blanche-2 Narrated by Peter Coyote, "Ghost Army" from 2013 tells the story of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. These World War II soldiers were given the job of creating a fake traveling army unit. This was in order to deceive the Germans into thinking they were going to attack in a certain area and that there were more soldiers than there actually were.Totally amazing. These men created 90-pound rubber tanks and trucks, built camouflage, used sound fakery of tank movement and other troop sounds, and fake radio signals. This mission was kept secret for over 40 years after the war.Since many of these men were artists, they sketched the people and the places in their spare time, giving viewers a good idea of not only their talent but how they lived. Some of these soldiers became well known: Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, wildlife artist Arthur Singer, and Art Kane.This is a fantastic documentary and a must see.My favorite part was watching four soldiers lifting a rubber tank. One of the soldiers wondered what a German would think if he ever saw tons of an army tank being easily lifted. He planned to say, "Americans are very strong."

matthijsalexander How does one rate a documentary? How can this documentary not be a 10? if 10 is excellent.What a story, what a stroke of genius and, oddly, how awesome to learn that hippies, artists and such people that are generally opposed to war seem to have had a crucial part in it.The Ghost Army is a tale of deception and ingenuity, a must watch documentary!

peterbreis Fascinating and shows what can be done with flair and imagination.The only thing that was lacking was due to the usual American self-obsession, their monocular view of themselves at the centre of the universe.There was a brief mention that the British had requested the unit but no mention of why or the background. That was because it was repeating what the British had done very successfully long before in North Africa against Rommel. Right down to the inflatable tanks, trucks, false railway tracks, airfields, radio broadcasts etc. Everything.It was the British who had the actual imaginative leaps that created deceptions like this, as well as "The Man Who Never Was", the incredibly subtle propaganda/psychology division that dropped false "Nazi" literature and "Nazi Propaganda" on German troops. It was also the British who created the "Funnies", weird contraptions that made their and the Canadian landings on D-Day so successful, whilst the Americans got themselves into immense trouble after having spurned the "crazy" ideas.This documentary would have been so much more complete and generous to all concerned, if it had shown the long running deceptions that had been going on the entire war, on all sides, not just when the Americans finally showed up and took the credit for winning a long grinding war already half over and largely won on the Eastern Front.None of this is to detract from what the The Ghost Army did, but contrary to what the film purports to show, they were not alone, they were not the first, and it was not even their idea.

Ric-7 I was reminded of Clooney's "The Monuments Men." As much as I liked Clooney's movie, I think these guys and their story would be ideal material for a film. The Monuments Men involved the plan to save priceless art, but Frankenheimer had already used that theme for The Train. On first impression, the camouflage brigade seems almost a parody of The Dirty Dozen. The idea of assembling a squad of specialists, drawn from professionals in the fine arts, is something new. A war movie featuring various artists, art directors and designers for film and theatre, recording engineers, not only to create camouflage but later to create decoys, plus it all being TRUE--how could such a film not make a mint? I totally loved this documentary, and I am very grateful that the recollections of many of the participants were recorded at last. It is a shame that their story was not told sooner.