Catherine Rusoff
In the weeks following D-Day, America and its allies sent more than 2 million troops to France, including a pioneering top-secret American military unit with a unique mission: to trick the Germans into pursuing false targets. Known as the Ghost Army, this unit’s efforts 80 years ago marked the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler.
Seymour Nussenbaum, one of the last surviving members of the Ghost Army, described the mission as designed to “drive the Germans crazy.” Recruited directly from New York City’s art school, Nussenbaum and his fellow soldiers set up fake jeeps, tanks and planes in France, never sure if their tactics would work.
After Day D, German spy planes closely monitored American movements throughout France, planning counterattacks to halt the Allied advance. However, many of the American tanks spotted from the air were actually 93-pound inflatable dummies, part of a special battalion that also broadcast fake radio calls and broadcast deceptive audio over loudspeakers simulating the tanks’ movements.
“They didn’t see us because it was night, but if they saw us, I mean, that would have been the end of us,” Nussenbaum said.
Nussenbaum landed on Omaha Beach about two weeks after D-Day.
“It was kind of a mess, everything was a mess. There were still bodies floating in the bay,” he said.
For 50 years, the work of the Ghost Army remained a military secret. When people asked what he did in the military, Nussenbaum simply responded: “I blew up tanks,” he said.
On this 80th anniversary of D-Day, Nussenbaum, now 101 years old, said that the most important events in his life were meeting his wife, having children and grandchildren and having a good career.
He offered his own explanation as to why the Ghost Army was successful.
“Because we were good,” he said.
The Ghost Army’s operations were not without risks. Catching the enemy’s attention often meant they were the target of German attacks. Three Ghost Army soldiers were killed and dozens injured while carrying out their missions, according to The Ghost Army Legacy Project.
Curator Chase Tomlin of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans displayed shrapnel salvaged by a Ghost Army veteran as evidence of these dangers. Tomlin said the shrapnel represents the dangers the unit faced while on the front lines as enemy artillery was fired at them.
The Ghost Army was only made up of 1,100 men, but Tomlin said it could simulate the presence of 30,000 soldiers. The U.S. Army estimates that the diversions saved between 15,000 and 30,000 American soldier lives.
“That’s one of the takeaways here: You know, you’re knowingly putting yourself in danger,” Tomlin said. “You’re intentionally drawing enemy artillery fire… It’s a dangerous job and a lot of them just dealt with it.”
Today, the Ghost Army’s legacy is preserved at the National World War II Museum, which has a traveling exhibit displaying some of the inflatables used to fool the Germans. Earlier this year, the remaining Ghost Army veterans were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of America’s highest honors.
Tony Dokoupil
mae png
giga loterias
uol pro mail
pro brazilian
camisas growth
700 euro em reais
