"Deception has played a major part throughout the history of warfare," he said. They carved and painted logs to resemble cannons, arranging them around encampments so that Union spies wouldn't suspect that their foes were short on weapons and supplies, according to the Federation of American Scientists.īut the Ghost Army was one of the first known specialized military units that was created specifically to confuse and trick the enemy, Decuers told Live Science. (Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)Ĭonfederate generals during the American Civil War also used deception to save the day when they were outnumbered and outgunned. This staged scene was photographed in 1862 by George N. Logs that were carved and painted to resemble cannons were known as "Quaker guns," and were used during the American Civil War by Confederate generals to trick Union opponents. It outlined a dozen methods of military deception, including: "When one is capable, give the appearance of being incapable " "when one is near, give the appearance of being far " and "attack them when they are unprepared, come forth when they are not expecting you to do so," according to the U.S. Sun Tzu, a renowned general and philosopher who lived in China during the sixth century B.C., wrote "all warfare is based upon deception" in "The Art of War," a book that defined military strategy for centuries, and is studied to this day. by the poet Homer, the Greek army wins the Trojan War after they tricked the city of Troy into accepting a gift of a giant wooden horse - with Greek soldiers hiding inside. In one of the most famous examples, documented in the eighth century B.C. Though the Ghost Army's audio technologies weren't available to their predecessors, the art of military deception is likely as old as war itself, and canny leaders have schemed their way to victory for thousands of years. – Images: Missing Nazi diary resurfaces "Attack when they are unprepared" – Photos: The flying bombs of Nazi Germany – Fight, fight, fight: The history of human Aggression "It was like a traveling road show that went up and down the front lines impersonating the real fighting outfits," according to the Ghost Army Legacy Project. The Germans moved the bulk of their defenses across the river from the suspected location of the two divisions, shelling an army that didn't exist.Īnd when the Nazis were busy chasing shadows, they weren't engaging the real Allied combat divisions. For that mission, the Ghost Army used 600 inflatable vehicles fake uniform patches to impersonate soldiers from other units and recordings of pontoon bridge-building, "all to deceive the Germans into believing that the 30th Infantry Division and the 79th Infantry Division were preparing to cross the Rhine River," Decuers said. "Their most successful operation was Operation Viersen," which took place from March 18 to March 24, 1945, Decuers said. Audio engineers pre-recorded sounds of military training exercises and the construction of trenches and bridges, and then edited them into soundscapes that could be played on massive speakers within range of German troops, to convince the Nazis that entire combat units occupied locations that were undefended.Īnd then a fourth layer of deception was supplied by the unit's combat engineer company, which would don the insignias of other military units to confuse the Germans or to mislead potential spies in nearby towns. Related: The flying bombs of Nazi GermanyĪ third element of the Ghost Army was sonic deception. Pictured in 1944, this inflatable tank was part of the WWII Ghost Army efforts to create the illusion of greater Allied forces in Europe from Normandy to the Rhine River. "To the trained ear, that telegraphic fist is almost like a fingerprint," Decuers said. The second element was a signal company that concocted fake radio traffic the radio operators were so skilled that they could mimic the morse code "fist" - the sending style - of operators in specific army units, to make fake dispatches sound authentic. These tanks could easily be lifted and moved into position by just a few men, but from a distance they were nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing. "The first element was the camouflage engineer battalion - the guys who dealt with the inflatable vehicles, inflatable tanks," he said. These and other strategists designed a four-part approach to bring phantom army battalions to life, Decuers explained. Reeder, supervising 82 army officers and 1,023 recruits among them were art students from the Industrial Camouflage Program at the Pratt Institute in New York, fashion designer Bill Blass, photographer Art Kane and painter Ellsworth Kelly. It was made of inflatable rubber and could be assembled in 20 minutes. A dummy tank, photographed in Italy in 1944 and designed by the British Army.
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