Ben Affleck, known for his roles in Pearl Harbor; Justice League, Suicide Squad etc., will be directing and starring in the upcoming World War II movie “Ghost Army”, which is based on the book “The Ghost Army of World War II” by Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles, as well as the documentary “Ghost Army”.
Synopsis of Ghost Army reads: “The US military forms a squadron of unconventional recruits during World War II to trick the German army into thinking there were outposts and bases where there were only mannequins, props and inflatable tanks.”
“Ghost Army” will be produced by Universal Pictures and according to Variety.com, the latest script was written by Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective), with an earlier draft by Henry Gayden (Shazam!).
Dummy M4 Sherman tank of the type used by the Ghost Army. It weighed 93 pounds fully inflated. (Credits: National Archives)
During Word War II, the Ghost Army, which in fact were 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Between missions the artists (incl. luminaries like Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey) filled their duffel bags with drawings and paintings and dragged them across Europe. Every move they made was top secret and their story was hushed up for decades after the war’s end.
Interested to learn more about the Ghost Army? Read here all about the Dummy Tanks.
