Phantom World War II Divisions (United States) on:
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The United States Army created a large number of notional deception formations that were used in a number of World War II deception operations. The most notable fictional US formation was the
The United States Army created a large number of notional deception formations that were used in a number of World War II deception operations. The most notable fictional US formation was the First U.S. Army Group
First United States Army Group (often abbreviated FUSAG) was a fictitious (paper command) Allied Army Group in World War II prior to D-Day, part of Operation Quicksilver, created to deceive the Germans about where the Allies would land in Fran ...
(FUSAG); this field army was originally intended as the main invasion force for the Invasion of Normandy
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
, however that was renamed to the 12th Army Group
The Twelfth United States Army Group was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field, commanding four field armies at its peak in 1945: First United States Army, Third United States Army, Ninth United Stat ...
. FUSAG remained in existence on paper and was used during Operation Fortitude South
Operation Fortitude was the code name for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy (code named '' Bodyguard'') during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was ...
to divert Axis attention to the Pas de Calais area.Holt 2004
The imaginary formations ranged in size from battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
to field army
A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and with ...
and were faked using documents, photographs, double agents, news reportage and physical subterfuge. Some of the units were either based on existing decommissioned formations (usually World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
formations) or created afresh. Many were used multiple times, Clarke in particular believed that reusing units in the long term would help establish their existence in the mind of the enemy.
Field armies and army groups
Corps
Divisions
References