The Ghost Army of World War II

The Ghost Army of World War II
Author: Rick Beyer
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2023-10-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1797225308

“A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.

G.I.

G.I.
Author: Lee Kennett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2014-06-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1476793131

From the author of The First Air War, a realistic portrait of a solider during World War II. Lee Kennett provides a vivid portrait of the American soldier, or G.I., in World War II, from his registration in the draft, training in boot camp, combat in Europe and the Pacific, and to his final role as conqueror and occupier. It is all here: the "greetings" from Uncle Sam; endless lines in induction centers across the country; the unfamiliar and demanding world of the training camp, with its concomitant jokes, pranks, traditions, and taboos; and the comparative largess with which the Army was outfitted and supplied. Here we witness the G.I. facing combat: the courage, the heroism, the fear, and perhaps above all, the camaraderie—the bonds of those who survived the tragic sense of loss when a comrade died. Finally, when the war was over, the G.I.’s frequently experienced clumsy, hilarious, and explosive interactions with their civilian allies and with the former enemies whose countries they now occupied.

Ghost Army of World War II

Ghost Army of World War II
Author: Jack Kneece
Publisher: Pelican Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2001-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781455604876

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

The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940–1941

The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940–1941
Author: Paul Dickson
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Total Pages: 583
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0802147682

“A must-read book that explores a vital pre-war effort [with] deep research and gripping writing.” —Washington Times In The rise of the G.I. Army, 1940–1941, Paul Dickson tells the dramatic story of how the American Army was mobilized from scattered outposts two years before Pearl Harbor into the disciplined and mobile fighting force that helped win World War II. In September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland and initiated World War II, America had strong isolationist leanings. The US Army stood at fewer than 200,000 men—unprepared to defend the country, much less carry the fight to Europe and the Far East. And yet, less than a year after Pearl Harbor, the American army led the Allied invasion of North Africa, beginning the campaign that would defeat Germany, and the Navy and Marines were fully engaged with Japan in the Pacific. Dickson chronicles this transformation from Franklin Roosevelt’s selection of George C. Marshall to be Army Chief of Staff to the remarkable peace-time draft of 1940 and the massive and unprecedented mock battles in Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Carolinas by which the skill and spirit of the Army were forged and out of which iconic leaders like Eisenhower, Bradley, and Clark emerged. The narrative unfolds against a backdrop of political and cultural isolationist resistance and racial tension at home, and the increasingly perceived threat of attack from both Germany and Japan.

Patton's Third Army in World War II

Patton's Third Army in World War II
Author: Michael Green
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2010-09-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1610601130

Patton was champing at the bit to lead the D-Day invasion, but Eisenhower placed him in command of a decoy unit, the First U.S. Army Group. Nearly seven weeks after D-Day, Patton finally got his chance to take Third Army into battle. He began a ten-month rampage across France, driving through Germany and into Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and Austria. Along the way Third Army forces entered the Battle of the Bulge, breaking the siege of Bastogne. It was a turning point in the war, and afterward the Third Army pushed eastward again. Patton’s Third Army in World War II covers Patton’s command of Third Army with a focus on the armor. It was a new style of fighting, avoiding entrenched infantry warfare by continuously pushing forward, and it appealed to Patton’s hard-charging personality. Archival photos along with frequent quotes complete the portrait of Patton as well as his men as they fight their way across the Third Reich.

The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine, 1946-76

The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine, 1946-76
Author: Robert A. Doughty
Publisher:
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1979
Genre: Military art and science
ISBN:

This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.

The Organization of Ground Combat Troops

The Organization of Ground Combat Troops
Author: Kent Roberts Greenfield
Publisher: Sagwan Press
Total Pages: 572
Release: 2018-02-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781377038780

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Order of Battle, U.S. Army, World War II

Order of Battle, U.S. Army, World War II
Author: Shelby L. Stanton
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 656
Release: 1984
Genre: History
ISBN:

"This book is an encyclopedic reference to all the U.S. Army ground force units from battalion through division, 1939-1946"--Introd.

What Soldiers Do

What Soldiers Do
Author: Mary Louise Roberts
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2013-05-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0226923096

How do you convince men to charge across heavily mined beaches into deadly machine-gun fire? Do you appeal to their bonds with their fellow soldiers, their patriotism, their desire to end tyranny and mass murder? Certainly—but if you’re the US Army in 1944, you also try another tack: you dangle the lure of beautiful French women, waiting just on the other side of the wire, ready to reward their liberators in oh so many ways. That’s not the picture of the Greatest Generation that we’ve been given, but it’s the one Mary Louise Roberts paints to devastating effect in What Soldiers Do. Drawing on an incredible range of sources, including news reports, propaganda and training materials, official planning documents, wartime diaries, and memoirs, Roberts tells the fascinating and troubling story of how the US military command systematically spread—and then exploited—the myth of French women as sexually experienced and available. The resulting chaos—ranging from flagrant public sex with prostitutes to outright rape and rampant venereal disease—horrified the war-weary and demoralized French population. The sexual predation, and the blithe response of the American military leadership, also caused serious friction between the two nations just as they were attempting to settle questions of long-term control over the liberated territories and the restoration of French sovereignty. While never denying the achievement of D-Day, or the bravery of the soldiers who took part, What Soldiers Do reminds us that history is always more useful—and more interesting—when it is most honest, and when it goes beyond the burnished beauty of nostalgia to grapple with the real lives and real mistakes of the people who lived it.

U.S. Army Uniforms of World War II

U.S. Army Uniforms of World War II
Author: Shelby L. Stanton
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 294
Release: 1994-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780811725958

Illustrates and documents the clothing and individual equipment used by American soldiers during the First World War.