People look at artifacts of The Ghost Army at a new exhibition at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum.

Uncover The Ghost Army at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum

Wednesday January 29, 2025

By Rachel Huffman

Bill Blass. Art Kane. Ellsworth Kelly. Arthur Singer. You might recognize their fashion, photographs, sculptures and illustrations, but did you know that these 20th-century celebrities were part of a top-secret military unit before they became famous?

On view at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum until May 26, 2025, Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II explores the story of the U.S. Army’s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which waged war with inflatable tanks, sound effects, fake radio traffic and even phony generals.

The 23rd was the brainchild of Major Ralph Ingersoll, a creative thinker who had an unfortunate reputation as an egotist and a liar. Before the war, Ingersoll was the managing editor of The New Yorker, publisher of Fortune and founder of an innovative New York newspaper called PM. He referred to the 23rd as “my con artists,” calling the unit’s creation his only original contribution to the war effort.

The largest group in the 23rd, the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, included 379 men trained as camoufleurs who set up the unit’s array of inflatable tanks, trucks, planes and artillery to fool the prying eyes of German spies. Their theatrics also included dummy road signs and forged shoulder patches – they designed and wore the latter for every unit that they impersonated.

Many members of the 603rd were recruited from prestigious schools such as Pratt Institute and The Cooper Union in New York City. Armed with nothing heavier than .50 caliber machine guns, the carefully selected group of artists, engineers, professional soldiers and draftees tricked Adolf Hitler’s armies, saved thousands of lives and played an important part in Allied victory in World War II.

“For me, the heart of The Ghost Army story is service,” Mark Sundlov, director of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, says. “You can serve your country, your community, in countless ways, and the 603rd demonstrates that. [Belisario Contreras, Ed Haas, Jack Masey] – these were the least likely people to send to the front lines, but they were there. They had unique skills and applicable talents that could be used to help win the war.”

“I used to refer to us as the Cecil B. DeMille warriors.”

– Lieutenant Dick Syracuse of the 3132nd Signal Service Company

While assembling in Normandy, France, the 23rd received orders to carry out its first major deception, dubbed Operation Elephant. Beginning on July 1, 1944, the unit would take over the 2nd Armored Division positions in the Cerisy Forest. Using bogus radio transmissions and a convoy of inflatables, the 23rd worked to convince the Germans that the real 2nd Armored was remaining in reserve when, in fact, it was moving to the front.

The operation identified holes in the scheme. First, the camouflage was too perfect – it needed mistakes to allow the enemy to see through it. Second, poor security allowed French civilians to wander into the deception area, threatening the whole operation when one hit the tank barrel of an inflatable and bent it! Third, the unit began to understand that seeing is not always believing.

“I used to refer to us as the Cecil B. DeMille warriors,” reads a quote from Lieutenant Dick Syracuse of the 3132nd Signal Service Company. With the 3132nd, he played prerecorded sound effects from 500-pound speakers mounted on half-tracks to simulate men and tanks moving into position on the battlefield. Everything from weather to terrain to distance had to be considered for a successful sonic deception, and by the end of the war, it became one of The Ghost Army’s most important weapons.

The failures of Operation Elephant also helped the 23rd figure out the final piece of the puzzle: special effects.

“Lieutenant Fred Fox [a 1939 graduate of Princeton University, where he was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club, the oldest collegiate musical-comedy troupe in the nation] said it best,” Sundlov explains. “It’s all about showmanship.”

In a memo that was sent under the name of the 23rd’s commander, Colonel Harry Reeder, Fox wrote, “The attitude of the 23rd Headquarters towards their mission is lopsided. There is too much military and not enough showmanship. Like it or not, the 23rd Headquarters must consider itself a traveling road show ready at a moment’s notice to present: The 2nd Armored Division by Brooks; The 9th Infantry Division by Eddy; The 7th Corps by Collins. The presentations must be done with the greatest accuracy and attention to detail. They will include the proper scenery, props, costumes, principals, extras, dialogue and sound effects. We must remember that we are playing to a very critical and attentive radio, ground and aerial audience – they must all be convinced.”

With this approach, every deception became multi-tiered. Radio chatter set the stage, followed by nighttime sonic deception that imitated tanks rolling and sergeants yelling – anything that would make the enemy think that the unit was moving into position. In the morning, they would see all the equipment set up. To complete the visual deception, Fox emphasized special effects such as counterfeit insignia, which The Ghost Army wore on their uniforms when they went into nearby villages, spreading what they called “loose talk.”

“One of my favorite artifacts in the exhibition is an aerial photograph of hundreds of inflatable tanks surrounding a farmhouse,” Sundlov says. “The Ghost Army used a bulldozer to drive tracks into the soft spring fields to truly sell the scene to German military aircraft flying overhead. It took that level of thoroughness and diligence to make their house of cards stand.”

In The Ghost Army’s largest – and most successful – deception, Operation Viersen from March 18 to March 24, 1945, the 23rd portrayed the 30th and 79th Infantry Divisions preparing to cross the Rhine River, while the actual units crossed farther north.

“Remember that the 23rd consisted of 1,100 men,” Sundlov says. “For this operation, they had to simulate two full divisions, which is 30,000 men!”

Deploying all available deception tools, including 600 inflatable tanks, planes and artillery, the 23rd fooled everyone. A real American reconnaissance plane landed on a fake airfield, and the Germans shelled the 23rd’s positions – luckily, the only casualties were inflatables punctured by shrapnel, and the dummies were fixed before daybreak.

When the Rhine River crossing occurred on March 24 against almost no opposition, it became clear that the 23rd’s final performance was an impressive triumph.

“It’s a shame that more people don’t know the story of The Ghost Army; it makes this exhibition that much more important.”

– Mark Sundlov

Wondering why we didn’t learn about The Ghost Army in our high school history classes? Knowledge of the U.S. Army’s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops was officially classified until the mid-1990s.

When World War II ended, many soldiers were sworn to secrecy. Access to records was restricted, and equipment was stored out of sight. Except for a scattering of newspaper articles published right after the war, no one spoke publicly about the combat con artists.

“The Cold War began less than two years after World War II ended,” Sundlov explains. “The military knew there was a chance that the deception tactics would have to be used against the Soviet Union, so they kept information about them classified until 1995. It’s a shame that more people don’t know the story of The Ghost Army; it makes this exhibition that much more important.”

Long-overdue recognition has finally come for the 1,100 soldiers who served in the 23rd. On Feb. 1, 2022, President Biden awarded the unit a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow, for its “proficient use of innovative tactics during World War II, which saved lives and made significant contributions to the defeat of the Axis powers.”

This only scratches the surface of The Ghost Army’s legacy. To dig deeper into the riveting account of the unit, visit Soldiers Memorial Military Museum in downtown St. Louis before May 26.