These weren’t the guys you’ve already heard about, setting up on the south coast of England. These units, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, began operations across the channel in Normandy and continued across Europe to the Luxembourg and the Rhine. They waved red flags in front of the noses of the Nazi bulls. Incredibly brave. And they were mostly artists! In addition to their story, the book is full of their art, and it is of amazing quality especially considering the conditions under which they were working. ( )

Wonderful book about a fantastic story. Hard to believe the Pentagon kept this classified until 1996. A page turner, if only for the photos, but Beyer and Sales also did a nice job with the narrative. ( )

Fascinating. More about the people - and in their own voices, from contemporary records and recent interviews - than the methods, though there's some discussion of their tools. The sonic and radio aspects of the deception get skimmed over more lightly than the physical ones - I don't know whether that's because some of them might still be useful (and therefore not declassified) or because they're more complex and technical and an in-depth discussion of them didn't fit the book's style. But the skimming is barely noticeable while reading, because the focus of the book is on the artists who were part of the various sections that made up the deception unit - many of them came straight from art school to the unit, and when they returned to civilian life many of them became famous artists (in one medium or another - Bill Blass is a big name in fashion, for instance). But many of the artists spent every free minute during their service sketching, painting, and otherwise illustrating their service and the areas where they were stationed, which make for a fascinating record of this unit's service. Few of the pictures chosen for the book illustrate the deception itself, but we get to see the towns they were in just before, and often just after, they'd been attacked; we get to see the soldiers (if you like Bill Mauldin's cartoons, here's some of the same sort of images); and we get to see the people they encountered, both locals (in France, Belgium, and other areas) and refugees in the same locations. It's not a dense book, but I found it very interesting. I suspect it will reward rereading, as well. ( )

There was a whole unit dedicated to impersonating other units, deceiving the Nazis about the forces they faced. They painted inflatable tanks, created sound recordings that mimicked a real deployment, and impersonated many other units in creating tracks in nearby towns. They may have helped win the war, though it’s hard to say. Bill Blass was one of the members; others went on to work in art and advertising. ( )

The bulk of the "battle" books have mostly been written. Someone new to the literature of WWII might pick this up and conclude the war was one of sleight of hand or fun and games. Of course, with 5 1/2 million in the armed forces, the war for the USA was much more. It was even more to Soviet Russia who lost millions and millions. Nevertheless, like so many of the specialties that were developed to fight this war, the story of the rubber tank army is a small but integral part. It might be asked how could such an approach ever gain traction but both sides were desperate to hold down casualties so the idea of a ruse could be attractive. One needs only to read the words of Gen. George S Patton to see how the high command welcomed innovation. This particular book comes from a story-teller; which is not the same as coming from an historian. Nevertheless, it does advance the knowledge. ( )