Jonathan Gawne

This book is a real find for those who love to wallow in the excruciating details of military operations.This is most definitely not a coffee table book. The author has investigated and thoroughly documented all those small units that assisted the landings of the Allies in Normandy, as well as examining not so much as "who" landed as much as "how" they were equipped and with "what". His emphasis is not so much on the people as on their equipment and operations. Examples? There are loading show more diagrams for the landing craft, showing where each soldier was positioned (or intended to be positioned). We shown in photos and text how different navy personnel marked their helmets and jackets to differentiate themselves from the men who were landing. We learn how soldiers packed their packs, what kind of uniform they wore, how they protected their weapons from salt water (plastic bags!) and what other items they carried.

There is even a detailed (heck, everything in this book is detailed!) chapter about the combat vest that was used only on the Normandy operation and not by all troops, who made them and how they were made (and how the US Marines tested it and decided against adopting the vest for their landing troops).

This is not to say that the book overlooks the operations carried out by these units. Their actions on D-Day are described in detail and often we are also informed of their subsequent actions through the end of the war.

I have at times described books as "lavishly" illustrated, but this book requires a stronger adjective. The included photographs and drawings are simply incredible in detail and abundance. There are many photos of objects from museums or collections, expertly placed and photographed for clarity. There are even posed photographs of re-enactors to show off different equipment and uniforms.

You don't have to be a D-Day fan to enjoy this book. I would very much recommend it for any military history enthusiast who revels in the details and minutiae of military accouterments and equipment. show less

Ghosts is one of interesting books that reveal a lesser know side of World War 2, in this case tactical deception. Tactical deception is the art of deceiving the enemy as to the strength, location, or intent of a combat unit, as opposed to strategic deception which can be considered to be misleading the enemy as to actions that might affect an entire theater of war, for instance fooling the enemy into thinking that you are going to land at the Pas de Calais rather than Normandy.

Ghosts show more primarily deals with a single unit, the US 23rd Special Troops. This unit, or parts of it, was assigned to various commands of the US Army in Europe in 1944-45. It's role was to deceive the enemy into thinking that a real combat unit was someplace it wasn't, or to mask the movement of a combat unit by misleading the enemy into thinking it had gone to somewhere else. There were also other tasks undertaken by the unit. These deceptions were accomplished by using explosives and speakers to mimic artillery fire, phantom radios to simulate the normal wireless traffic of a real combat unit, trucks or half-tracks mounting large speakers to replicate the sound of a large unit moving, and many others.

The book contains a wealth of information concerning these deception techniques and their employment, but sadly the author spends many chapters covering operations that are repetitious to ones previously described. He does carefully include maps to cover the operations, but they aren't all that useful to illuminate the hows and whys of the operations, just where and whens. As I read the book I found myself skimming over chapters once I had determined that it contained nothing new of interest to me. As a unit history this book has much to commend it, but as a study of tactical deception it does tend to get boring after a while. show less

I bought this book because it looked like it could be a good resource and it is for the average person who is researching ancestors who have served in the armed forces of the United States. It is well organized and author seems to go out of his way not to speak above the reader's understanding and prior exposure.

The book provides good information on the background, organization, and composition of various military units and would be especially useful for the novice who knows nothing about show more military organizations.

Other chapters discuss the various records produced and how to find them. The author provides good insight to access public records at locations such as NARA in St Louis and the Carlisle Barracks and give good tips on what to expect from the staff. Also included are addresses, both brick and mortar and electronic of all the locations where pertinent records might be found.

All in all, I consider this valuable resource for the individual researching their ancestor wartime experience and would especially useful for the novice who would not even know where to start.

Also, throughout the book, there are additional books and reference materials listed in text boxes. Some of the books, I am familiar with and they are excellent resources themselves, so I suspect the other listed books are also.

10/10 A must for the novice researcher and a good addition for the knowledgeable historian. show less

The subtitle of this book is something of a misnomer, since ALL American ground troops which invaded Normandy were “special” units.” Even the grunt units were “special” because they were specially reinforced regimental combat teams instead of ordinary regiments. Even on the smallest level these regimental combat teams were special: the infantry had to be reorganized into “boat teams” optimized to fit on their landing craft, rather than ordinary platoons.

A review of the chapters show more provides us with perspective on the organization of this book. Chapter 1 covers the Assault Training Center at Woolacombe, which tested and trained prior to the invasion. Chapter 2 describes the landing craft and the units which manned them; especially useful were the illustrations, in 1/100 and 1/300 scale, of the various types of landing vessels, from the diminutive LCVP to the (relatively) mighty LST. Chapter 3 covers the assault troops. Chapter 4 covers naval combat demolition teams, the Special Engineer Task Force at Omaha Beach and the Beach Obstacle Demolition Party at Utah Beach. Chapter 5 is devoted to the regimental combat teams. Chapter 6 covers the Rangers — and the Marines. Chapter 7 is devoted to naval beach battalions. Chapter 8 covers the engineer special brigades as well as the joint assault signal companies and “Comanche code talkers.” Finally, Chapter 9 covers amphibious truck companies, Seabees, etc.

The book was published by Histoire & Collections, a French firm noted for their high production values but not necessarily for the quality of their texts. This one is one of the best. show less