Tonight, on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, we discuss one of the longest and bloodiest battles fought by American forces in Europe during World War II.

Taking place from September 1944 to February 1945, this battle unfolded in the dense Hürtgen Forest, located near the German-Belgian border in western Germany. The battle was fought between the United States Army and German Wehrmacht forces, who defended the area with entrenched positions and heavily fortified defenses. The operation was initially intended to support the Allied advance into Germany but became one of the most grueling and costly campaigns for the American military.

The Hürtgen Forest spans about 50 square miles and consists of steep, rugged terrain and thick woods that severely restricted visibility and movement. This dense terrain provided a natural advantage to German defenders, who fortified the area with concrete bunkers, minefields, barbed wire, and hidden artillery emplacements. German forces also used booby traps and anti-personnel mines, making the forest an effective defensive zone. The weather added to the challenge; frequent rain and cold temperatures turned the area into a muddy, harsh environment, complicating the movement of troops and vehicles.

American forces entered the Hürtgen Forest in early September 1944, with the primary objective of securing the Roer River dams. These dams controlled the flow of water downstream, and German forces could release the water to flood the Roer River valley, which would prevent an Allied advance across the river. By capturing the dams, the Allies aimed to prevent such flooding and enable their continued push into Germany.

The legacy of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest remains a sobering reminder of the challenges of ground combat in difficult terrain and the heavy price of war. The battle demonstrated the importance of terrain and the difficulties of fighting in heavily fortified, natural environments. The long and costly battle, fought over harsh winter months, left a lasting impression on those who served there and became one of the most challenging and controversial campaigns for American forces in the European theater of World War II. The losses and hardships experienced by soldiers in the Hürtgen Forest highlighted the brutal realities of war and the often-overlooked complexities of military planning and decision-making during the war.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!

In June 1944, the U.S. Army deployed an unusual and highly secretive unit to Normandy. Known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, this 1,100-man team went by a nickname: the Ghost Army. Their mission wasn’t to fight the enemy with traditional weapons but to deceive them using inflatable tanks, trucks, planes, and a range of sound effects. Historian Rick Beyer explores this unique chapter of World War II in his book and documentary film, The Ghost Army, and he will join us tonight to share this history.

The Ghost Army’s mission was to mislead German forces about the strength and location of American troops. To accomplish this, they staged a series of carefully planned deceptions across Europe, from Normandy to the Rhine. Using truckloads of inflatable vehicles and loudspeakers blasting recorded sounds of engines and marching troops, they created the illusion of large American units. Each day, the soldiers of the Ghost Army had to decide which military unit they would impersonate, often spending hours studying details to convincingly mimic the behavior, movements, and communication patterns of larger American forces.

The Ghost Army’s success relied heavily on creating an immersive deception that would fool German intelligence from multiple angles. Their visual deceptions featured rows of inflatable tanks, trucks, and artillery placed strategically to be visible but imperfectly camouflaged, encouraging enemy reconnaissance to spot them. Sound trucks with speakers were used to broadcast recordings of engines, infantry movements, and equipment clatter, creating an auditory illusion of battalion-sized forces on the move. Radio operators played their part by transmitting fake communication networks, further adding to the illusion. These decoys were so convincing that German intelligence frequently reported the “presence” of American units that existed only in the imagination of the Ghost Army.

Many Ghost Army soldiers were artists and designers recruited from art schools across the United States. This included future fashion icon Bill Blass, painter Ellsworth Kelly, and photographer Art Kane. Their creative backgrounds were essential to crafting believable illusions, and during downtime, they captured their experiences in sketches and paintings, leaving behind a unique and artistic record of the war. Some of these artists went on to successful careers after the war, but their wartime contributions remained classified for decades, a fact that Beyer’s documentary brings to light.

Rick Beyer’s The Ghost Army documentary reveals not only the intricacies of these deceptions but also the human element behind them. Through interviews with 19 Ghost Army veterans, the film shows how these men used their skills in art and performance to execute high-stakes missions with real consequences. In one of their final and most critical operations, the Ghost Army staged a major deception along the Rhine River. Thousands of Allied lives depended on this illusion, and the soldiers knew that if the Germans discovered the ruse, the consequences could be disastrous.

The Ghost Army’s accomplishments remained secret for nearly fifty years. Many veterans, bound by a gag order, never spoke about their experiences even to close family. It was only in recent years that the full extent of their contributions was revealed, and in March 2024, three of the unit’s surviving members were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. This long-overdue recognition marked an important acknowledgment of their bravery and ingenuity, highlighting their contributions to the Allied victory in a way traditional combat could not.

Beyer’s work on The Ghost Army brings this fascinating and largely unknown story to a wider audience, capturing the power of creativity and deception in warfare. The documentary, available on streaming platforms like Apple TV and Amazon, offers a vivid portrayal of the Ghost Army’s unconventional role in World War II. Through a blend of historical perspective, veteran interviews, and original wartime artwork, it celebrates a unique legacy of soldiers who, without firing a shot, played a critical role in securing victory for the Allies. The Ghost Army is a reminder that sometimes, imagination and deception are as powerful as firepower in the theater of war.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!

In a world before GPS and predecessor technology, how in the world did fleets of Allied bombers make their way across vast distances, hit their targets, and return home? Tonight, we talk about how navigation worked in World War II from experts who’ve studied it and one who lived it.

John “Lucky” Luckadoo of 100th BG fame will share what he learned in navigation training, and host Glenn Flickinger will walk through WWII 100th BG navigator Harry Crosby’s book on the subject, A Wing and a Prayer, with Mike Faley, 100th BG Historian and Rebecca Hutchinson, Harry’s daughter. Our own Bob Von Bargen, a retired Air Force navigator, will also guide us through the discussion.

During World War II, with no digital technology to assist them, USAAF navigators relied on complex skills, advanced training, and specialized equipment to complete their missions accurately and under high pressure. Their methods included a mix of dead reckoning, celestial navigation, and radio navigation—each with its own strengths and limitations. Given the severe consequences of navigation errors in combat, navigators trained rigorously to master these techniques, learning to adapt on the fly to conditions that constantly shifted with the demands of war.

Dead reckoning was the most basic and fundamental method navigators used. It involved estimating the plane’s position by calculating the time spent flying at a particular speed and direction. Armed with a stopwatch and a map, navigators would start with a known location and calculate the aircraft’s position based on its heading and airspeed. Crosswinds could throw the aircraft off course so navigators would check their position against landmarks or other data whenever possible. Often, vast stretches of ocean made this cross checking impossible.

In such cases, navigators turned to celestial navigation. This complex process involved using a sextant to measure the angle between a celestial body—such as a star, the sun, or the moon—and the horizon. By comparing these measurements with special navigation tables, navigators could establish the plane’s position on the Earth. This technique required both clear skies and precise trigonometric calculations, making it challenging under combat conditions where visibility was often poor. Still, celestial navigation was one of the most accurate methods available at the time, and mastering it was essential for any navigator.

Radio navigation provided another layer of support. Using ground-based radio stations, navigators would tune into specific frequencies and use the Radio Direction Finder (RDF) to home in on the radio signals. By comparing the signals from multiple stations, they could triangulate their position relative to these points. Although valuable, radio navigation came with its own set of issues, including limited range and the risk of interference from enemy jamming.

Training to become a navigator was intensive and required a wide array of skills. Navigators learned the fundamentals of math, geography, meteorology, and mechanics. Celestial navigation, in particular, demanded precise handling of a sextant and fast calculations, as split-second decisions were often needed under pressure. Training missions would frequently simulate the intense conditions of combat, including flights at night or in adverse weather, to prepare navigators for what they would experience in the field. Familiarity with the aircraft itself was also important, as navigators occasionally needed to take over basic flight controls in an emergency.

The navigators relied on a variety of specialized equipment to perform their duties. A standard kit included the sextant for celestial navigation, a drift meter to measure crosswind angles, and a Radio Direction Finder for picking up radio beacons. Maps, rulers, compasses, and protractors also occupied the navigator’s station.

Only after World War II did Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and, later, the Global Positioning System (GPS) come online. INS used internal sensors to calculate position changes, eliminating the need for constant external references. GPS revolutionized the field entirely, providing precise, real-time global positioning and essentially removing the need for manual calculation. These technologies have streamlined aerial navigation, making it safer and vastly more efficient than the methods WWII navigators had to master.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!