August 21, 2025 • 60 mins
We talk about so much in this episode. Arthur takes us to his corner to discuss his new school and a new OC he's literally creating while he talks. Plus we talk Gavin Newsom's hilarious tweets, and the Garfield commercial about fat cats. Then we settle in to discuss this week's topic, the US Ghost Army. Officially they were the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops trained in what was then called Camp Pines but these days is called Fort Hood. We discuss their triumphs and a few of their failures, we discuss their legacy, their place in pop culture and how finally the unit was honored in 2022. We also discuss how their tactics and deceptions have been updated for the modern world and Arthur's strong dislike and distrust of AI in this, wait, how did that become a thing episode of the Family Plot Podcast!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
He's the hounds. Fine, Dean, I'm the dad.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm Laura.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I wish I could do accents, but I'm the mom,
I'm author, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
The song.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And to together we are, man, what very nice.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Even after I did the eggs and on the frame
with guys, I don't know what accent. This is kind
of love.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I was going to say it's it's were bringing between
Irish and Australian. So yeah, yeah, Iralian Astrish, Iralian Austrich
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Let's get the housekeeping out of the way. People like
our banter, especially Rebecca Wasserman.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh yeah, really like my banter as direct. Really appreciate
you last week. Yeah last week, not Yesterdam.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
But yes, we really appreciate you. So if you're listening
again this week, thank you. Now where was that? Oh? Yes,
the housekeeping important. If you want to help us out,
there's a lot of ways you can do it. For example,
you could go to our t Spring Merch store and
get yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
A hoodie's shirt I'm a sewer, even stickers.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Or even stickers all featuring our own Arthur's artwork, original
high fashion, beautiful artwork by our own Arthur. If you
can't afford merch, which it's a touch pricing. We get that,
but we don't really have a choice. Anyway, we went
with us and not have nav stock on end because
(02:33):
we just don't have that kind of listener base yet.
Tea Spring was the way to go when well, they're expensive,
But if they're too expensive for you, something you can
do that's a lot cheaper is join our Patreon. We
only have two levels of membership, one dollar a month
and three dollars a month. For the one dollar a month,
you get AD free episodes and you usually get them first.
(02:57):
If for the three dollars a month, you also get
AD free episodes, which you usually get first, but you
also get special episodes and episodes where I didn't I
didn't bleep the Arthur, who usually has a lot to say,
the Arthur or the rest of us. Well last week
it was the rest of us, but most of the
time it's Arthur.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Most of the time it's me freaking the freak out.
Freak the freak out when there's a song, freak out something.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, anyway, anyway, so yeah, that's Patreon. Now, if you
can't do a monthly donation, you can always just throw
us a dollar or two through buy me a coffee,
which is a one time thing if you enjoy the show.
One thing everybody can do and it doesn't cost a penny,
is if you enjoy the show, please share it on
(03:47):
social media.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Share with friends, share with family, with.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Every one, and you could also leave us a five
star review. If you don't enjoy the show, please keep
it to yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It will almost certainly not be a donkey brain because
I used goats screaming two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, the goats are screaming. Clarifes.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What are we talking about tonight. Well, during the final
year of World War two, at least in Europe, the
US military deployed a top secret unit unlike any other.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And we're not talking about the explosive rats.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Right, No, we're not talking about the explosive rats.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Explosive rats.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, one of the ideas the US had was to
fill dead rats with explosives.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm on the Russians. Oh, oh I did it? Oh
try put. Don't do that to me. Smells like run nests.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So yeah, but no, this is not this is not
the explosive rats. No, This was a tactical deception force
known as the Ghost Army. Now that was just its
unofficial designation. It was officially called the twenty third Headquarters
Special Troops. Their mission was to mislead, confuse, and ultimately
(05:34):
deceive the German Army using pure illusion. This wasn't a
combat course. It was a performance force. Composed of artists,
sound engineers, designers and radio operators. The Ghost Army created
entire fake armies using inflatable tanks, camouflage, sound trucks, phony
(05:55):
radio transmission, and improvised acting. They posed as real divisions
moving across Europe to protect Allied troops and deflect enemy attacks.
From Normandy to the Rhine. They staged over twenty deception
operations that helped shape the outcome of the war. All
this and more in this weight This was really a
(06:17):
thing episode of the Family Plot podcast.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
That's funny because I was just thinking, Wow, this was
really a thing.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So you did that, well, baby, I liked that. That
was cool. So let us know, give us the history.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
What are we finding out about tonight?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, it began in nineteen forty two in Egypt, an
Allied attack on Irwin Rommel, a German commander known as
the Desert Fox was coming, but the Allies were concerned
about Rommel figuring out the attack was coming because while
he was a dirty, dirty Nazi and I don't like dirty,
(06:55):
dirty Nazis, right, he was a smart guy. I mean
was a reason they called him the Desert Fox. And
he was and was cute and adorable. No, not because
he is cute and adorable, no Nazi is, but he
he was really on his way to pushing people, pushing
(07:15):
the Allies out of Africa. He was just a smart,
smart commander. So they had to come up with something. Well.
Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Wrangel Clark decided this could be best
accomplished by deception. He used double agents to plant false
intelligence about troop movements, created fake radio chatter about those
(07:37):
same mute movements, even built false troops positions with fake
tanks and dummies. This level led to the Second Battle
of l Alamine, which turned into a victory that pushed
Rommel and his forces out of Egypt and Libya and
pushed them into Tunisia, where parts of the Raiders of
(07:58):
the Lost Ark Or filmed. If you're a movie above
and remarious not at the same time, well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Obviously, but I mean that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Later later when it Wastville, there were some ties to Nazis,
so it all ties in I see what.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You did then?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yes, yes, but yeah. Among those in attendants of the
battle were US Army planners Ralph Ingersoll and Billy Harris.
They were impressed by Clark's use of weaponized deception and
decided the US Army could use a similar unit. They
went to the Pentagon with their idea for a unit
(08:36):
that could simulate entire divisions using visual, audio and radio trickery.
On January twentieth, nineteen forty four, the unit, which would
officially be known as the twenty third Headquarters Special Troops,
was created, and they would be assembled at Camp Forest
and Tennessee and later trained at Camp Pines, New York.
(08:58):
Now these days, Camp Pines is better known as Fort Hood.
I see, when recruiting folks for this unit, the Army
didn't look at men that would make good soldiers in
the rank and file. Instead, they courted art students, artists,
set designers, sound engineers, and radio operators. Among those recruited
(09:21):
for this special unit were Bill Blass, who would go
on to become an icon of American fashion Ellsworth Kelly,
who would go on to become an influential abstract painter
and sculptor, and Bob Kane, creator of Batman. Wait no,
I'm joking, totally joking. Instead it was Art Kane who
would go on to become an influential photographer, known for
(09:45):
his photographs of jazz artists and events.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
These men received training in the basics combat, calisthenics, and rivalry,
but they also trained in the art of creating battlefield lookalikes,
creating appropriate sounds from a military unit using massive speakers,
copying other units radio styles and signatures, even impersonating officers
and other soldiers so that when those doing reconnaissance and
(10:12):
seeing the battlefields they created would believe them to be
really clear.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And took those three the tar on the end for.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Nice. Thanks, So that was a lot of information. You
know what I think we should do now?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
We should probably go to Arthur's corner.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Probably should.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Here ye here, ye allow me to present arf this
corner that was weird. It's not a bad wasn't bad, No,
not at all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Actually not for me, who says I can't do ices? So, yeah,
you did. You did pretty good there.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Thank you. I appreciate it, especially considering my day.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Oh yeah, so I've heard your day has been. My
day was difficult.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I feel like my day was very similar to what
one might experience if they trudged uphill through mashed potatoes
in galoshes for eight hours.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, it was that kind of day.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh God, that's a weird army like reference. But we're
talking about the army.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So that's why I felt like it it hit tight
in Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Oh wait, did you ask us how we were? And
I misfit just just specific.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
No, he hadn't gotten to you yet.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, I'm sorry that he keeps moving.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Don't call him that. That's It's not an overweight kitten.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He's not maybe a little bit, he's not super over He's.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Not like an obese kitten.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
No, he hasn't. Garfield, although Garfield is in a commercial
which it amuses me greatly.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Garfield Garfield has been in many commercials in his time.
Garfield the cables out? What Garfield the tables out?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I don't know what that's that is.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I feel like it must be from a YouTube video. No,
it's from the actual should oh.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Okay, oh, well.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
One of them. Do you know how many shows Garfield
has that?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, there was one in the eight.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Man, a lot of so many, not to mention all
of the comic strips that he's been in.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The Yeah, yeah, it's I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't
mean it's my neurodivergence coming out. Yes, anyway, it's a
commerci And it begins with a veteran veterinarian looking at
Garfield and John is standing next to him, and sorry,
(13:11):
Garfield is proudly holding up his stomach and the vet
is like, what do you feed him? Lazagna? Lazagna, like lazagna.
And that's when when Garfield lets go of his stomach
and the register hits like sixty pounds or something, and
then the next thing is sixty percent of cats are overweight.
Feed him this overpriced food and that'll help. I don't
(13:34):
remember who did it, but I wasn't going to call
him out like that because but I just thought it
was funny seeing Garfield in the commercial where he is
showing off how fat he is. I see anyway, so
I am better than Garfield.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Apparently there was a long way around to get to
He's Okay, yeah, you know, go ahead. How about you, Arthur,
how's your weakmend?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
So far?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Marlee's actually been decent. I I I did my orientation
this week, and I'm getting back in contact with some
of my school friends. So that's cool.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Probably just like one where did you?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Because the only one that I've gotten back into contact
to is we'll call her in because I'm not giving
out people's names on here.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I'm just that's probably probably smart where our listenership is
going back up. We struggled a bit during the summer,
but every other pod indie podcast I talked to said
they do the same.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So but hmmm, well, we'll call her in.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
She's the one who invited me to her birthday party
that one time.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Okay, the birthday slimon party thing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Mm hmm. And she just she's on uh she has
homeschooling too.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Oh so she she's kind of no more able to
talk excellent. In fact, we just recently talked about going
out somewhere together, like having lines you're going with all
or something, so very cool.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, I can hang out with her soon.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well, what else do you want to talk about in
your corner, buddy?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Because you know, floor is yours, as they say, and
you've kind of sort of met your homeroom teacher, at
least through text.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, I kind of sort of met him. He's pretty
cool so far. I mean, I can't really say much
about him because I don't know him that well yet,
but he seems pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
M I don't want to burp the mic unfortunately, Mike
is very directional. If you're not almost leaning into it,
I'll lose so much sound.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Then I'm doing fine right now.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So yeah, as long as your mouth is pointed roughly
in the direction of the head of that night, you're
doing fine.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Let's see what else. Working on a drawing excellent.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You're always working on a drawing. It's one of the
things I like about you. Your art cannot be contained.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It really can't. I have a drawing on my leg
right now from a sharpie marker.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I didn't give you draw on your leg with a
sharpie marker.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, that was me. Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I did draw on left Lexi's hand this morning, and
I heart LEXI. Can you not who didn't? No? I
can't not.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
What's wrong with drawing on your neck? School this week too?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Lexi did have her first day of school this week
and she's sitting next to her boyfriend.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
She did. It's her well third grade boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Who I got to actually meet and spend time with
for the first time yesterday, nice young man. Yes, yes, yes, no,
I was not complaining. I just once. I I just
the reason I didn't know what was him is LEXI
ignored him the whole time. That's that's our girl. And
then I was talking to his mom, Heather, and that's
(17:11):
how I figured out, Oh, that must be Caden. And
so I asked Lexi yesterday, why didn't you even talk
to Cayden this morning? You guys are boyfriend girlfriend you're
supposed to And She's like, we haven't seen each other
the whole summer. We're different people now, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They have new personalities? What?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, she they have completely different personalities. So did you
know you constructed a new personality inside of three months
or there?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Apparently not. I do that on a daily basis.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
I come out I come out every day acting like
a new person.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yes, that's what I love about you. You're a butterfly
and just endlessly transform makes you kind of magic.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I can't be proud of my kiddo, No, you can.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Speaking of your baby sister. She is so jealous of
your corner.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, I know. She keeps trying to steal corner from me.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
No, No, she doesn't want to steal your corner.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
She's she's like, what's her own?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, And I'm like, like Arthur started this with me.
You don't get a corner. I will give you a
bigger part, but you don't get a corner.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Corners mine, corners from me.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I think she's a little young to have her own part.
It's hard for her to stay focused that long.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well, I know, like today, she's not gonna be here
to do our sponsor girl, So I'm gonna have to
do pre recorded LEXI for that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And you don't have to tell everybody you can do that. Yeah,
you're giving them away the magic, and you yell at
us for that's trying the magic.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'm like the ghost arming. You'll find out when you
get to your part.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay, all right, good to know anything else going on
in your corner? If not, do you want to take
the next section. I'm drawing my FIRSTSNA Okay, but you're
you're supposed to be doing Arthur's corner. Well that's I'm
talld I'm talking to them, okay, but see talk now,
(19:25):
draw later.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I'm drawing really well because it's with a graphite pencil.
Take it with you.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
It's fine. I can buy more gravity pencils.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I even have a pencil sharpener.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And besides, this is the kind of thing that Rebecca
apparently likes. Yeah, I mean, the three out of the
four things she commented on, or four out of the five,
were about things that in your corner, mainly the Sucky phlebotomist,
which I still say is going to be my Reddit nickname.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Or it would be a good band name. You need
to keep the bottomists to sucky for bottomists.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That that reminds me. I went to see my doctor
because I've had this issue with dizzy spells for the
last week. And the nurse was trying to take my
blood pressure and oh no, no, my blood pressure was
really good. It was like one hundred over sixty five,
(20:34):
and like she took that result to the doctor and
the doctor was like, no, no, don't accept that result.
I want it three times and I want to be
standing up ones laying down anyway, while she was in
that process, and my blood pressure never rose above one
oh two. So I'm really good and I hadn't even
(20:57):
taken meds that morning. But yeah, So while I was
there seeing my doctor, I pointed to the blood pressure
cuff on the wall the old school and I said, oh, look,
a sphigma bnometer because I had to use that word
in the novella I just finished writing and it was
still kind of editing. Yeah, and she looked at me
(21:21):
like I was crazy, Like nobody outside of the medical
industry knows that term I researched.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I don't think most people in the medical industry know that.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Yeah, I don't think most people in the medical industry
no that term.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's the first time I've ever heard it.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And she had a nurse mom.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I did, well, it's not like it comes up in
conversation very often. But I was trying to describe this
Arctic sick bay. I knew what I wanted in it,
But what do I call it? The weird blood pressure
cuff attached to a to a stethoscope that seemed long.
So I looked at it up and found out it's
a big momentometer, not big.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Mon Now we're getting suited by Jim Henson company.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Started not agam.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Oh, come on, like any of them listen to us
the point and I've tagged them.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I'm telling you, until you tag them in this episode,
I was.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Gonna I've tagged them in previous episodes. Oh boy, never
bumps the change. But they really don't have much of
a presence on X anymore. And X is kind of
a right wing hellscape at this point, although the left
bows hellscape. But the left is starting to come back
(22:53):
a little bit, mostly because of Gavin Newsom. Okay, I
don't want to get into politics to you don't know
about the story.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I also don't, so this could be a nice time tour.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, and keep it real short, real quick. Well, this
whole Texas redistricting thing going on, it caused a big
dust up. So as a way to try to get
Texas not to do their whole profiling redistricting thing, Gavin
(23:25):
Newsom said, Okay, well, if you're going to alter the
maps to favor Republicans, I'll alter the maps here in
California to favor Democrats, so I'll cancel you out. Well
they did it anyway. So now he has taken to Twitter.
He's aping Donald Trump's style and calling him out in
(23:46):
every post, and he doesn't just do it on Twitter,
he does it on Blue Sky, he does it on threads.
But I mean these posts are some of the Gavin
Newsom in parentheses America's favorite governor. That's kind of funny. Yeah,
all about press conference saying Donald Trump is sad he
can barely use his tiny sand hands and climb the
(24:09):
stairs of Air Force one. Hi, he takes stairs every day,
and then he'll go on about how Donald Trump is
is sad because he can't use the hands or the stairs,
and but yeah, he's just mocking Trump's style and it's
hilarious to read.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I see, definitely interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, so that's sort of drawing liberals back to Twitter
at least a little bit, I see, because that's where
he tends to post first.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It's probably to piss off the.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh and it pisses off so many of them. The
only reason I log onto my own account is to
read him, because we don't follow him on family plot.
I sort of I've tried to save our followers for
people are going who are gonna care and and not
that he you know, doesn't have a few moments to
sit down and might like a podcast. I imagine a
(25:11):
governor's job is very time concerning.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
No, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, let's see, Well,
it feels like it hasn't really been that interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Last week was it was a big week for you.
Plus you've been sort of your neurodivergence has been showing
in that you're you're you're kind of not real super
happy with Blue going off to college.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Changes, changes they do be coming.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You do.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And guys, my brother is going off to college tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Tomorrow tomorrow at six thirty, so probably before you get up.
I'll be before I get no, although maybe not because
your mom's been getting up at like four in the morning,
and every time she leaves, I wake up no and
then play living heck trying to get back to sleep.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I didn't get up until five seventeen this morning. But
I'm sorry, baby.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I don't think it's your fault. I just think I'm
comfortable sleeping next to you, and you know when you're gone.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I'm I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I mean, heck, I can't tell you the number of
times I wake up. I've woken up because I rolled
over to put my hand on you and you're not there,
and then I wake up and panic and that's definitely
not your fault. What are you supposed to do? Leave
a note?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well, I mean I could, but you're not going to
put on your glasses or note every time you roll over,
so that seems overdone.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Maybe a text hey babe when you get this, I've
gotten there, you go.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I could do that. Or I have left the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Maura has left the bedroom. That's going to be a
hashtag this week.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Could this construined?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Well, yeah it I'm hoping it's misconstrued. Then they'll listen
to figure it out, and that'll get counted as downloads
even though they didn't listen to the whole episode. So anyway,
we're talking in your corner. I am so sorry, Arthur.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Please, he's on a creative role. He's got an oc
in his head. Now.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I love her too, So should you sign out of
your your corner and read this next bit so that
you can.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Get back to it? It's all good? Yeah, okay, olypic.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Clear and it was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Here you go read. Oh my god, that was FLEXI.
She scared me. The first major mission. The Ghosts Army's
first big mission was to fool the enemy and protect
the real harbor at a mountain a romanches.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
You don't pronounce. Yes, it's just ro o munch. It's French,
it's weird. I took four years of it and I
barely can speak it.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
Not that I get a lot of practice. Aeromanch aromanche
aramnche to rhyme with launch Aman France.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
This harbor, called a mulberry harbor, sounds tasty, really sounds poisonous.
Million though, was built by the Allies to unload soldiers, vehicles,
and supplies after the D Day, D Day landings. Yeah,
(28:52):
D Day landing, just about those in June.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Not fully, but we might we might have up against
it another episodes go ahead sorry.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
In June nineteen ninety nineteen forty four, it played a
huge role in helping the Allies take back Europe from
Axis forces. To trick Germans, the Ghost Army created a
fake harbor nearby at dusk and during the night when
(29:26):
enemy planes were flying overhead to spy the to.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Spy, you're not in ninny, You're you're preoccupied. I get it,
but you're not doing bad. And whenever you go too fast,
it's never bad to take a breath. I can edit
brets out nobody will ever know.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Flying overhead to spy, the units set up lights to
look like busy cranes, ships and port buildings. From far away,
it looked like real working harbor. That's cool. That does
sound cool. They added loud speakers that played the played
(30:09):
sounds of engines, trucks, cargo being moved, and people shouting orders.
They even used inflatable tanks and fake equipment to make
the area look full of action. The ground was shaped
to look like it had been driven on by many vehicles.
(30:35):
Lights were turned off on and off at certain times
to mimic real activity. The trick worked. Germans pilots saw
the fake harbor and reported it. Germans guns fired at
fake site, wasting time and ammunition, while the real harbor
at Aramanch kept unloading supplies safely, helping the allies pushed
(30:58):
forward without being attacked. Awesome.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Well, that's that's a pretty impressive bait and switch.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well that's why I decided to cover it is it's
a really cool moment in history.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Absolutely, So let's stop there and break things up between
Arthur's Corner and Arthur's Spot and my spot and listen
to some information from a new content creator that we're
featuring this week and also one.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Of our old friends.
Speaker 9 (31:34):
Welcome to brew Crime, a true crime at Beer podcast.
Speaker 10 (31:37):
This is a podcast where we pick a theme, cover
a few cases, and pair them with craft beer. Join me,
Mike and me JT.
Speaker 9 (31:44):
As we explore the world of crime, conspiracies, or whatever
catches our attention. You can find us on social media
at brew Crime or our website brewcrime dot com, and
you can find us on any podcast app at brew
Crime Podcast.
Speaker 10 (31:56):
Join us as we discuss the horrible crimes that surround
us and maybe probably nah, definitely tip a bottle or
two back as you do it. Drink with us. The
second and last Tuesday of every month.
Speaker 11 (32:12):
Do you love horror movies, both old and new? Are
you the kind of cinophile who finds beauty and blood
curdling screams at maspheric shadows and the evolution of fear
on film, Then you've just found your next obsession. Welcome
to Journey with a Cinophile, a horror movie podcast where
every week I deep dive into the dark corners of cinema,
reviewing classic horror, modern nightmares, and everything in between. From
(32:35):
the fog soaked moors of universal horrors to the neon
drench nightmares of today's indie darlings. I explore how horror
has evolved and what it says about us and why
we just can't look away. Each episode features thoughtful reviews,
deep dive discussions, and a celebration of horror's rich history.
Perfect for longtime fans and curious newcomers alike. So, whether
(32:56):
you're a vampire officionado, a slasher junkie, or someone just
looking for their next scare, join me on the journey.
Journey with a Cinophile, a horror movie podcast available wherever
you get your podcasts, and particularly.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Clear And.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
All right.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
So in August of nineteen forty four, the Ghost Army
arrived at Crust, France, where the Eighth Courts of the
Army American Army were about to launch a major offensive.
(33:44):
But we're currently besieging the city. If German artillery were
able to concentrate their firepower on that unit, it would
be deadly for the aullied war effort. So inter the
US Ghost Army, who created the appearance of a massive
(34:05):
additional force on the flanks of the main force. They
did this by using inflatable tanks and dummy vehicles. They
used massive speakers to create to project the sound of
orders being shouted and convoys arriving. They also created Task
(34:30):
Force X, Y and Z using radio traffic, even giving
them their own fake call signs and realistic radio signatures.
They created camps featuring tits, campfires, and even laundry to
(34:50):
create a much larger, fake but realistic army.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
On the flanks, they used.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Fake tracks, radio traffic, and visual cues to draw the
gunner's attention from the real force in the center and
continue to waste ammunition against a phantom target. This saved
many lives, and by September twentieth, nineteen forty four, German
(35:22):
General Herman Bernard Ramke surrendered, believing after the main units
attack that there was still a larger force to deal with.
So even though they might have taken out quite a
bit of main force, they thought there were still another
two forces that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
They had coming at them. And they were like, no,
there's no way.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Nice, let's take a moment for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yes, my Olympic career and to go there. It was
time to get back to the show.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
I so should have written this line differently than I did.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
After the operation at Breast, the US Ghost Army did
a lot of smaller operations, distracting in Germans from attacking
real troops and allowing smaller units to accomplish minor goals.
Following the major operation of Breast, they went to Bologne
and I believe that's actually pronounced Bologna, where they simulated
(36:36):
a large force preparing to attack the city, allowing the
troops that were actually attacking the city to make their
assault without any interference. This was a simple operation that
they accomplished with a few dummies and some fake radio traffic.
From there, they moved on to Mets, where US forces
were already playing the Yankees. I'm sorry. They moved on
(37:00):
to Mets, where the US forces are already besieging the city.
They made it seem like larger force was continuing to arrive,
forcing the Germans to overestimate the American troop size and
eventually causing them to surrender soon. In December of nineteen
forty four, they joined Operation Luxembourg, simulating a preparation for
(37:22):
attack by a large force, which distracted the Germans from
Allied preparations that led the Battle of the Bult led
to the Battle of the Bulge. Frankly, much of the
US Coast Army's mission were only declassified nineteen ninety, and
there's still much we don't know about what they did.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
So you're also now going to hashtag in Metz Mets
versus the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, I bet you him's got an itch.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh did you guys now sponsors? No, that's it's in purple. Oh.
Now we're going to take another word from our sponsors,
my clear and particularly clear on it.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
And it was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I actually think that's the first word, the sponsor, because
the last one was content creators.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Oh no, you did a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
That's my confusion.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
But I won't edit this out. I'm sorry. It's a
huge section for me to read, so big.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Oh yeah, so so long.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
That is so long?
Speaker 12 (38:41):
You know what, you know what you could do to
make this a little bit quicker, though, If you were
a listener and you wanted to get through to this faster,
you could be a one or a three dollars Patreon
member in order to get at three episodes of the
show exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
So this none of this boy even matter in the end. Yeah,
I don't watch us out. Yeah. Not every mission went perfectly.
The Ghost Army didn't always succeed, but it wasn't there
always their fault. Sometimes bad weather wrecked their inflatable tanks
and fake gear. Other times German scout planes got flew
(39:24):
close enough to spot mistakes in the setup and figure
it out it was a trick. Can I say something wrong?
Why are you laughing? Because I'm just bad weather?
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Can you imagine some German troop, drunk.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
As a skunk, is sitting out.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
On the side of camp and all of a sudden
you're sitting there, You're watching the rain, and I.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Was bouncing and wing here?
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Sorry?
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Where was I? Well?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Sorry, fake? Let's see even regular people, because yeah, you
finished it. Sometimes the German planes flew close enough to
spot mistakes in the setup and figured out it was
a trick.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah, even regular people could cause trouble. Locals near the
fake fake camps sometimes talk too much, sharing details about
the unit's secrets without realizing who might be listening. If
German spies or soldiers overheard them, the whole illusion could
fall apart. Even these failed missions helped a little. They
(40:43):
distracted German troops for a while, keeping them busy and
confused until they realized they've been fooled. Excellent, I'm sorry,
it was funny.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
It wasn't, No, it was so let's talk the legacy
of the Ghost Army from World War Two to modern warfare.
The Ghost Army's legacy is far more than battlefield trickery.
It laid the groundwork for modern military deception and psychological
(41:16):
operations psyops. If I had actually gotten into the Air
Force at eighteen, that's what I would have gone into.
Here's how its influences echo through time.
Speaker 4 (41:27):
Though.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
The Ghost Army success in World War Two inspired future
tactical deception strategies. While there's no direct lineage, its methods
influenced the development of PsiOps divisions that emerged during the
Korean War, expanded in Vietnam, and played key roles in
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. These later units focused on
(41:50):
psychological manipulation, propaganda, and misinformation, evolving the Ghost Army's theatrical
tactics into more sophisticated psychological world warfare.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Woo, that's yeah, that was a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
There is a modern version nicknamed Ghost Army two point zero.
It's not just smoke and mirrors anymore. Inflatable tanks have
been replaced with radar reflective decoys and thermal signature generators.
The old methods of sound misdirection have been replaced with
AI generated troop chatter and digital audio injection. Faked radio
(42:28):
transmissions have been replaced with GPS spooing, spoofing and cyber misdirection.
Visual illusions have been replaced with three D printed shells
and drone based decoys. These tools are already being deployed
in NATO war games, Pacific naval operations, and air force
radar tests. The goal to mislead enemy surveillance, confuse autonomous
(42:52):
targeting systems, and reshape battlefield perception without firing a shot.
Other nations like China, Russian Iran reportedly are developing similar
deception programs. This race isn't just about building weapons, It's
about building the illusions of weapons. This has led to
ethical questions about these tactics. As deception becomes more digitized
(43:17):
and AI driven, questions around legality and ethics are emerging.
International law permits military deception, but modern tactics are pushing
round boundaries, especially when AI is involved. And now we
promise the final word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
However, keep in mind you can get episodes with out
sponsor interruptions as a one or three dollars Patreon subscriber.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Absolutely career and.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Ticularly clear.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
It was time to get back to the show, guys.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Yeah, I'm can sponsored. Excellent. Okay. So now the once
secret unit has crept into the cultural imagination in some
fascinating ways. Here's how the Ghost Army has been remembered, reimagined,
(44:29):
and celebrated. PBS's The Ghost Army from twenty thirteen was
a standout documentary that brought their story to light, featuring
interviews with surviving members and archival footage. Upcoming feature film
(44:49):
ben Affleck.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Yeah. Upcoming feature film ben.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Affleck was once attached to a direct to direct a
movie adaptation, though.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Development has been slow.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
The story's cinematic potential, espionage art and wartime drama makes
it right for Hollywood rick buyers. The Ghost Army of
World War II a richly illustrated book that blends history
with personal stories. Graphic novels and children's books have adapted
(45:31):
the tale, emphasizing creativity and courage under pressure. While not
always named directly, the Ghost Army's tactics have inspired stealth
and deception mechanics in video games like Call of Duty
and Company of Heroes. Alternate history and speculative fiction often
(45:53):
borrow from their playbook. Imagine a unit that fights with
illusions instead of bullets. In twenty twenty two, the Ghost
Army was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal Congressional Gold Medal,
finally honoring their contributions after decades of secrecy. The Ghost
(46:15):
Armacy Army Legacy Project continues to preserve their story through exhibits,
educational outreach, and digital archives.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
And if I remember right, it's Arthur who gets to
start our summary and final thoughts this week.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
I mean I think it was. Really I think it was.
I mean you said they still use it today in
some places, right.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Well, in some ways. I mean it's it's not done
the same anymore. It's been modernized. But yeah, it's being
adapted worldwide.
Speaker 13 (46:48):
I mean, I don't like the fact that it's being
like people are starting to use like AI for it
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
You think.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
I just I mean it's war built or I like
it better than shooting people.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I do like it better than shooting people. But a
couple of steps away from making people. AI is one
way to just destroy the world. Whether you like it
or not. Either way, your world is being destroyed. Okay,
I don't know. I think in order not to kill people.
(47:28):
I get it. You're just very anti AI.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, well, that's why I said there are ethical issues
that need to be considered. That your final thought on
this subject, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
Well, but it's also employing artists and creatives. They're not
only using AI, they're still using people to create. I mean,
even AI can't go out and set up these scenarios, right,
It's a multi It's not like somebody pushes a button
(48:04):
from an office and it suddenly sets itself up. There's
still people putting this, putting this. Basically, it's a large
level show. It's a large level optical illusion. It's tantamount
to entertainment almost because actively no human person is getting
(48:27):
harmed if it's done correctly. I mean, there is obviously
going to be some danger in being the people on
site setting it up, but in large scale of money, manpower,
(48:48):
lives being at risk. The huge difference of one hundred
people to forty thousand troops. You know, I guess that's massive.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
But four thousands, wait, or.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Even four hundred, one hundred to four hundred men is
huge difference, or a dozen men to four hundred men.
So I think if it's something that can save lives
on that kind of scale, it's worth to try. I
they have to be really brave to do that. I mean,
(49:28):
you can put all of that effort into it. If
you haven't done a good enough job, it's all for nothing.
So it was still I think that the government's probably
missing out because these army recruiters who have called all
of these times, they never say it's okay, we want
artists and sound engineers too.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
The military really could record a little more on the subject.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, well, I mean, and they recruited some
amazing artists. Hey, that's although we're probably gonna get so
much hate man on me doing the baits and switch
between Bob Kane and Art Kane, but I thought it
was hilarious.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
That's that's on you, dude. I didn't know you were
making that joke.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
I totally couldn't help myself from making that bait and switch.
Try real Art, Arthur saw me try. Didn't you kid out? Yes,
good boy, I guess that's me. And Okay, first, I
(50:45):
liked this episode. I've been looking forward to this all
day because I think it's a relentlessly positive episode. It's
not about a unit that went out and we're all
a bunch of.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
No.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
These guys were artists and creatives and doing considering things like, huh,
if there's a bunch of cars supposed to be going
up and down this fake road, shouldn't we make a
fake road. That'd probably be a smart thing to do. Bob,
let's get on that. You know. It just down down
(51:20):
to things like fake call signs, creating fake units, I mean,
fake task force. Oh, just everything involved, and it worked
more often than it didn't, and even when it didn't,
it's still kind of hoodwinked, and like the explosive rat thing.
(51:46):
It also made Germans fearful because they could never They
never knew if an invading force was real or not.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
So some.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
German general sees this troops coming at him, Oh they're
all fake not to sign true enough, or he sees
them all coming and oh my, I'd better surrender. Wait,
they were fake staring right, You know.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
You wouldn't that just burn your biscuits.
Speaker 4 (52:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Yeah, I think these are the reasons I cannot be
in charge.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
So I just I felt like this was a relentlessly
positive episode, and I like that. We usually don't get
those unless we talk about gay men and women or
some of these famous women. Oh my god, some of
these famous women. Clara Barton talk about a relentlessly positive episode.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, we like positivity.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Yeah, so I felt like this was really But I
also learned a lot. Like I saw the ghost Army
in passing on a TV show and it just stuck
out with me enough to go, huh, I wonder about that.
Let's check that out.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
And was that from Mysteries at the Museum?
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Possibly?
Speaker 3 (53:20):
I feel like there might have been an episode that
included ghost Army.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Possible.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Of course, that's where the exploding rats came to. That
came from that.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
I thought the exploding rats came from an episode of
The Unexplained or no not dan Ackroyde shows Unbelievable, Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
The Exploding Rets. I heard about the exploding rats on Mysteries.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
Okay, it's all good anyway, neither here nor there. But yeah,
and the other thing was when I heard about it,
it made me think of Arthur and how creative he is,
and how god the world needs that kind of creativity,
(54:04):
and how back in the day they went, please help
us paint us a tank. Paint us a tank we
can blow up.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Still just love the said of your tank one night
and right.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
A line.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
I don't think you're not funny. I just maybe I
spent a lot of time and spand up comic.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
It's kind to day I've had a balancing tank kind
of day. I really.
Speaker 1 (54:43):
So, yeah, I really liked your research for this episode.
I liked recording it. I liked it much better than
I liked for doing the the the research for what
we're doing next week.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
I'm sorry me, you should do different research.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Well, it's I feel like it's an important event, uh,
at least important enough it should be noted. I mean,
a bunch of people lost their lives and the entire
case was mishandled. But uh so, I feel like it's
important for us to comment on. But I don't always
like doing research that ends with people dying fair enough.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
Isn't that a super happy topic for sure?
Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yeah? So, but I like episodes like this where it
was you know, they're in war, they're covered dive, but
they're like, yeah, no, yeah, let me blow me. It
was tough. It's tough stuff. Let me blow up this tank.
I got you. I picture it more like filling tires
(55:48):
in your car. But that's probably where that tire thing
they use a quick trip got invented.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
I don't not a clue.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
Maybe so they could check the air pressure on their
pay or so they could blow up their tanks. The
same area you used to fill a tire can fill
an inflatable tank. I'm sure I have a methane. It's
probably where they got developed as World War two, and
then they just sold them after the war, sure enough,
(56:22):
and then the Army had a black budget anyway, neither
here nor there. So I liked this episode. It was
relentlessly positive in me. It kind of reminded me also
of The monuments Men, which I will want to cover,
but I want to get a little further away from
that movie before I do that. But yeah, but it
(56:47):
kind of reminded me of The monuments Men and that
the Army being really smart about doing things, and how
you really need to bring some of that smart's back.
And I've talked with people who I know who are
in the military, and they tell me it's it's that
(57:08):
the level of smart has risen so much that everything
they develop is roughly close to one another. And whereas
back in the day, you had guys that would like
clearly outclass the other people mentally had more training, because like,
if you're some kid from Paducah, Kentucky, way back in
the in the nineteen forties, you might not have had
(57:31):
much access to education, whereas if you, as if you
grew up in New York, you probably had access to
a fair amount.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Like I said, it's true, it's so true.
Speaker 1 (57:45):
So the problem is is that back then there were
mental giants, whereas now the level of the playing field
has leveled so much that they're all kinds of giants
and it's hard to see a giant that the tallest
giant of the giants. Sure, which I'll accept that as
(58:06):
a as an explain explanation. But yeah, but yeah, and again,
I really enjoyed doing the research. I think it might
have been the first thing I came out to to
Laura and was like, it was really had had fun
doing it.
Speaker 2 (58:23):
It was you did, Yeah, you were you were enjoyed
the research. So I think you said something along those
lines with Claria Martin. You were really impressed with her
as well, But I think this was the most excited
I've seen you for an episode quite some time.
Speaker 1 (58:39):
Yeah. Well, we're going to cover someone else that I
love almost as much as Clara Barton and I think
week after next, so cuck cool. Yeah, but that's the
that's the end of our show, right, So thanks for listening,
Thanks for keeping us in the good pods top one hundred,
Thanks for being members of the fan. Thanks to Blue,
(59:02):
Lexi and Blue. We're gonna miss you, Laura and Arthur.
Thanks to Bill, which is Bill Barren. That last name
is spelled the e hr e n d T. He's
the guy that does our theme music. If you need
music for any purpose, he's your guy. You can reach
him at Bill Barrent at SBC global dot net. Thanks
to Paige Almore of the Reverie Crime Podcast, who has
(59:25):
combined her love of Canva with our own Arthur's artwork
to create some lovely logo art for us. Thank you, Paige,
Thank you Pach. Thanks to Aaron Gunnerk of The Big
Dumb Fun Show, who continues to promote us locally and
join us next week. As we look into the Kevy
(59:46):
cadin Hetty cabin murders, there are times of churn.
Speaker 3 (59:52):
Absolutely bye
He's the hounds. Fine, Dean, I'm the dad.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm Laura.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I wish I could do accents, but I'm the mom,
I'm author, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
The song.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And to together we are, man, what very nice.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Even after I did the eggs and on the frame
with guys, I don't know what accent. This is kind
of love.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I was going to say it's it's were bringing between
Irish and Australian. So yeah, yeah, Iralian Astrish, Iralian Austrich
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Let's get the housekeeping out of the way. People like
our banter, especially Rebecca Wasserman.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh yeah, really like my banter as direct. Really appreciate
you last week. Yeah last week, not Yesterdam.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
But yes, we really appreciate you. So if you're listening
again this week, thank you. Now where was that? Oh? Yes,
the housekeeping important. If you want to help us out,
there's a lot of ways you can do it. For example,
you could go to our t Spring Merch store and
get yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
A hoodie's shirt I'm a sewer, even stickers.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Or even stickers all featuring our own Arthur's artwork, original
high fashion, beautiful artwork by our own Arthur. If you
can't afford merch, which it's a touch pricing. We get that,
but we don't really have a choice. Anyway, we went
with us and not have nav stock on end because
(02:33):
we just don't have that kind of listener base yet.
Tea Spring was the way to go when well, they're expensive,
But if they're too expensive for you, something you can
do that's a lot cheaper is join our Patreon. We
only have two levels of membership, one dollar a month
and three dollars a month. For the one dollar a month,
you get AD free episodes and you usually get them first.
(02:57):
If for the three dollars a month, you also get
AD free episodes, which you usually get first, but you
also get special episodes and episodes where I didn't I
didn't bleep the Arthur, who usually has a lot to say,
the Arthur or the rest of us. Well last week
it was the rest of us, but most of the
time it's Arthur.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Most of the time it's me freaking the freak out.
Freak the freak out when there's a song, freak out something.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, anyway, anyway, so yeah, that's Patreon. Now, if you
can't do a monthly donation, you can always just throw
us a dollar or two through buy me a coffee,
which is a one time thing if you enjoy the show.
One thing everybody can do and it doesn't cost a penny,
is if you enjoy the show, please share it on
(03:47):
social media.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Share with friends, share with family, with.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Every one, and you could also leave us a five
star review. If you don't enjoy the show, please keep
it to yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It will almost certainly not be a donkey brain because
I used goats screaming two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, the goats are screaming. Clarifes.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What are we talking about tonight. Well, during the final
year of World War two, at least in Europe, the
US military deployed a top secret unit unlike any other.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And we're not talking about the explosive rats.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Right, No, we're not talking about the explosive rats.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Explosive rats.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, one of the ideas the US had was to
fill dead rats with explosives.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm on the Russians. Oh, oh I did it? Oh
try put. Don't do that to me. Smells like run nests.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So yeah, but no, this is not this is not
the explosive rats. No, This was a tactical deception force
known as the Ghost Army. Now that was just its
unofficial designation. It was officially called the twenty third Headquarters
Special Troops. Their mission was to mislead, confuse, and ultimately
(05:34):
deceive the German Army using pure illusion. This wasn't a
combat course. It was a performance force. Composed of artists,
sound engineers, designers and radio operators. The Ghost Army created
entire fake armies using inflatable tanks, camouflage, sound trucks, phony
(05:55):
radio transmission, and improvised acting. They posed as real divisions
moving across Europe to protect Allied troops and deflect enemy attacks.
From Normandy to the Rhine. They staged over twenty deception
operations that helped shape the outcome of the war. All
this and more in this weight This was really a
(06:17):
thing episode of the Family Plot podcast.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
That's funny because I was just thinking, Wow, this was
really a thing.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So you did that, well, baby, I liked that. That
was cool. So let us know, give us the history.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
What are we finding out about tonight?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, it began in nineteen forty two in Egypt, an
Allied attack on Irwin Rommel, a German commander known as
the Desert Fox was coming, but the Allies were concerned
about Rommel figuring out the attack was coming because while
he was a dirty, dirty Nazi and I don't like dirty,
(06:55):
dirty Nazis, right, he was a smart guy. I mean
was a reason they called him the Desert Fox. And
he was and was cute and adorable. No, not because
he is cute and adorable, no Nazi is, but he
he was really on his way to pushing people, pushing
(07:15):
the Allies out of Africa. He was just a smart,
smart commander. So they had to come up with something. Well.
Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Wrangel Clark decided this could be best
accomplished by deception. He used double agents to plant false
intelligence about troop movements, created fake radio chatter about those
(07:37):
same mute movements, even built false troops positions with fake
tanks and dummies. This level led to the Second Battle
of l Alamine, which turned into a victory that pushed
Rommel and his forces out of Egypt and Libya and
pushed them into Tunisia, where parts of the Raiders of
(07:58):
the Lost Ark Or filmed. If you're a movie above
and remarious not at the same time, well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Obviously, but I mean that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Later later when it Wastville, there were some ties to Nazis,
so it all ties in I see what.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You did then?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yes, yes, but yeah. Among those in attendants of the
battle were US Army planners Ralph Ingersoll and Billy Harris.
They were impressed by Clark's use of weaponized deception and
decided the US Army could use a similar unit. They
went to the Pentagon with their idea for a unit
(08:36):
that could simulate entire divisions using visual, audio and radio trickery.
On January twentieth, nineteen forty four, the unit, which would
officially be known as the twenty third Headquarters Special Troops,
was created, and they would be assembled at Camp Forest
and Tennessee and later trained at Camp Pines, New York.
(08:58):
Now these days, Camp Pines is better known as Fort Hood.
I see, when recruiting folks for this unit, the Army
didn't look at men that would make good soldiers in
the rank and file. Instead, they courted art students, artists,
set designers, sound engineers, and radio operators. Among those recruited
(09:21):
for this special unit were Bill Blass, who would go
on to become an icon of American fashion Ellsworth Kelly,
who would go on to become an influential abstract painter
and sculptor, and Bob Kane, creator of Batman. Wait no,
I'm joking, totally joking. Instead it was Art Kane who
would go on to become an influential photographer, known for
(09:45):
his photographs of jazz artists and events.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
These men received training in the basics combat, calisthenics, and rivalry,
but they also trained in the art of creating battlefield lookalikes,
creating appropriate sounds from a military unit using massive speakers,
copying other units radio styles and signatures, even impersonating officers
and other soldiers so that when those doing reconnaissance and
(10:12):
seeing the battlefields they created would believe them to be
really clear.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And took those three the tar on the end for.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Nice. Thanks, So that was a lot of information. You
know what I think we should do now?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
We should probably go to Arthur's corner.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Probably should.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Here ye here, ye allow me to present arf this
corner that was weird. It's not a bad wasn't bad, No,
not at all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Actually not for me, who says I can't do ices? So, yeah,
you did. You did pretty good there.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Thank you. I appreciate it, especially considering my day.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Oh yeah, so I've heard your day has been. My
day was difficult.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I feel like my day was very similar to what
one might experience if they trudged uphill through mashed potatoes
in galoshes for eight hours.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, it was that kind of day.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh God, that's a weird army like reference. But we're
talking about the army.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So that's why I felt like it it hit tight
in Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Oh wait, did you ask us how we were? And
I misfit just just specific.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
No, he hadn't gotten to you yet.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, I'm sorry that he keeps moving.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Don't call him that. That's It's not an overweight kitten.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He's not maybe a little bit, he's not super over He's.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Not like an obese kitten.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
No, he hasn't. Garfield, although Garfield is in a commercial
which it amuses me greatly.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Garfield Garfield has been in many commercials in his time.
Garfield the cables out? What Garfield the tables out?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I don't know what that's that is.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I feel like it must be from a YouTube video. No,
it's from the actual should oh.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Okay, oh, well.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
One of them. Do you know how many shows Garfield
has that?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, there was one in the eight.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Man, a lot of so many, not to mention all
of the comic strips that he's been in.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The Yeah, yeah, it's I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't
mean it's my neurodivergence coming out. Yes, anyway, it's a
commerci And it begins with a veteran veterinarian looking at
Garfield and John is standing next to him, and sorry,
(13:11):
Garfield is proudly holding up his stomach and the vet
is like, what do you feed him? Lazagna? Lazagna, like lazagna.
And that's when when Garfield lets go of his stomach
and the register hits like sixty pounds or something, and
then the next thing is sixty percent of cats are overweight.
Feed him this overpriced food and that'll help. I don't
(13:34):
remember who did it, but I wasn't going to call
him out like that because but I just thought it
was funny seeing Garfield in the commercial where he is
showing off how fat he is. I see anyway, so
I am better than Garfield.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Apparently there was a long way around to get to
He's Okay, yeah, you know, go ahead. How about you, Arthur,
how's your weakmend?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
So far?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Marlee's actually been decent. I I I did my orientation
this week, and I'm getting back in contact with some
of my school friends. So that's cool.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Probably just like one where did you?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Because the only one that I've gotten back into contact
to is we'll call her in because I'm not giving
out people's names on here.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I'm just that's probably probably smart where our listenership is
going back up. We struggled a bit during the summer,
but every other pod indie podcast I talked to said
they do the same.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So but hmmm, well, we'll call her in.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
She's the one who invited me to her birthday party
that one time.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Okay, the birthday slimon party thing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Mm hmm. And she just she's on uh she has
homeschooling too.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Oh so she she's kind of no more able to
talk excellent. In fact, we just recently talked about going
out somewhere together, like having lines you're going with all
or something, so very cool.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, I can hang out with her soon.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well, what else do you want to talk about in
your corner, buddy?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Because you know, floor is yours, as they say, and
you've kind of sort of met your homeroom teacher, at
least through text.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, I kind of sort of met him. He's pretty
cool so far. I mean, I can't really say much
about him because I don't know him that well yet,
but he seems pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
M I don't want to burp the mic unfortunately, Mike
is very directional. If you're not almost leaning into it,
I'll lose so much sound.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Then I'm doing fine right now.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So yeah, as long as your mouth is pointed roughly
in the direction of the head of that night, you're
doing fine.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Let's see what else. Working on a drawing excellent.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You're always working on a drawing. It's one of the
things I like about you. Your art cannot be contained.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It really can't. I have a drawing on my leg
right now from a sharpie marker.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I didn't give you draw on your leg with a
sharpie marker.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, that was me. Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I did draw on left Lexi's hand this morning, and
I heart LEXI. Can you not who didn't? No? I
can't not.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
What's wrong with drawing on your neck? School this week too?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Lexi did have her first day of school this week
and she's sitting next to her boyfriend.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
She did. It's her well third grade boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Who I got to actually meet and spend time with
for the first time yesterday, nice young man. Yes, yes, yes, no,
I was not complaining. I just once. I I just
the reason I didn't know what was him is LEXI
ignored him the whole time. That's that's our girl. And
then I was talking to his mom, Heather, and that's
(17:11):
how I figured out, Oh, that must be Caden. And
so I asked Lexi yesterday, why didn't you even talk
to Cayden this morning? You guys are boyfriend girlfriend you're
supposed to And She's like, we haven't seen each other
the whole summer. We're different people now, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They have new personalities? What?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, she they have completely different personalities. So did you
know you constructed a new personality inside of three months
or there?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Apparently not. I do that on a daily basis.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
I come out I come out every day acting like
a new person.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yes, that's what I love about you. You're a butterfly
and just endlessly transform makes you kind of magic.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I can't be proud of my kiddo, No, you can.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Speaking of your baby sister. She is so jealous of
your corner.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, I know. She keeps trying to steal corner from me.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
No, No, she doesn't want to steal your corner.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
She's she's like, what's her own?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, And I'm like, like Arthur started this with me.
You don't get a corner. I will give you a
bigger part, but you don't get a corner.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Corners mine, corners from me.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I think she's a little young to have her own part.
It's hard for her to stay focused that long.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well, I know, like today, she's not gonna be here
to do our sponsor girl, So I'm gonna have to
do pre recorded LEXI for that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And you don't have to tell everybody you can do that. Yeah,
you're giving them away the magic, and you yell at
us for that's trying the magic.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'm like the ghost arming. You'll find out when you
get to your part.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay, all right, good to know anything else going on
in your corner? If not, do you want to take
the next section. I'm drawing my FIRSTSNA Okay, but you're
you're supposed to be doing Arthur's corner. Well that's I'm
talld I'm talking to them, okay, but see talk now,
(19:25):
draw later.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I'm drawing really well because it's with a graphite pencil.
Take it with you.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
It's fine. I can buy more gravity pencils.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I even have a pencil sharpener.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And besides, this is the kind of thing that Rebecca
apparently likes. Yeah, I mean, the three out of the
four things she commented on, or four out of the five,
were about things that in your corner, mainly the Sucky phlebotomist,
which I still say is going to be my Reddit nickname.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Or it would be a good band name. You need
to keep the bottomists to sucky for bottomists.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That that reminds me. I went to see my doctor
because I've had this issue with dizzy spells for the
last week. And the nurse was trying to take my
blood pressure and oh no, no, my blood pressure was
really good. It was like one hundred over sixty five,
(20:34):
and like she took that result to the doctor and
the doctor was like, no, no, don't accept that result.
I want it three times and I want to be
standing up ones laying down anyway, while she was in
that process, and my blood pressure never rose above one
oh two. So I'm really good and I hadn't even
(20:57):
taken meds that morning. But yeah, So while I was
there seeing my doctor, I pointed to the blood pressure
cuff on the wall the old school and I said, oh, look,
a sphigma bnometer because I had to use that word
in the novella I just finished writing and it was
still kind of editing. Yeah, and she looked at me
(21:21):
like I was crazy, Like nobody outside of the medical
industry knows that term I researched.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I don't think most people in the medical industry know that.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Yeah, I don't think most people in the medical industry
no that term.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's the first time I've ever heard it.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And she had a nurse mom.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I did, well, it's not like it comes up in
conversation very often. But I was trying to describe this
Arctic sick bay. I knew what I wanted in it,
But what do I call it? The weird blood pressure
cuff attached to a to a stethoscope that seemed long.
So I looked at it up and found out it's
a big momentometer, not big.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Mon Now we're getting suited by Jim Henson company.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Started not agam.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Oh, come on, like any of them listen to us
the point and I've tagged them.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I'm telling you, until you tag them in this episode,
I was.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Gonna I've tagged them in previous episodes. Oh boy, never
bumps the change. But they really don't have much of
a presence on X anymore. And X is kind of
a right wing hellscape at this point, although the left
bows hellscape. But the left is starting to come back
(22:53):
a little bit, mostly because of Gavin Newsom. Okay, I
don't want to get into politics to you don't know
about the story.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I also don't, so this could be a nice time tour.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, and keep it real short, real quick. Well, this
whole Texas redistricting thing going on, it caused a big
dust up. So as a way to try to get
Texas not to do their whole profiling redistricting thing, Gavin
(23:25):
Newsom said, Okay, well, if you're going to alter the
maps to favor Republicans, I'll alter the maps here in
California to favor Democrats, so I'll cancel you out. Well
they did it anyway. So now he has taken to Twitter.
He's aping Donald Trump's style and calling him out in
(23:46):
every post, and he doesn't just do it on Twitter,
he does it on Blue Sky, he does it on threads.
But I mean these posts are some of the Gavin
Newsom in parentheses America's favorite governor. That's kind of funny. Yeah,
all about press conference saying Donald Trump is sad he
can barely use his tiny sand hands and climb the
(24:09):
stairs of Air Force one. Hi, he takes stairs every day,
and then he'll go on about how Donald Trump is
is sad because he can't use the hands or the stairs,
and but yeah, he's just mocking Trump's style and it's
hilarious to read.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I see, definitely interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, so that's sort of drawing liberals back to Twitter
at least a little bit, I see, because that's where
he tends to post first.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It's probably to piss off the.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh and it pisses off so many of them. The
only reason I log onto my own account is to
read him, because we don't follow him on family plot.
I sort of I've tried to save our followers for
people are going who are gonna care and and not
that he you know, doesn't have a few moments to
sit down and might like a podcast. I imagine a
(25:11):
governor's job is very time concerning.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
No, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, let's see, Well,
it feels like it hasn't really been that interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Last week was it was a big week for you.
Plus you've been sort of your neurodivergence has been showing
in that you're you're you're kind of not real super
happy with Blue going off to college.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Changes, changes they do be coming.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You do.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And guys, my brother is going off to college tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Tomorrow tomorrow at six thirty, so probably before you get up.
I'll be before I get no, although maybe not because
your mom's been getting up at like four in the morning,
and every time she leaves, I wake up no and
then play living heck trying to get back to sleep.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I didn't get up until five seventeen this morning. But
I'm sorry, baby.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I don't think it's your fault. I just think I'm
comfortable sleeping next to you, and you know when you're gone.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I'm I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I mean, heck, I can't tell you the number of
times I wake up. I've woken up because I rolled
over to put my hand on you and you're not there,
and then I wake up and panic and that's definitely
not your fault. What are you supposed to do? Leave
a note?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well, I mean I could, but you're not going to
put on your glasses or note every time you roll over,
so that seems overdone.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Maybe a text hey babe when you get this, I've
gotten there, you go.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I could do that. Or I have left the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Maura has left the bedroom. That's going to be a
hashtag this week.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Could this construined?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Well, yeah it I'm hoping it's misconstrued. Then they'll listen
to figure it out, and that'll get counted as downloads
even though they didn't listen to the whole episode. So anyway,
we're talking in your corner. I am so sorry, Arthur.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Please, he's on a creative role. He's got an oc
in his head. Now.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I love her too, So should you sign out of
your your corner and read this next bit so that
you can.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Get back to it? It's all good? Yeah, okay, olypic.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Clear and it was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Here you go read. Oh my god, that was FLEXI.
She scared me. The first major mission. The Ghosts Army's
first big mission was to fool the enemy and protect
the real harbor at a mountain a romanches.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
You don't pronounce. Yes, it's just ro o munch. It's French,
it's weird. I took four years of it and I
barely can speak it.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
Not that I get a lot of practice. Aeromanch aromanche
aramnche to rhyme with launch Aman France.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
This harbor, called a mulberry harbor, sounds tasty, really sounds poisonous.
Million though, was built by the Allies to unload soldiers, vehicles,
and supplies after the D Day, D Day landings. Yeah,
(28:52):
D Day landing, just about those in June.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Not fully, but we might we might have up against
it another episodes go ahead sorry.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
In June nineteen ninety nineteen forty four, it played a
huge role in helping the Allies take back Europe from
Axis forces. To trick Germans, the Ghost Army created a
fake harbor nearby at dusk and during the night when
(29:26):
enemy planes were flying overhead to spy the to.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Spy, you're not in ninny, You're you're preoccupied. I get it,
but you're not doing bad. And whenever you go too fast,
it's never bad to take a breath. I can edit
brets out nobody will ever know.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Flying overhead to spy, the units set up lights to
look like busy cranes, ships and port buildings. From far away,
it looked like real working harbor. That's cool. That does
sound cool. They added loud speakers that played the played
(30:09):
sounds of engines, trucks, cargo being moved, and people shouting orders.
They even used inflatable tanks and fake equipment to make
the area look full of action. The ground was shaped
to look like it had been driven on by many vehicles.
(30:35):
Lights were turned off on and off at certain times
to mimic real activity. The trick worked. Germans pilots saw
the fake harbor and reported it. Germans guns fired at
fake site, wasting time and ammunition, while the real harbor
at Aramanch kept unloading supplies safely, helping the allies pushed
(30:58):
forward without being attacked. Awesome.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Well, that's that's a pretty impressive bait and switch.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well that's why I decided to cover it is it's
a really cool moment in history.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Absolutely, So let's stop there and break things up between
Arthur's Corner and Arthur's Spot and my spot and listen
to some information from a new content creator that we're
featuring this week and also one.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Of our old friends.
Speaker 9 (31:34):
Welcome to brew Crime, a true crime at Beer podcast.
Speaker 10 (31:37):
This is a podcast where we pick a theme, cover
a few cases, and pair them with craft beer. Join me,
Mike and me JT.
Speaker 9 (31:44):
As we explore the world of crime, conspiracies, or whatever
catches our attention. You can find us on social media
at brew Crime or our website brewcrime dot com, and
you can find us on any podcast app at brew
Crime Podcast.
Speaker 10 (31:56):
Join us as we discuss the horrible crimes that surround
us and maybe probably nah, definitely tip a bottle or
two back as you do it. Drink with us. The
second and last Tuesday of every month.
Speaker 11 (32:12):
Do you love horror movies, both old and new? Are
you the kind of cinophile who finds beauty and blood
curdling screams at maspheric shadows and the evolution of fear
on film, Then you've just found your next obsession. Welcome
to Journey with a Cinophile, a horror movie podcast where
every week I deep dive into the dark corners of cinema,
reviewing classic horror, modern nightmares, and everything in between. From
(32:35):
the fog soaked moors of universal horrors to the neon
drench nightmares of today's indie darlings. I explore how horror
has evolved and what it says about us and why
we just can't look away. Each episode features thoughtful reviews,
deep dive discussions, and a celebration of horror's rich history.
Perfect for longtime fans and curious newcomers alike. So, whether
(32:56):
you're a vampire officionado, a slasher junkie, or someone just
looking for their next scare, join me on the journey.
Journey with a Cinophile, a horror movie podcast available wherever
you get your podcasts, and particularly.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Clear And.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
All right.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
So in August of nineteen forty four, the Ghost Army
arrived at Crust, France, where the Eighth Courts of the
Army American Army were about to launch a major offensive.
(33:44):
But we're currently besieging the city. If German artillery were
able to concentrate their firepower on that unit, it would
be deadly for the aullied war effort. So inter the
US Ghost Army, who created the appearance of a massive
(34:05):
additional force on the flanks of the main force. They
did this by using inflatable tanks and dummy vehicles. They
used massive speakers to create to project the sound of
orders being shouted and convoys arriving. They also created Task
(34:30):
Force X, Y and Z using radio traffic, even giving
them their own fake call signs and realistic radio signatures.
They created camps featuring tits, campfires, and even laundry to
(34:50):
create a much larger, fake but realistic army.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
On the flanks, they used.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Fake tracks, radio traffic, and visual cues to draw the
gunner's attention from the real force in the center and
continue to waste ammunition against a phantom target. This saved
many lives, and by September twentieth, nineteen forty four, German
(35:22):
General Herman Bernard Ramke surrendered, believing after the main units
attack that there was still a larger force to deal with.
So even though they might have taken out quite a
bit of main force, they thought there were still another
two forces that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
They had coming at them. And they were like, no,
there's no way.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Nice, let's take a moment for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yes, my Olympic career and to go there. It was
time to get back to the show.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
I so should have written this line differently than I did.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
After the operation at Breast, the US Ghost Army did
a lot of smaller operations, distracting in Germans from attacking
real troops and allowing smaller units to accomplish minor goals.
Following the major operation of Breast, they went to Bologne
and I believe that's actually pronounced Bologna, where they simulated
(36:36):
a large force preparing to attack the city, allowing the
troops that were actually attacking the city to make their
assault without any interference. This was a simple operation that
they accomplished with a few dummies and some fake radio traffic.
From there, they moved on to Mets, where US forces
were already playing the Yankees. I'm sorry. They moved on
(37:00):
to Mets, where the US forces are already besieging the city.
They made it seem like larger force was continuing to arrive,
forcing the Germans to overestimate the American troop size and
eventually causing them to surrender soon. In December of nineteen
forty four, they joined Operation Luxembourg, simulating a preparation for
(37:22):
attack by a large force, which distracted the Germans from
Allied preparations that led the Battle of the Bult led
to the Battle of the Bulge. Frankly, much of the
US Coast Army's mission were only declassified nineteen ninety, and
there's still much we don't know about what they did.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
So you're also now going to hashtag in Metz Mets
versus the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, I bet you him's got an itch.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh did you guys now sponsors? No, that's it's in purple. Oh.
Now we're going to take another word from our sponsors,
my clear and particularly clear on it.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
And it was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I actually think that's the first word, the sponsor, because
the last one was content creators.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Oh no, you did a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
That's my confusion.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
But I won't edit this out. I'm sorry. It's a
huge section for me to read, so big.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Oh yeah, so so long.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
That is so long?
Speaker 12 (38:41):
You know what, you know what you could do to
make this a little bit quicker, though, If you were
a listener and you wanted to get through to this faster,
you could be a one or a three dollars Patreon
member in order to get at three episodes of the
show exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
So this none of this boy even matter in the end. Yeah,
I don't watch us out. Yeah. Not every mission went perfectly.
The Ghost Army didn't always succeed, but it wasn't there
always their fault. Sometimes bad weather wrecked their inflatable tanks
and fake gear. Other times German scout planes got flew
(39:24):
close enough to spot mistakes in the setup and figure
it out it was a trick. Can I say something wrong?
Why are you laughing? Because I'm just bad weather?
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Can you imagine some German troop, drunk.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
As a skunk, is sitting out.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
On the side of camp and all of a sudden
you're sitting there, You're watching the rain, and I.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Was bouncing and wing here?
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Sorry?
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Where was I? Well?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Sorry, fake? Let's see even regular people, because yeah, you
finished it. Sometimes the German planes flew close enough to
spot mistakes in the setup and figured out it was
a trick.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah, even regular people could cause trouble. Locals near the
fake fake camps sometimes talk too much, sharing details about
the unit's secrets without realizing who might be listening. If
German spies or soldiers overheard them, the whole illusion could
fall apart. Even these failed missions helped a little. They
(40:43):
distracted German troops for a while, keeping them busy and
confused until they realized they've been fooled. Excellent, I'm sorry,
it was funny.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
It wasn't, No, it was so let's talk the legacy
of the Ghost Army from World War Two to modern warfare.
The Ghost Army's legacy is far more than battlefield trickery.
It laid the groundwork for modern military deception and psychological
(41:16):
operations psyops. If I had actually gotten into the Air
Force at eighteen, that's what I would have gone into.
Here's how its influences echo through time.
Speaker 4 (41:27):
Though.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
The Ghost Army success in World War Two inspired future
tactical deception strategies. While there's no direct lineage, its methods
influenced the development of PsiOps divisions that emerged during the
Korean War, expanded in Vietnam, and played key roles in
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. These later units focused on
(41:50):
psychological manipulation, propaganda, and misinformation, evolving the Ghost Army's theatrical
tactics into more sophisticated psychological world warfare.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Woo, that's yeah, that was a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
There is a modern version nicknamed Ghost Army two point zero.
It's not just smoke and mirrors anymore. Inflatable tanks have
been replaced with radar reflective decoys and thermal signature generators.
The old methods of sound misdirection have been replaced with
AI generated troop chatter and digital audio injection. Faked radio
(42:28):
transmissions have been replaced with GPS spooing, spoofing and cyber misdirection.
Visual illusions have been replaced with three D printed shells
and drone based decoys. These tools are already being deployed
in NATO war games, Pacific naval operations, and air force
radar tests. The goal to mislead enemy surveillance, confuse autonomous
(42:52):
targeting systems, and reshape battlefield perception without firing a shot.
Other nations like China, Russian Iran reportedly are developing similar
deception programs. This race isn't just about building weapons, It's
about building the illusions of weapons. This has led to
ethical questions about these tactics. As deception becomes more digitized
(43:17):
and AI driven, questions around legality and ethics are emerging.
International law permits military deception, but modern tactics are pushing
round boundaries, especially when AI is involved. And now we
promise the final word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
However, keep in mind you can get episodes with out
sponsor interruptions as a one or three dollars Patreon subscriber.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Absolutely career and.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Ticularly clear.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
It was time to get back to the show, guys.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Yeah, I'm can sponsored. Excellent. Okay. So now the once
secret unit has crept into the cultural imagination in some
fascinating ways. Here's how the Ghost Army has been remembered, reimagined,
(44:29):
and celebrated. PBS's The Ghost Army from twenty thirteen was
a standout documentary that brought their story to light, featuring
interviews with surviving members and archival footage. Upcoming feature film
(44:49):
ben Affleck.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Yeah. Upcoming feature film ben.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Affleck was once attached to a direct to direct a
movie adaptation, though.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Development has been slow.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
The story's cinematic potential, espionage art and wartime drama makes
it right for Hollywood rick buyers. The Ghost Army of
World War II a richly illustrated book that blends history
with personal stories. Graphic novels and children's books have adapted
(45:31):
the tale, emphasizing creativity and courage under pressure. While not
always named directly, the Ghost Army's tactics have inspired stealth
and deception mechanics in video games like Call of Duty
and Company of Heroes. Alternate history and speculative fiction often
(45:53):
borrow from their playbook. Imagine a unit that fights with
illusions instead of bullets. In twenty twenty two, the Ghost
Army was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal Congressional Gold Medal,
finally honoring their contributions after decades of secrecy. The Ghost
(46:15):
Armacy Army Legacy Project continues to preserve their story through exhibits,
educational outreach, and digital archives.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
And if I remember right, it's Arthur who gets to
start our summary and final thoughts this week.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
I mean I think it was. Really I think it was.
I mean you said they still use it today in
some places, right.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Well, in some ways. I mean it's it's not done
the same anymore. It's been modernized. But yeah, it's being
adapted worldwide.
Speaker 13 (46:48):
I mean, I don't like the fact that it's being
like people are starting to use like AI for it
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
You think.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
I just I mean it's war built or I like
it better than shooting people.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I do like it better than shooting people. But a
couple of steps away from making people. AI is one
way to just destroy the world. Whether you like it
or not. Either way, your world is being destroyed. Okay,
I don't know. I think in order not to kill people.
(47:28):
I get it. You're just very anti AI.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, well, that's why I said there are ethical issues
that need to be considered. That your final thought on
this subject, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
Well, but it's also employing artists and creatives. They're not
only using AI, they're still using people to create. I mean,
even AI can't go out and set up these scenarios, right,
It's a multi It's not like somebody pushes a button
(48:04):
from an office and it suddenly sets itself up. There's
still people putting this, putting this. Basically, it's a large
level show. It's a large level optical illusion. It's tantamount
to entertainment almost because actively no human person is getting
(48:27):
harmed if it's done correctly. I mean, there is obviously
going to be some danger in being the people on
site setting it up, but in large scale of money, manpower,
(48:48):
lives being at risk. The huge difference of one hundred
people to forty thousand troops. You know, I guess that's massive.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
But four thousands, wait, or.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Even four hundred, one hundred to four hundred men is
huge difference, or a dozen men to four hundred men.
So I think if it's something that can save lives
on that kind of scale, it's worth to try. I
they have to be really brave to do that. I mean,
(49:28):
you can put all of that effort into it. If
you haven't done a good enough job, it's all for nothing.
So it was still I think that the government's probably
missing out because these army recruiters who have called all
of these times, they never say it's okay, we want
artists and sound engineers too.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
The military really could record a little more on the subject.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, well, I mean, and they recruited some
amazing artists. Hey, that's although we're probably gonna get so
much hate man on me doing the baits and switch
between Bob Kane and Art Kane, but I thought it
was hilarious.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
That's that's on you, dude. I didn't know you were
making that joke.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
I totally couldn't help myself from making that bait and switch.
Try real Art, Arthur saw me try. Didn't you kid out? Yes,
good boy, I guess that's me. And Okay, first, I
(50:45):
liked this episode. I've been looking forward to this all
day because I think it's a relentlessly positive episode. It's
not about a unit that went out and we're all
a bunch of.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
No.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
These guys were artists and creatives and doing considering things like, huh,
if there's a bunch of cars supposed to be going
up and down this fake road, shouldn't we make a
fake road. That'd probably be a smart thing to do. Bob,
let's get on that. You know. It just down down
(51:20):
to things like fake call signs, creating fake units, I mean,
fake task force. Oh, just everything involved, and it worked
more often than it didn't, and even when it didn't,
it's still kind of hoodwinked, and like the explosive rat thing.
(51:46):
It also made Germans fearful because they could never They
never knew if an invading force was real or not.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
So some.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
German general sees this troops coming at him, Oh they're
all fake not to sign true enough, or he sees
them all coming and oh my, I'd better surrender. Wait,
they were fake staring right, You know.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
You wouldn't that just burn your biscuits.
Speaker 4 (52:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Yeah, I think these are the reasons I cannot be
in charge.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
So I just I felt like this was a relentlessly
positive episode, and I like that. We usually don't get
those unless we talk about gay men and women or
some of these famous women. Oh my god, some of
these famous women. Clara Barton talk about a relentlessly positive episode.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, we like positivity.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Yeah, so I felt like this was really But I
also learned a lot. Like I saw the ghost Army
in passing on a TV show and it just stuck
out with me enough to go, huh, I wonder about that.
Let's check that out.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
And was that from Mysteries at the Museum?
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Possibly?
Speaker 3 (53:20):
I feel like there might have been an episode that
included ghost Army.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Possible.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Of course, that's where the exploding rats came to. That
came from that.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
I thought the exploding rats came from an episode of
The Unexplained or no not dan Ackroyde shows Unbelievable, Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
The Exploding Rets. I heard about the exploding rats on Mysteries.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
Okay, it's all good anyway, neither here nor there. But yeah,
and the other thing was when I heard about it,
it made me think of Arthur and how creative he is,
and how god the world needs that kind of creativity,
(54:04):
and how back in the day they went, please help
us paint us a tank. Paint us a tank we
can blow up.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Still just love the said of your tank one night
and right.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
A line.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
I don't think you're not funny. I just maybe I
spent a lot of time and spand up comic.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
It's kind to day I've had a balancing tank kind
of day. I really.
Speaker 1 (54:43):
So, yeah, I really liked your research for this episode.
I liked recording it. I liked it much better than
I liked for doing the the the research for what
we're doing next week.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
I'm sorry me, you should do different research.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Well, it's I feel like it's an important event, uh,
at least important enough it should be noted. I mean,
a bunch of people lost their lives and the entire
case was mishandled. But uh so, I feel like it's
important for us to comment on. But I don't always
like doing research that ends with people dying fair enough.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
Isn't that a super happy topic for sure?
Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yeah? So, but I like episodes like this where it
was you know, they're in war, they're covered dive, but
they're like, yeah, no, yeah, let me blow me. It
was tough. It's tough stuff. Let me blow up this tank.
I got you. I picture it more like filling tires
(55:48):
in your car. But that's probably where that tire thing
they use a quick trip got invented.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
I don't not a clue.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
Maybe so they could check the air pressure on their
pay or so they could blow up their tanks. The
same area you used to fill a tire can fill
an inflatable tank. I'm sure I have a methane. It's
probably where they got developed as World War two, and
then they just sold them after the war, sure enough,
(56:22):
and then the Army had a black budget anyway, neither
here nor there. So I liked this episode. It was
relentlessly positive in me. It kind of reminded me also
of The monuments Men, which I will want to cover,
but I want to get a little further away from
that movie before I do that. But yeah, but it
(56:47):
kind of reminded me of The monuments Men and that
the Army being really smart about doing things, and how
you really need to bring some of that smart's back.
And I've talked with people who I know who are
in the military, and they tell me it's it's that
(57:08):
the level of smart has risen so much that everything
they develop is roughly close to one another. And whereas
back in the day, you had guys that would like
clearly outclass the other people mentally had more training, because like,
if you're some kid from Paducah, Kentucky, way back in
the in the nineteen forties, you might not have had
(57:31):
much access to education, whereas if you, as if you
grew up in New York, you probably had access to
a fair amount.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Like I said, it's true, it's so true.
Speaker 1 (57:45):
So the problem is is that back then there were
mental giants, whereas now the level of the playing field
has leveled so much that they're all kinds of giants
and it's hard to see a giant that the tallest
giant of the giants. Sure, which I'll accept that as
(58:06):
a as an explain explanation. But yeah, but yeah, and again,
I really enjoyed doing the research. I think it might
have been the first thing I came out to to
Laura and was like, it was really had had fun
doing it.
Speaker 2 (58:23):
It was you did, Yeah, you were you were enjoyed
the research. So I think you said something along those
lines with Claria Martin. You were really impressed with her
as well, But I think this was the most excited
I've seen you for an episode quite some time.
Speaker 1 (58:39):
Yeah. Well, we're going to cover someone else that I
love almost as much as Clara Barton and I think
week after next, so cuck cool. Yeah, but that's the
that's the end of our show, right, So thanks for listening,
Thanks for keeping us in the good pods top one hundred,
Thanks for being members of the fan. Thanks to Blue,
(59:02):
Lexi and Blue. We're gonna miss you, Laura and Arthur.
Thanks to Bill, which is Bill Barren. That last name
is spelled the e hr e n d T. He's
the guy that does our theme music. If you need
music for any purpose, he's your guy. You can reach
him at Bill Barrent at SBC global dot net. Thanks
to Paige Almore of the Reverie Crime Podcast, who has
(59:25):
combined her love of Canva with our own Arthur's artwork
to create some lovely logo art for us. Thank you, Paige,
Thank you Pach. Thanks to Aaron Gunnerk of The Big
Dumb Fun Show, who continues to promote us locally and
join us next week. As we look into the Kevy
(59:46):
cadin Hetty cabin murders, there are times of churn.
Speaker 3 (59:52):
Absolutely bye
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