They were not your typical World War II soldiers. Most were not in particularly good physical shape, and many had trouble handling their weapons. They differed widely in their ages, politics, and skills. Many worked in academia, media, and the arts. They were a strange mix of Americans and foreign nationals, immigrants, and refugees, linked by their language skills, knowledge of Europe, and a desire to defeat the Axis. During the war, the U.S. Army trained them in psychological warfare at a secret camp on the Gettysburg battlefield and then sent them to Europe. They became known as “Psycho Boys,” a group of soldiers who have never received their due respect. In this book Beverly Driver Eddy, author of Ritchie Boy Secrets, tells their rarely heard story and argues for their importance to the Allied war effort. At Gettysburg the Psycho Boys were taught the various skills that would be necessary in the European campaign from D-Day onward: prisoner and civilian interrogation, broadcasting, loudspeaker appeals, leaflet and newspaper production, and technical support. The 800 men were divided into four mobile radio broadcasting companies and sent to Europe to land on D-Day, fight in Normandy and at the Bulge, and participate in the conquest of Germany and the liberation of the concentration camps. Some of the soldiers operated well out in front of Allied lines and – in German – called on enemy soldiers to surrender. Others worked behind the lines, printing propaganda leaflets and making radio broadcasts. Drawing on company histories, memoirs, and interviews, this book traces the history of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies and the men who served. For far too long, these soldiers were maligned as mere “paragraph troopers” who weren’t in the line of fire. As Eddy shows, the Psycho Boys made important contributions to victory in World War II by encouraging enemy soldiers to desert or surrender and in other indirect ways. Their story is interesting, important, and vital.

Erika and Klaus Mann: Living with America provides new insights into the lives of Thomas Mann's two eldest children, by focusing on their years in America. It begins with Erika and Klaus Mann's self-promotional tour of the United States in 1927-1928, and follows up with their return in 1936 as voluntary exiles determined to fight the spread of Nazism in Europe. As children of privilege and considerable personal charm, Erika and Klaus Mann quickly became highly visible representatives of the German exile community. In examining their lives in America, the United States plays a central role. Just as the Manns' views of America evolved between 1936 and 1952, so did American public opinion and government policy. This study examines Erika and Klaus Mann's public and private statements, while also examining statements made about them by American journalists, politicians, book critics, and F.B.I. and immigration officers. It follows the Mann siblings' rise in America as celebrity representatives of an "other," better Germany, and the forces that began to rally against them even before the outbreak of the war. It shows the many concrete actions the Mann siblings took to persuade Americans to view their country as one linked to European interests, and it describes their various war activities, with Erika becoming a U.S. war correspondent and Klaus an American soldier. Finally, it portrays their fears for America as the war drew to a close, America deployed the atom bomb, and the nation quickly transformed itself from Russian ally to Cold War combatant.

In June 1942, the U.S. Army began recruiting immigrants, the children of immigrants, refugees, and others with language skills and knowledge of enemy lands and cultures for a special military intelligence group being trained in the mountains of northern Maryland and sent into Europe and the Pacific. Ultimately, 15,000 men and some women received this specialized training and went on to make vital contributions to victory in World War II. This is their story, which Beverley Driver Eddy tells thoroughly and colorfully, drawing heavily on interviews with surviving Ritchie Boys. The army recruited not just those fluent in German, French, Italian, and Polish (approximately a fifth were Jewish refugees from Europe), but also Arabic, Japanese, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Turkish, and other languages-as well as some 200 Native Americans and 200 WACs. They were trained in photo interpretation, terrain analysis, POW interrogation, counterintelligence, espionage, signal intelligence (including pigeons), mapmaking, intelligence gathering, and close combat. Many landed in France on D-Day. Many more fanned out across Europe and around the world completing their missions, often in cooperation with the OSS and Counterintelligence Corps, sometimes on the front lines, often behind the lines. The Ritchie Boys' intelligence proved vital during the liberation of Paris and the Battle of the Bulge. They helped craft the print and radio propaganda that wore down German homefront morale. If caught, they could have been executed as spies. After the war they translated and interrogated at the Nuremberg trials. One participated in using war criminal Klaus Barbie as an anti-communist agent. This is a different kind of World War II story, and Eddy tells it with conviction, supported by years of research and interviews.

Merriam Press World War 2 History Series. Drawing on company histories, memoirs, and interviews, Camp Sharpe's "Psycho Boys" traces the history of the men of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies during World War II. The story begins with the establishment of a secret camp in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the specialized training in military intelligence and propaganda services that the men received there. We then follow these men abroad: to further training in Britain, to the D-Day landings, the Battle of the Bulge, the conquest of Germany, and the liberation of the concentration camps. Camp Sharpe's "Psycho Boys" is enriched with new material - including photographs - acquired through personal interviews and correspondence with nine veterans of the camp. 37 photos, footnotes, index.