its main intention is, in reality, to keep constancy and legacy of the actions in which the troops were part, which is not likely that the information has been modified or omitted and it is likely that it is real and honest information.
Developing
"Ghost Army", was the nickname given to the No.23 Headquarters Special Troops of the United States Army responsible for giving an advantage to the allied combat armies through deception of different types to the Nazi army troops, mainly auditory, visualand informative.
Soldiers recruitment
The formation of this exotic company was the work of Colonel Reeder, who began with 1 officer and 57 enlisted men, managed to reach the number of 82 officers and more than 1000 men on his arrival in France. Although the company was new, in reality, a great proportion of its soldiers came from four other units that this division absorbed:
The 603rd battalion of camouflage engineers, mainly composed of artists of New York and Philadelphia, whose average intellectual coefficient was 119 and with a force of 349 men and 30 officers.
The company 244 of signal operations, which had recently changed its usefulness in a remarkable way to become used as a tool against radio espionage, its strength was 285 men and 11 officers.
Company A of the 293th Battalion of Combat Engineers, which had been selected from a battalion activated the year prior to its recruitment and changed its name to 406th Special Company Combatization Company. It had highly trained and disciplined combat engineers essential to provide security to the other troops, and which was formed by a total of 5 officers and 163 enlisted.
The 3132th signal service company, which was the only company previously educated and organized for deception and was in fact the pioneer in this type of deception in the field of radio in the American army. It was activated in 1944 and joined the 23rd in France and had young men who had secret equipment. His strength was 8 officers and 137 enlisted men.
Image 2. Members of the 3132ª Signal Service Company with with one of its trucks equipped with sound devices. Obtained from: http: // www.GHOSTARMYLEGACYPROJECT.Org/overView1.HTML
As the operation of a deception unit was unknown to all, the realization of a training program was not simple, which was finally based on a series of problems based on simulated appearances, but they began being almost a failure due toThe unrealistic appearance of the results.
Shortly after more intensive training began and, soon, the quality of American devices was superior to that of the British, who had begun to use this type of material. Finally, the soldiers of the 23rd had to teach the ranges of German technology, so that they could already start the deceptions.
Functions
The ghost army, focused on three different fields for the realization of its deception of deception;The counter -espionage based on radio communication, the optical illusion and simulation of the presence of troops and the auditory trap to make believe that armies were preparing for combat.
- Radio counter -espionage:
Radio deception was a masterpiece of social engineering, the 23rd operators created radio communication networks imitating real radio operators and learning the official method of using the Morse Code, creating false information and also expanding it byThe networks that the same division controlled to cover up the real operators and their data, thus making the enemy could not perceive at all the real unit of radio and these could communicate without any problem or espionage.
The possibility of communicating long distances without problems would have been minimal if not non -existent of not having been for the cover -up work done by these troops. In addition to the fact that it was necessary to make the Germans believe that they had false information, which would later be "confirmed" by those in charge of visual deception to think that what they were receiving was part of reality, in the words of "Spike"Berry, member of the Special Signal Company:
"The radio was the set. It was the silent orchestra under the musical occurring on stage. When you think about the 23rd special troops, you think about the inflatable tank, or the sound boys. And they are great, but they needed to have a set in which to act. We paint an image in German intelligence, in your mind, what was happening."
- Presence simulation:
The deceptions based on the presence simulation, were carried out by the 603th almost completefor the creation of false traces of the previous.
The 603rd, had previously participated in different types of visual deceptions to the same scale collaborating with the Army, this company was equipped with tanks, trucks, airplanes and other different types of inflatable vehicles that could quickly deploy and expose them so that the GermansThey would discover them.
These men were able to make the enemy believe multiple types of deception, and, although it was initially difficult for them to adapt to not fighting with real devices, later they became incredibly effective, thanks to the talent of the artists who formed the company.
- Auditory deceptions:
One of the main responsible for the success of these strategies was Colonel Hilton Howell Railey, who grew up wanting to be an actor and finally opted for military journalism, he was the man who was responsible for supervising the training of the 3213th company, creating afilm that helped the instruction of troops.
With the help of Bell Labs engineers, men were in charge of recording and mixing real sounds of infantry units, which would then bring Europe, for each simple scenario they wanted to make believe, they had to create new sequences according toWith the work of the men of the 603rd. Subsequently, the tapes were reproduced in potent.
MAIN MISSIONS:
- Bettembourg operation:
The Bettembourg operation went from quickly planned to become the larger -scale operation of the 23rd. Starting on September 14, 1944, on this occasion, about 500 men in the division should pretend to be the 6th armed division, formed by a total of around 8000 men. His goal was to move the troops from the opposite of Metz and make them realize how little protected the sector was.
The plans were made in a hurry and, on that same night, they deployed a dozen inflatable American tanks and activated a sequence of sounds that fit the tanks movements, the deployment was so effective, that even some members of the army itself that did not knowThe operation came to believe that the deployment was really happening. During the night of 15, the radio operators created a false communication network to also cover up other real networks that were at the same time using the 3rd cavalry and other nearby troops.
On September 22, which seemed that it would last two days, ended, the allied troops took the city of Luxembourg, the operation, joined the triumphs of the 23rd when his withdrawal was completed effectively.
- Operation Viersen:
This was the last and most dramatic operation of the 23rd, in May 1945, when the 9th Army was prepared to cross the Rin River, they were summoned to create a large -scale distraction and really close to combat, for this, they needed to make useof their three deception techniques and the 1000 men who had available, since they had to imitate two entire divisions, with about 40.000 men in total.
Initially, they had to make seem through radio communications, that a large convoy was gathering and moving towards the river, to start preparing the atmosphere of the next trick.
Then, they deployed around 600 inflatable tanks along with artillery troops, and those in charge of the sound teams began to work, giving the impression that a huge amount of trucks and other vehicles were arriving at the scene during the night, while real troopsThey also arrived at the place, and made a simulation of fire, which was responded by the Germans, but without causing damage.
After this, most German troops left the place, leaving the American army almost free, which arrived later and only found small amounts of enemies that caused few casualties. This maneuver was a total success and saved more than two tens of thousands of lives, in addition to allowing the easy crossing of the Rin River to the Americans, being one of the most prolifers they performed.
- Others:
Its appearance also greatly affected other events of known importance that took place in the war, for example, prior to the Normandy landing, the creation of false ports affected in the organization of defense of the Germans, in other operations such as that ofBrest, also partially determined the final result.
conclusion
For the data presented above and mainly the two operations listed and their functions counter -signs (among many others) I think that the 23rd division was a key factor in the amount of casualties of the war, since, only in the development of these two missionsThey avoided the possible casualties of around 30.000 American soldiers, number that rises to great extent if we talk about all of its interventions.
The actions of the "Ghost Army" were an absolute feat that gave notable results in the salvation of tens of thousands of lives. Likewise, I believe that its appearance, despite its enormous relevance, was not decisive in the final result of the war, instead, it was in terms of some of its battles and its duration, due to the ease they added to the takingof various objectives in its development, such as the crossing of the Rin River or the taking of Luxembourg.
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