Fascinating and shows what can be done with flair and imagination.
The only thing that was lacking was due to the usual American self-obsession, their monocular view of themselves at the centre of the universe.
There was a brief mention that the British had requested the unit but no mention of why or the background. That was because it was repeating what the British had done very successfully long before in North Africa against Rommel. Right down to the inflatable tanks, trucks, false railway tracks, airfields, radio broadcasts etc. Everything.
It was the British who had the actual imaginative leaps that created deceptions like this, as well as "The Man Who Never Was", the incredibly subtle propaganda/psychology division that dropped false "Nazi" literature and "Nazi Propaganda" on German troops.
It was also the British who created the "Funnies", weird contraptions that made their and the Canadian landings on D-Day so successful, whilst the Americans got themselves into immense trouble after having spurned the "crazy" ideas.
This documentary would have been so much more complete and generous to all concerned, if it had shown the long running deceptions that had been going on the entire war, on all sides, not just when the Americans finally showed up and took the credit for winning a long grinding war already half over and largely won on the Eastern Front.
None of this is to detract from what the The Ghost Army did, but contrary to what the film purports to show, they were not alone, they were not the first, and it was not even their idea.
The only thing that was lacking was due to the usual American self-obsession, their monocular view of themselves at the centre of the universe.
There was a brief mention that the British had requested the unit but no mention of why or the background. That was because it was repeating what the British had done very successfully long before in North Africa against Rommel. Right down to the inflatable tanks, trucks, false railway tracks, airfields, radio broadcasts etc. Everything.
It was the British who had the actual imaginative leaps that created deceptions like this, as well as "The Man Who Never Was", the incredibly subtle propaganda/psychology division that dropped false "Nazi" literature and "Nazi Propaganda" on German troops.
It was also the British who created the "Funnies", weird contraptions that made their and the Canadian landings on D-Day so successful, whilst the Americans got themselves into immense trouble after having spurned the "crazy" ideas.
This documentary would have been so much more complete and generous to all concerned, if it had shown the long running deceptions that had been going on the entire war, on all sides, not just when the Americans finally showed up and took the credit for winning a long grinding war already half over and largely won on the Eastern Front.
None of this is to detract from what the The Ghost Army did, but contrary to what the film purports to show, they were not alone, they were not the first, and it was not even their idea.