Documentary: The Ghost Army (2013) WWII, I had no Idea. Amazon Prime

The Ghost Army (2013) is a documentary about the WW2 unit called 23rd Headquarters Special Troops (AKA The Ghost Army) I know you have seen the motion pictures of the inflatable fake tanks setup in the UK before the "D" day invasion this documentary is about the unit that did this, The 23rd HQ Sp Trps. they did so much more after the invasion so successful where they what they did remained classified throughout the cold war. They fooled the Germans and misdirected them from the actual attack routs using fake tanks, trucks, realistic looking encampments, the sounds of military units moving into position, and radio transmissions. The German where very good at DF'ing radio transmissions, they could even tell who was sending morse code because they could tell the Op's unique"fist" (keying style). The radio op's with the 23rd even copied the "fists" of operators in the units they where simulating. Along the way you see a state of the art recording studio, and the birth of multi-track recordings. How the 23rd saved General Patton from himself, and the fact they are credited in saving the lives of as many as 30,000 allied troops. a gigantic :thmbsp:

I told my parents about this documentary and found out for the first time my Uncle Ish' Schmidt was a member of this unit, wow what a surprise. He was fluent in German which he spoke without an American accent. After the war he was detailed as an interpreter for the Nuremberg trials, it must have been horrible because he would never, ever talk about it.

very cool psyops !

transmaster said:

I told my parents about this documentary and found out for the first time my Uncle Ish' Schmidt was a member of this unit, wow what a surprise. He was fluent in German which he spoke without an American accent. After the war he was detailed as an interpreter for the Nuremberg trials, it must have been horrible because he would never, ever talk about it.

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What it must have been like to live through that. It is too bad that your uncle did not recount the experience. History needs to see all of it, in all the horror, lest it be repeated.

I worked for a man who had escaped a camp by pretending to be dead. He had seen his entire family killed. I did not hear the story directly and, at the time, did not understand the significance. I wish that I could learn from him now but, sadly, that will not happen.

Thanks for sharing this. I will research it and learn more.

jhtstone said:

What it must have been like to live through that. It is too bad that your uncle did not recount the experience. History needs to see all of it, in all the horror, lest it be repeated.

I worked for a man who had escaped a camp by pretending to be dead. He had seen his entire family killed. I did not hear the story directly and, at the time, did not understand the significance. I wish that I could learn from him now but, sadly, that will not happen.

Thanks for sharing this. I will research it and learn more.

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You can read for yourself what happened the transcripts of the tribunal was published and is required to be in the command staff libraries of the services. I looked through some of the trial transcripts and I could not look at anymore it was so gruesome. It is a required book set for the very reason you state so this never happens again. Here is a PDF copy that runs 42 volumes. This concerns the major NAZI figures and does not include lessor figures. I looked at the expanded set of "Blue Books" at a Government repository library and it runs over 200 volumes, these are the trials of prison guards, SS Waffen personal etc I didn't have the courage to look at any of these I have been told these are far worse.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_major-war-criminals.html

Downloaded a torrent today of the documentary and just finished watching it.interesting to say the least.

transmaster said:

You can read for yourself what happened the transcripts of the tribunal was published and is required to be in the command staff libraries of the services.

Here is a PDF copy that runs 42 volumes. This concerns the major NAZI figures and does not include lessor figures. I looked at the expanded set of "Blue Books" at a Government repository library and it runs over 200 volumes, these are the trials of prison guards, SS Waffen personal etc I didn't have the courage to look at any of these I have been told these are far worse.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_major-war-criminals.html

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Thank you for the link. I will indeed do some reading.