General Patton's Ghost Army

General Patton knew that concentrating his forces on Metz was a risk. A 25-mile section of his line protected only by a small unit of light tanks. The ghost army had to imitate an armoured division, making the Nazis believe that the Allies were reinforcing this part of the line until a real infantry unit could get into place. This was Operation Bettenbork. Around 500 men somehow had to pretend to be 8,000 - complete with artillery, vehicles and all the military material that a division would be expected to have. They started on the first night with audio recordings. That sounded like troop movement. It sounded like there were all kinds of tanks and all kinds of equipment moving underground.