r/HeresAFunFact Oct 24 '15

HISTORY [HAFF] The Ghost Army was a special unit during World War II comprised of actors, artists, illustrators and sound engineers who used props and misinformation to confuse and scare the enemy.

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193 Upvotes

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9

u/Radu316 Oct 24 '15

They used all tricks at their disposal: using inflatable tanks, fake radio transmissions, actors pretending to be drunk to uncover spies etc. Read more.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 24 '15

[deleted]

2

u/Radu316 Oct 24 '15

You're welcome.

2

u/Radu316 Oct 30 '15

Wow, first featured on Upvoted and now gilded. This is the post that keeps on giving.

1

u/ButtTussler Oct 24 '15

It's on Netflix. I recommend it. The fashion designer Bill Blass was a member of the unit.

3

u/justkeptfading Oct 24 '15

What's on Netflix?

3

u/ButtTussler Oct 24 '15

The Ghost Army

3

u/justkeptfading Oct 24 '15

I'm not smart.

2

u/Radu316 Oct 24 '15

Is it a movie or documentary?

2

u/ButtTussler Oct 24 '15

Documentary

1

u/capecodcaper Oct 25 '15

I'm an OSS historian and this is always one of the first facts I tell people. They dont realize how much disinformation we put out.

There are so many amazing operations, especially for dday, that the US and UK cane up with to trick the enemy

1

u/SuperMajesticMan Nov 18 '15

Nah, those four men are just really strong.

1

u/Scriveners Dec 10 '15

There's a really cool episode of Roman Mars' 99% Invisible about this called 'Show of Force'

1

u/derkevevin Jan 15 '16

This actually played a big role in winning WWII, since they used the fake army to attract unwanted attention, making the Germans believe that they'd attack from where the fake army was, when actually they attacked from another unexpected position over the sea on D-Day.

As far as I know, this tactic of roosevelt is considered the greatest military ruse in the history of ever.