Secret soldiers: the story of World War II's heroic army of deception

Profiles the virtually unknown 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, an elite, thousand-man "ghost army" that helped win the war in Europe and fought in more campaigns than any other unit in the European theater of operations.

  • OCLC #: 48876569
  • ISBN #:
    • 0525946640
    • 9780525946649
  • Call #: D769.25.G47 2002
  • Publisher: New York : Dutton, ©2002.
  • Physical Description: xv, 400 pages [8] pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
  • Contents:
    • ACT I: REHEARSAL
    • One: The Swashbuckler-1941-1942, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. brings deception to America from Britain
    • Two: Hilton Howell Railey, The P.T Barnum of Deception-1942-1944, The discoverer of Amelia Earhart creates a deception lab
    • Three: Casting Call for Camoufleurs-1942-1944, Artists and other talented men recruited as camoufleurs at Fort Meade, Maryland
    • Four: Artists of Razzle-Dazzle-January-May 1944, Special Troops created at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and lear tradecraft of deception
    • Five: Deceptive Fidelity-The Sonic Campaign-1944, From sonic "bomb" to sound effects at Pine Camp, sonic warriors prepare
    • Six: Dress Rehearsal at Stratford-upon-Avon, May-July 1944, Special Troops train in England and wait for D-Day
    • ACT II: ONSTAGE
    • Seven: Seeing the Elephant-June-July 1944 D-Day through the Battle of Normandy, doing it for real
    • Eight: Bad Show at Brest-August 1944, First combined deception leads American tanks into a deadly trap
    • Nine: Hold That Ghost Line-September-October 1944, Special Troops hold a seventy-mile-long gap in American lines, force a German retreat
    • Ten: Can You Hear Me, Luxembourg? October-November 1944, Second troops into Luxembourg-more operations against German border
    • Eleven: The Long, Cruel Winter-December 1944-January 1945
    • Battle of the Bulge erupts in the middle of a deception operation-winter campaigns with Patton and others to close the bulge
    • Twelve: The Deadliest Show-February-March 1945, Luck runs out-German artillery at last finds them, kills and wounds seventeen
    • Thirteen: Grand Illusion-March 1945, The Rhine ruse succeeds spectacularly-Ninth Army crosses, the war is virtually won
    • ACT III: CLOSING THE SHOW
    • Fourteen: Striking the Set-April-August 1945, Special Troops demobilized after a dramatic hunt for Russian fugitives
    • Epilogue: Curtain Call-Fort Drum N.Y., 15 September 2000, Veterans assemble at Fort Drum, New York, their old training ground, and find they have been erased from history.
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