10. The Ghost Army
You might assume every military unit’s main job is to fire weapons, but the Ghost Army flipped that script. This quirky U.S. tactical formation, officially the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, spent World II winning battles without ever pulling a trigger.
Instead of rifles, the 1,100‑strong crew was packed with actors, illustrators, designers, radio operators and sound engineers – even future legends like photographer Art Kane and painter Ellsworth Kelly were on the roster.
Their mission was pure imagination: they conjured fake sounds, bogus radio traffic, inflatable tanks and dummy constructions to fool the German army, staging elaborate ruses that drew enemy fire and even sending actors to pose as inebriated generals in taverns to trap spies. Over twenty such deceptions are credited with saving somewhere between fifteen and thirty thousand lives.
One memorable anecdote comes from soldier Arthur Shilstone, who recalled two Frenchmen staring in disbelief as the squad “picked up” a Sherman tank that was, in fact, an inflatable decoy. Shilstone’s quick‑witted reply? “Americans are very strong.”
9. 61st Cavalry Unit
Cavalry used to be the backbone of any fighting force, but the age of engines relegated horses to a supporting role. Yet the world still boasts a living example: India’s 61st Cavalry, the largest non‑ceremonial horse‑mounted regiment still on the books.
Today the unit serves mainly as a backup police element and only rarely sees combat, though it did charge into battle during the 1971 Indo‑Pakistani War. Volunteers sign up, but roughly a third are turned away for not meeting the demanding riding standards.
In modern times the regiment spends most of its time parading and excelling at polo, where its riders have turned their horsemanship into championship‑level play, producing several top‑ranked Indian polo athletes.
8. The Filthy Thirteen
The Filthy Thirteen weren’t just a catchy nickname – they were the real‑life spark behind the classic war film The Dirty Dozen. Though Hollywood exaggerated their record, the original squad was a band of misfit paratroopers who shunned discipline and loved chaos.
Officially part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, they blew up a bridge during the Normandy invasion and later slipped behind enemy lines for reconnaissance before the Battle of the Bulge.
Their reputation for mayhem matched their missions: they kept their quarters in perpetual disarray, vanished on weekends for wild parties, hijacked jeeps and trains, torched barracks for sport, and even stole the colonel’s whiskey – the only punishment they ever received was a brief stint in the brig.
7. Lovat Scouts
The Lovat Scouts began as a Scottish Highland yeomanry regiment raised in 1900 by Lord Lovat to fight in the Second Boer War, and were commanded by American Major Frederick Russell Burnham, who later co‑founded the Boy Scouts of America.
After the Boer conflict the Scouts were disbanded, only to be reconstituted a year later as two regiments that saw extensive action in World I, quickly earning a reputation as world‑class scouts and eventually pioneering sniper tactics.
In 1916 the Lovat Scout Sharpshooter Unit became the British Army’s first dedicated sniper company, and while the unit itself was short‑lived, it introduced the ghillie suit – a camouflage staple still used by modern snipers.
6. Ritchie Boys
The Ritchie Boys were a U.S. intelligence outfit in World II composed mostly of young Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria, many of whom arrived in America as children and later volunteered or were drafted into the army.
Trained at Camp Ritchie, their expertise lay not in front‑line combat but in interrogation, psychological warfare and gathering intelligence behind enemy lines, thanks to their native fluency in German and intimate cultural knowledge.
Initially they dealt with low‑rank German conscripts, but by D‑Day they were interrogating senior Nazis – one veteran recalls questioning Hermann Goering and SS Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg, the latter describing himself as a “terrible man” with regret only for a design flaw in a gas chamber.
5. Jessie Scouts
The Jessie Scouts were a tiny Union espionage unit during the Civil War, never exceeding sixty men, who slipped into Confederate territory to gather intelligence, often disguising themselves in enemy uniforms.
Led by Captain Charles Carpenter, the Scouts earned a reputation for flamboyant exploits – Carpenter once dressed as a woman to deliver a letter while being escorted by a rebel officer, a stunt that became legend.
Another tale tells of Henry Hale, who tried to steal a horse from an old secessionist; after a comical exchange the veteran forced Hale to dismount, strip, and walk eleven kilometres to Lexington in the nude, while the old man rode off whistling “Dixie.”
4. A Force
A Force was the British mastermind behind many World II deceptions, founded by the flamboyant spy Dudley Clarke, who initially operated solo in the Middle East before fabricating a fictional unit named “A Force” to carry out elaborate ruses.
The unit played a pivotal role in the North African campaign, helping to surprise the Germans during Operation Torch and feeding false intel that delayed the Allied counter‑offensive at El Alamein by two weeks.
Clarke’s most notorious anecdote involves his arrest in Madrid while disguised in drag; he convinced the Spanish police he was a Times correspondent studying “the reactions of men to women in the streets,” turning a potential disaster into a curious diplomatic episode.
3. Merrill’s Marauders
Merrill’s Marauders were the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), nicknamed “Galahad,” but better known by their commander Brigadier General Frank Merrill – a jungle‑warfare special‑operations force that loved the phrase “dangerous and hazardous mission.”
Formed in 1943 after a Presidential call for volunteers, over 3,000 men split into six combat teams and underwent grueling training in India before parachuting into Japanese‑occupied Burma, where they fought in five major battles and countless skirmishes.
Their most celebrated feat came at Myitkyina, where after an 80‑day, 800‑kilometre trek through disease‑ridden terrain, the Marauders wrested the strategic airfield from the Japanese, eventually securing the city with the aid of Chinese reinforcements.
2. Mormon Battalion
The Mormon Battalion holds the unique distinction of being the only faith‑based military unit in U.S. history, raised in 1846 for the Mexican‑American War and composed of roughly 550 Latter‑day Saints volunteers.
Unlike typical regiments limited to men ages 18‑45, the Battalion accepted boys as young as fourteen and men up to sixty‑seven, and marched alongside 33 women and 51 children, totaling about 600 souls on a 3,250‑kilometre trek from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California.
Along the way they witnessed historic moments: arriving just after the Temecula Massacre and helping the Luiseno tribe, seeing the early gold‑rush rivers of California, and even stumbling upon the Donner Party tragedy, where they assisted in burying the victims of cannibalism.
1. Scallywags
During World II, when Nazi Germany threatened to overrun Britain, a secret British resistance called the Auxiliary Units was formed – later nicknamed the Scallywags, after their term “scallywagging” for night‑time covert missions.
Operating under the cover of the Home Guard, the Scallywags worked in tiny cells of seven or eight men who knew nothing about any other cell, ensuring that capture would reveal nothing; members ranged from gamekeepers and dentists to clergymen.
Their only proof of identity was a phone number to give police if arrested, and their clandestine network remained one of the most mysterious wartime undertakings, ready to unleash guerrilla warfare should the mainland fall.