Ghost Army The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II imitating earlier British operations , officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops . The 1 , 100 - man unit was given a unique mission within the U . S Army : to impersonate other U . S . Army units to deceive the enemy . From a few weeks after D - Day , when they landed in France , until the end of the war , they put on a " traveling road show " utilizing inflatable tanks , sound trucks , fake radio transmissions and pretence . They staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions , often operating very close to the front lines . Their mission was kept secret until 1996 , and elements of it remain classified . The unit was the subject of a PBS documentary " The Ghost Army " in 2013 . History and deployment . Inspiration for the unit came from the British units who had honed the deception technique for the battle of El Alamein in late 1942 . The U . S . unit had its beginnings at Camp Forrest , Tennessee , and was fully formed at Pine Camp , NY ( now Fort Drum ) , before sailing for the United Kingdom in early May 1944 . In Britain they were based near Stratford upon Avon , and troops participated in Operation Fortitude , the British designed and led D - Day deception of a landing force designated for the Pas - de - Calais . Some troops went to Normandy two weeks after D - Day , where they simulated a fake Mulberry harbour at night with lights which attempted to draw German artillery from the real ones . After which the entire Unit assisted in tying up the German defenders of Brest by simulating a larger force than was actually encircling them . As the Allied armies moved east , so did the 23rd , and it eventually was based within Luxembourg , from where it engaged in deceptions of crossings of the Ruhr river , positions along the Maginot Line , Hürtgen Forest , and finally a major crossing of the Rhine to draw German troops away from the actual sites . Recruiting . Ghost soldiers were encouraged to use their brains and talent to mislead , deceive and befuddle the German Army . Many were recruited from art schools , advertising agencies and other venues that encourage creative thinking . In civilian life , ghost soldiers had been artists , architects , actors , set designers and engineers . Although the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops consisted of only 1 , 100 soldiers , the contingent used equipment pioneered by British forces such as dummy tanks and artillery , fake aircraft and giant speakers broadcasting the sounds of men and artillery to make the Germans think it was upwards of a two - division 30 , 000 man force . The unit ' s elaborate ruses helped deflect German units from the locations of larger allied combat units . The unit consisted of the 406th Combat Engineers ( which handled security ) , the 603rd Camouflage Engineers , the 3132 Signal Service Company Special and the Signal Company Special . Tactics . Visual deception . The visual deception arm of the Ghost Army was the 603rd Camouflage Engineers . It was equipped with inflatable tanks , cannons , jeeps , trucks , and airplanes that the men would inflate with air compressors , and then camouflage imperfectly so that enemy air reconnaissance could see them . They could create dummy airfields , troop bivouacs ( complete with fake laundry hanging out on clotheslines ) , motor pools , artillery batteries , and tank formations in a few hours . Many of the men in this unit were artists , recruited from New York and Philadelphia art schools . Their unit became an incubator for young artists who sketched and painted their way through Europe . Several of these soldier - artists went on to have a major impact on art in the post - war U . S . A . Bill Blass , Ellsworth Kelly , wildlife artist Arthur Singer and Art Kane were among the many artists who served in the 603rd . Phonic deception . The 3132 Signal Service Company Special handled phonic deception . The unit coalesced under the direction of Colonel Hilton Railey , a colorful figure who , before the war , had “ discovered ” Amelia Earhart and sent her on her road to fame . Aided by engineers from Bell Labs , a team from the 3132 went to Fort Knox to record sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records that they brought to Europe . For each deception , sounds could be “ mixed ” to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe . This program was recorded on state - of - the - art wire recorders ( the predecessor to the tape recorder ) , and then played back with powerful amplifiers and speakers mounted on halftracks . The sounds they played could be heard away . Radio deception . " Spoof radio " , as it was called , was handled by the Signal Company . Special Operators created phony traffic nets , impersonating the radio operators from real units . They were educated in the art of mimicking a departing operator ’ s method of sending Morse Code so that the enemy would never detect that the real unit and its radio operator were long gone . Atmosphere . To complement existing techniques , the unit often employed theatrical effects to supplement the other deceptions . Collectively called " atmosphere " , these included simulating actual units deployed elsewhere by the application of their divisional insignia , painting appropriate unit insignia on vehicles and having the individual companies deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units . Trucks / Lorries would be driven in looping convoys with just two troops in the seats near the rear , to simulate a truck full of infantry under the canvas cover . " MP ' s " ( Military Police ) would be deployed at cross roads wearing appropriate divisional insignia and some officers would simulate divisional generals and staff officers visiting towns where enemy agents were likely to see them . A few actual tanks and artillery pieces were occasionally assigned to the unit to make the " dummies " in the distance appear more realistic .