The “Ghost Army” was a unit that used deception to imitate or cover the actions of real units during WWII. There is a documentary being made.
Mason’s platoon was attached to General Joe Collins’ VII Corps as an experiment in deception. Their assignment was to set up dummy artillery emplacements, about a mile forward of the 980th artillery, to draw enemy fire. I was kind of scary says Mason. Task Force Mason stayed with the 980th Artillery for 28 days. Their efforts to draw fire succeeded as they were attacked by both German artillery and aircraft. Luckily, there were no casualties. The experiment was judged a success. There would be bigger operations–and more danger–in the Ghost Army’s future.