Ghost Army of World War II

By: Jack Kneece

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

In 1941, the US began to form a hand-picked army to fight in Europe. What made it different is that its troops were composed of artists, actors, meteorologists, and sound technicians, and their true mission was not to fight, but to deceive the German Army. Information about the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops was classified top secret until 1996. Following the declassification, Jack Kneece interviewed many of the key personnel involved in this elaborate ruse, including fashion designer Bill Blass. Until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans were opposed to becoming involved in the war in Europe, and the military was ill-prepared to fight, with only 130,000 enlisted troops and equipment left over from World War I. One solution was to create a special force that gave the illusion of 30,000 heavily armed men. In fact, there were only 1,000. German soldiers referred to them as the "Phantom Army" because one moment they were in one place, and the next, they were attacking their flanks or from the rear. This small army duped the Germans successfully in 21 separate operations during World War II, many of which took place within a few hundred yards of the front lines.

©2001 Jack Kneece (P)2017 Tantor

Just scraping together enough primary sources to call it a book

Tell me more about how to deceive the enemy! Too much typical general war narrative and not enough battle mechanics.

A must read for wwii enthusiasts

Just wow, I do not have alot to say as I would be here writing the story out to you and I cannot do it justice. Just trust me when I say you will not regret reading or listening to this book.

Amazing story, details made it come to life.

Firsthand accounts interested me most, danger balanced with humor & pranks. Recruitment efforts were interesting, too. A bit redundant in parts. I should have kept a WWII map of Europe nearby to understand the geography involved.

Nice complete history of the 23rd

This book was a nice listen with great content. I was hoping for a little more technical background in techniques and equipment, but what was included was top notch.

I had no idea

I’m not into all the WWII details but I had no idea about all the strategy beyond just moving troops or the Ghost Army. That was interesting as were the personal stories. Parts were kinda dry or repetitive as I’m not into this or that battle. However I now have a better understanding how those wars were fought.

Interesting story wrapped around dry facts

The story itself concerning the the Ghost Army is really fascinating and should have been a really good read...but... the material is presented like an army report. This number was with this number and they acted like this number unit who moved 2 miles to join this number unit...and on and on. I kept listening because of the actual interesting story lines which would show up about 30% of the time. I am still wanting to know about the unit but am going to have to go find it somewhere else.

Not enough about techniques

Very little information about how they built their fake vehicles or about how they did what they did. This is just a general war history. It could be about any unit. Almost no info on what made them special -- their tools and techniques.