The ghost army

This was a unique documentary which I watched, thanks to Netflix again! I know a bit about spies and intelligence agencies trying to gather information from the enemy, but this documentary was special as it showcases a different tactic - fooling the enemy by sending out false signals through various means, thereby diverting the enemy's attention from where the real action is happening. Novel, eh!

This unit from the allies operated during the second World war, and they relied on three types of deception : visual, sonic and radio. The visual department's aim was to create elaborate fake armored divisions at strategic locations. They also partly camouflaged the vehicles and  created fake tracks so that reconnaissance airplanes can pick up the 'clues':

Inflatable tanks :)

The sonic division recorded and overlay different sounds for scenarios - building bridges, tanks moving in, Captains swearing at the soldiers, the whole works. And they would play them over some real huge - ass speakers, so that the enemy would pick up the sounds and think that there is some major action happening :

Kick - ass speakers

The radio division studied the actual army's transmissions and used them in planned locations, so that this radio chatter may be picked up by the enemy, thwarting them to believe that something big was going on, when there wasn't:

Radio

The unique thing about these folks was that, they hardly fired an actual shot throughout the war! Their objective was to practically become sitting ducks, diverting enemy attention and fire towards themselves!

After the war, many of the folks from this unit went on well- acclaimed artists. The sketches that they made while at war became points of references to capture emotions which photographs may not.

This unit and their activities were kept under wraps for 40 years after World War two. This was because of the cold war. This tactical unit was supposed to have been very effective during World war 2, and the U.S didn't want the erstwhile U.S.S.R to prepare themselves against such tactics.

Anyone interested in World War two should definitely watch this, as this adds a few dimensions to your knowledge of the war.

*I do not own any of these images. All pictures courtesy their respective owners*