Outdated Video Shared as Dummy Tanks Russia Used to Fool the United States

Misbar’s team investigated the circulated claim and found it misleading. The video showing inflatable dummy tanks is cut from a video that was posted on YouTube in 2013. The video was a promotional trailer for the WWII documentary film The Ghost Army.

Misbar’s team found the original video posted on YouTube on March 18, 2020, under the title: “Churchill - WWII decoys used successfully.”

The film is a compilation of documentary footage and scenes narrating the events of a mission carried out by a secret battalion in the U.S. Army, known today as the Ghost Army, to deceive Nazi Germany’s army under Adolf Hitler. The plan was to create the illusion that a battalion of 1,000 soldiers was actually two battalions of 30,000. The Ghost Army was not made up of actual soldiers but rather of actors, designers, and artists from the schools of art and design in Europe.

The army of artists used their abilities to create fictitious objects. Engineers built inflatable tanks that artists later painted, while sound engineers used recordings broadcast over loudspeakers to create sound effects of marching tanks and soldiers.

Misbar’s team found a photo of a WWII rubber tank matching the shape of the tank that appeared in the trailer for the documentary film. The photo was taken by photographer Roger Violet via Getty Images in 1939 England.

The claim started to circulate following the United States threat to impose sanctions on Russia if the latter invades Ukraine, amidst reports that Russia has amassed more forces near the country’s borders.

Translated by Ahmed N. A. Almassri