Ghost Army of World War II - Rilegato

Kneece, Jack

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1565548760 ISBN 13: 9781565548763

Casa editrice: Pelican Pub Co Inc, 2001

Riassunto

The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops was a force of only 1,000 men who, with skilled deceptions, often masqueraded as 34,000.

Su questo libro

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

In 1939, Americans were still resistant to the idea of joining the war in Europe. The army's enlisted strength, including the Army Air Corps, was only 130,000, much of the equipment, including only 1,700 biplanes, was left over from World War I, and seriously out of date. Following the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the tide of public opinion and official government action changed. Within hours after the attack, machine guns appeared on the roofs of the White House and the Capitol building, which reassured the nation of American resolve to fight and win. Few people knew that the guns were fakes.

The United States realized that it lacked the necessary troop strength to wage war in Europe, but kept this lack of preparedness secret while working to prepare for war. Gen. George Catlett Marshall proposed a solution: the formation of a small, top-secret, special tactical army group that would function in much the same way as the guns atop the White House, but on a far more elaborate and sophisticated scale.

The details of the efforts of this army group have, until recently, been classified. It is now known that in all of their missions, over 40,000 lives were saved. Composed of actors, designers, meteorologists, photographers, and sound technicians, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops repeatedly caused Axis troops to prepare for attacks that would ultimately come from a different direction, mass troops in defensive positions that left them exposed to the allies, and waste ammunition on a phantom enemy.

Jack M. Kneece interviewed many surviving members of the Ghost Army, including Bill Blass, after the information was declassified in 1996. Kneece was the first reporter to interview Bobby Baker at the height of the Baker/Lyndon Johnson scandal in 1967, and he has since worked for a number of newspapers and wire services across the country. He lives in Peak, South Carolina, where he writes full time.

Dalla quarta di copertina:

Discover the secrets of the small army of actors, sound technicians, and artists who duped the Germans successfully in twenty-one separate operations during World War II, often within a few hundred yards of the front lines.

The German Army referred to the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops as the "Phantom Army" because one day it was in one place, and the next, in another. Though most American, British, and Free French troops never knew of the existence of this highly trained army, all were affected by it.

Though it sounds more like a movie plot than the real thing, the Ghost Army was real, and was a significant force in the Allied victory. The Ghost Army specialized in illusion: these 1,000 men were practiced in all the arts required to give the strong impression that they were as many as 30,000--and heavily armed. Until recently, all information about these operations has remained secret, while the brave soldiers who saved many lives during the war were denied the medals--even the Purple Heart--which they had earned for the sake of preserving this great military secret.

In 1996, information about this grand illusion was declassified, and author Jack Kneece set out to interview surviving members of this special group of soldiers. The Ghost Army of World War II tells the history of this force and contains never-heard firsthand accounts of its exploits.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Pelican Pub Co Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1565548760
• ISBN 13: 9781565548763
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 280