Thesis
"Every army practices deception. If they don't, they can't win, and they know it."
-General Wesley Clark, U.S. Army (Beyer and Sayles, 2015)
"A member of the [Ghost Army] stands in front of an inflatable tank destroyer." (Caption: Ghost Army Legacy Project, Photo: National Archives, c. 1944)
"Members of the Signal Service Co. stand in front of an equipped sonic halftrack." (Caption: Ghost Army Legacy Project, Photo: National Archives, c. 1944)
Dummy plane and fake airstrip (Photo: Iron and Air, c. 1944)
From 1944-1945, the U.S. Army 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, a top secret group known as the Ghost Army, used a wide array of deceptive communication tactics in over twenty military operations. Through masterful miscommunication, the Ghost Army successfully deceived German troops, which aided Allied advancement to victory in World War II, saved lives, and demonstrated the critical role of deception in achieving military success.