Ghost Army of WWII

[Brett]

This is an interesting bit of history I thought I would pass along.


Second World War 'Ghost Army' helped Allies win war
They were known as the 'Ghost Army', an eclectic group of actors, make-up artists and sound experts who together engineered one of the greatest deceptions in military history.   Click the link below to read the full story.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2/7658261/Second-World-War-Ghost-Army-helped-Allies-win-war.html

[MGMorden]

"They would talk loudly about false plans in bars and even let slip 'important' plans to prostitutes in brothels, hoping that this information would be passed on," said Mr Beyer.

Tell me these guys didn't have the best job in the war .

Interesting story though, and excellent reminder that there's a lot more to fighting a successful war than just marching in more troops.  These guys deserve as much gratitude as every other soldier from that war.

[SHOOTALL]

The History cnl did a show on this , great stuff

[Heather]

Interesting bit of history there!  Never heard of that before, and I can see how it would have been useful back in the day before the information superhighway...would be hard to get by with something like that now days.

Heather

[SHOOTALL]

Heather , really ? now just post something and its around the world in mins . No ply wood tanks , no wild nights at the bar and no ladies of the evening . What a shame really they took the bravery and work out just a few keys hit and the world is off on another Y2K ordeal.

[MGMorden]

Heather , really ? now just post something and its around the world in mins . No ply wood tanks , no wild nights at the bar and no ladies of the evening . What a shame really they took the bravery and work out just a few keys hit and the world is off on another Y2K ordeal.

You make a good point there.  Deception is harder to maintain absolutely, but it's also easier to spread now.  It's very akin to a technique used in business called "viral marketing" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing.  Start the right rumors in the right places and let the rest take care of itself.

Even the fake tanks and stuff are useful, if you can keep it secret.  Every nation of any size now has satellites that can take detailed photos from orbit, but they're nowhere near sophisticated enough to distinguish between a real and a model tank/artillery/etc.  Heck most human eyes on the ground (as evidenced in this article) can't tell unless they're awfully close.

I think rather than seeing less of this type of thing, with the advent of the Internet we're going to see more.  A LOT more "fighting" is going to be done on computer networks as compared to with bullets in the years to come.

[teamnelson]

Jay Leno makes a few jokes about shaking a Goldman Sachs exec and 5 Republicans fall out of his pocket, and today most Americans believe it. Never mind that it would actually be a President, and a bunch of Democrats. It proves the point ... disinformation is more widely spread, and more widely accepted than ever. The internet has the capacity to dispel it, but instead its allowed rapid and widespread dissemination. I still get forwarded emails that have long since been proven fraudulent, but folks keep hoping that the guy in Nigeria is sincere about sending 2 million to their account.

To the OP, Information Operations is the formal title of our Ghost Army today. And they are working harder than ever. I was fascinated on my first trip to Iraq by their methodology; they often take unemployed Artillery officers who understand fire and effect. They give them a small staff, and form a FIRES team, but what they are doing is "firing" information on the population, then using means to determine "effect" so they can "adjust fire."

[billy_56081]

Some of our mock up tanks and artillary have generators and even put of realistic heat signiatures. Pretty neat stuff we still have a ghost army out there.

[mauser98us]

They also went as far as using shoulder patches of non existant corps,armies and divisions for GI's to wear when out on the town,hoping spies would try to get info on what units they were. Added deception to being more troop strength there than there was.

[Brett]

Nothing works better than getting into your enemy's head.   At one point during Ali and Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle"  Foreman gave Ali a whopping blow to the stomach, Ali clenched Foreman and whispered into Foreman's ear "Is that all you've got, George?".   In later interviews Foreman said it was at that moment he new he had lost that fight.   

[williamlayton]

The bigger the lie and the more often it is told.
Blessings

[Rustyinfla]

    IIRC at one point Patton himself was given command of one of these units as much to give it some reality as to also give him a cooling off period.

[teamnelson]

The bigger the lie and the more often it is told.
Blessings

Like "climate change," "for the children," and "there is no God or Satan." 

[SHOOTALL]

What did Winston Churchill say - something like truth is so valuable in war time she must always be protected by a body guard of lies or something as such .