'Combat Con Artists' of World War II Who Hoodwinked Nazis Get Long Overdue Top Honor from Congress

All warfare is based on deception, Chinese strategist Sun Tzu once said.

The battlefield flimflam practiced by the Army's top-secret 23rd Headquarters Special Troops unit during World War II took that ancient advice to another level as the "Ghost Army" in the drive to liberate Europe.

From D-Day to the crossing of the Rhine, the 23rd used inflatable tanks, trucks and artillery pieces; bogus radio traffic; 500-pound loudspeakers blasting recordings of divisions on the move; and other means of fakery to confuse the Nazis. In the process, it may have saved the lives of 15,000 to 30,000 American troops, according to Army historians.

Now, the unit is set to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow, at a March 21 ceremony on Capitol Hill. The medal was also awarded to a sister unit of the 23rd -- the 3133rd Signal Service Company -- which served in Italy and carried out two deception operations in 1945 near the end of the war.