Louisiana Maneuvers (1940-1941) - Page 4

JCFalkenbergIII · #76 (**permalink**) February 22nd, 2009, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A-58

That had to be a bumpy landing.

I have always like watching the Jeep being put through these kinds of manuevers.

JCFalkenbergIII · #77 (**permalink**) February 22nd, 2009, 07:22 PM

Paratroop drop Louisiana Maneuvers

JCFalkenbergIII · #78 (**permalink**) February 22nd, 2009, 09:37 PM

Lessons of the Cumberland

Monday, Nov. 02, 1942

Along Tennessee's Cumberland River, Army maneuvers reached their climax. Foot soldiers and jeepers, tankers, airmen and artillerymen tried every trick, threw everything they had except real ammunition, tramping out a problem. The problem: can a tank blitz be slowed and even halted. Answer: by well-organized opposition, yes. The engineers with tank traps did the job of slowing, but the star of the action last week—as in the whole two previous months of maneuvers—was the Second Army's tank destroyer battalion. The Cumberland's will-o'-the-wisp struck, destroyed, disappeared and struck again.
What the IDs Did. One sunny afternoon two battalions of 28-ton General Grants crunched along through the rolling hills. Heavy hitters of the northbound, attacking Blue corps, they were headed for the last roundup of the outnumbered defending Red Army. Triumphantly, the two battalions split to do a pincers on the Red's last redoubt. Then came disaster. From hidden positions in the dense cedar groves and yellow-brown hickory and maple woods flags waved, signifying heavy-caliber anti-tank fire. Grinning umpires scurried out in jeeps to rule that tank after tank was blown to hell & gone.
"It's them damned TDs again," growled a sweating sergeant. "I don't see how they git all over the whole damned countryside." The tank side finally won according to plan in this action through "superior masses of other arms, including air."
The TD battalion is commanded by a red-faced, rednecked, reddish-mustached, beetle-browed Irishman, Lieut. Colonel James Joseph Deery, 40, who talked himself (age 17) into the Army in World War I, graduated from West Point in 1925. The battalion, first Army anti-tank outfit, was organized only two weeks before last year's Louisiana maneuvers where it raised hob with Major General George Patton's famed tanks.
After Pearl Harbor the Colonel went to General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth for a refresher course. When he rejoined his men, they were at Major General Andrew D. Bruce's new tank destroyer school at Camp Hood, Tex. (TIME, July 13), proud of setting records in the school's tough commando obstacle course. Not to be outdone, the Colonel then set the record for battalion commanders.
When the destroyermen hit Tennessee, they had had three months of experience fighting tanks, began to bewitch and bewilder their opponents, almost swept them into the Cumberland time after time. They never seemed to sleep during a maneuver. They figured out where the tanks were likely to come (and usually they guessed right), then lay in wait to enfilade them, fleeing during the confusion, firing again from another angle. They reconnoitered all night, all day, maintained constant. radio communication with all units.
Pacesetter was the thick-chested Commander (see cut), bellowing orders over the radio in his command car, biting into apples between orders. For him a permanent command post was his car under a tree, camouflaged to be invisible 50 yards away, fixed so that by knocking down two branches it could move out straight ahead.
What the Generals Said. At each critique, the tired, dirty men of Lieut. General Ben Lear's Second Army waited to hear whether the generals thought they were ready for combat (TIME, Oct. 19). Last week the generals said yes, with qualifications:
Said small, keen Lieut. General Lesley
J. ("Whitey") McNair, ground forces chief who came down from Washington to see part of the finale in a jeep: "Yes, I have seen combat-worthy units on these maneuvers. Not all of them are combat worthy, of course."
After last year's Louisiana maneuvers he criticized leadership and discipline (TIME, Sept. 29, 1941). This year he gave a pat on the back. Lear's forces have lost many officers to new units in formation (U.S. division increase in one year: 27 to 72). But leadership, said McNair, is excellent among the higher officers. As for discipline: "Last year, the maneuvers stopped when men gathered around a pop vendor. They filled themselves full of pop, then they couldn't march or fight. I haven't seen any of that this year."
The men were harder than last year, but "what they need is whatever it takes to keep them going when they are cold, wet, tired and hungry." He recommended marching five miles an hour (which requires some running) with full pack. One outfit showed General McNair results; on a problem lasting three nights and four days without letup, hungry, cold and tired, the unit marched 35 miles with full pack in one day.
Last week General Lear urged his commanders to "kill the academic and unimaginative outlook ... so to train their subordinates that they are physically and emotionally prepared for the realities of war. . . . We will not find any Japanese in the southwestern Pacific who will permit us to go along with our eyes closed, our guns unloaded and our weapons buried beneath a mass of bedding rolls." He illustrated :
^ He found a captain and a soldier in a jeep taking breakfast to an outpost of four soldiers five miles away. "I think," said the General, "he should have been inspecting his command and had that task accomplished by one of the cooks. . . ."
> In Hartsville one morning General Lear found a sergeant and twelve men, unaware of an enemy battalion near by. The sergeant was lost and was doing nothing about it. "I emphatically told him to go and look for a fight."
> In a tent at the command post, the general found the whole staff having an animated conversation while the radio, unheeded, gave essential information.
>But the standout virtue of troops throughout the maneuvers was the initiative of small, isolated units (see cut, p. 68). One OCS graduate with only eight men captured 18 vehicles and a tank in one morning. Another small unit raided the Blues through an entire problem, was never captured.
All hands praised the men for "doing their damndest," for their serious attention to camouflage, their slit trenches. There was praise for the improvement in supply, for the way the generals profited from mistakes, for the way the men kept themselves and their machines off the roads. Lay observers, remembering Bataan, thought the first burst of real fire would cure lots of minor troubles.

Lessons of the Cumberland - TIME

A-58 · #79 (**permalink**) February 23rd, 2009, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCFalkenbergIII

I have always like watching the Jeep being put through these kinds of manuevers.

Yes, I know what you mean. I saw a show on The History Channel a while back about the jeep, it's developement stages and employment. The field testing was quite enjoying. I'm sure a lot of GI's lost teeth and got a lot of broken bones during that phase of jeep testing.

brndirt1 · #80 (**permalink**) February 23rd, 2009, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A-58

Yes, I know what you mean. I saw a show on The History Channel a while back about the jeep, it's developement stages and employment. The field testing was quite enjoying. I'm sure a lot of GI's lost teeth and got a lot of broken bones during that phase of jeep testing.

Yeah back when the History Channel actually broadcast "history" of any sort. Fortunately I taped the entire run of "Automobiles", and that was the show that had the development on the Jeep in a hour segment. There was also another section called 4x4 in the one "Modern Marvels" that had both the Jeep and Land Rover covered. Loved 'em both, taped same.

I would double that vote on lost teeth, those little buggers could really buck. When I was a kid on the farm in Montana's Hi-Line I managed to plunk my Dad's CJ2 into a pond clear up to the hood. Had the windsheild down and strapped to the hood, and so all you could see was me from the shoulders up sitting in a pond. Took me two days to get it out of there, and another two weeks to get all the water out of all the places water can get, re-lube everything, change all the ignition system parts, and make the little bugger run again.

This was where my interest in the internal combustion engine began, at age eleven. Yeah I was driving that thing then, I had my own "new" (used) 1959 CJ5 for going to school when I was 14. Over the years I rebuilt both of them a couple of times, they both still serve on the farm.

A-58 · #81 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brndirt1

Yeah back when the History Channel actually broadcast "history" of any sort. Fortunately I taped the entire run of "Automobiles", and that was the show that had the development on the Jeep in a hour segment. There was also another section called 4x4 in the one "Modern Marvels" that had both the Jeep and Land Rover covered. Loved 'em both, taped same.

I would double that vote on lost teeth, those little buggers could really buck. When I was a kid on the farm in Montana's Hi-Line I managed to plunk my Dad's CJ2 into a pond clear up to the hood. Had the windsheild down and strapped to the hood, and so all you could see was me from the shoulders up sitting in a pond. Took me two days to get it out of there, and another two weeks to get all the water out of all the places water can get, re-lube everything, change all the ignition system parts, and make the little bugger run again.

This was where my interest in the internal combustion engine began, at age eleven. Yeah I was driving that thing then, I had my own "new" (used) 1959 CJ5 for going to school when I was 14. Over the years I rebuilt both of them a couple of times, they both still serve on the farm.

Nice little story about your jeep. Too bad the military couldn't keep some for use. I know the hummers are much better suited for todays military, but I'm sure some use could be found for new jeeps, like command cars or something.

JCFalkenbergIII · #82 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 03:22 AM

Just found this one. LOL!!!!

Soldiers protect a town from opposing forces, much to the amusement of the town’s citizens.

JCFalkenbergIII · #83 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 03:25 AM

A horse cavalry march by as a YO-59 observation airplane is “gassed up” at a service station. Four YO-59s were procured in 1941 and proved so successful that l ater versions became the Piper L-4 “Grasshopper.” Hans Groenhoff

A-58 · #84 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 03:50 AM

Great pix JC. Where do you come up with this stuff? Keep it up by all means!

JCFalkenbergIII · #85 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A-58

Great pix JC. Where do you come up with this stuff? Keep it up by all means!

Thanks. I do try LOL. I just find them in my little journeys in my search for knowledge LOL.

T. A. Gardner · #86 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 04:55 AM

Did you notice that in the parachute drop picture the soldiers are using the "Fallschirmjäger" single point shroud parachutes rather than the later two point harness that gave the parachutist some directional control?

A-58 · #87 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner

Did you notice that in the parachute drop picture the soldiers are using the "Fallschirmjäger" single point shroud parachutes rather than the later two point harness that gave the parachutist some directional control?

Look real close again. That's cargo being dropped there, not paratroopers. The US didn't use the single riser type harnesses that the Germans did. Look at the drop zone, there are no men on the ground. During training missions, cargo, vehicles and heavy equipment were dropped first for obvious reasons, then came the paratroopers. During combat, it was different. The drop zone had to be secured first, then came the supplies. I'm sure JC can come up with some "test platoon" pictures of the airborne department developing equipment for the new airborne forces.

JCFalkenbergIII · #88 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A-58

Look real close again. That's cargo being dropped there, not paratroopers. The US didn't use the single riser type harnesses that the Germans did. Look at the drop zone, there are no men on the ground. During training missions, cargo, vehicles and heavy equipment were dropped first for obvious reasons, then came the paratroopers. During combat, it was different. The drop zone had to be secured first, then came the supplies. I'm sure JC can come up with some "test platoon" pictures of the airborne department developing equipment for the new airborne forces.

LOL May have to look into that

. But you are right. It is a cargo drop.

JCFalkenbergIII · #89 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 04:53 PM

1941 Postcard from Camp Beauregard Louisiana showing the many varied types of training taking place at that location. Every type of training from paratroop to armor and artillery were conducted at the post. Note the early paratrooper jump uniform and helmet. Photo Credit: Rickey Robertson Collection

JCFalkenbergIII · #90 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 08:48 PM

Paratrooper Ready for Mission Original caption: Private First Class A.R. Stone, paratrooper, shown in full dress and ready to go, during fourth army maneuvers in the Carolinas. He and his buddies are about to take off on a mission. Note chutes in background.

JCFalkenbergIII · #91 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2009, 08:51 PM

Marines of the fledgling 1st Parachute Battalion land near Fredericksburg, Virginia, following a tactical jump in July 1941. Their unexpected arrival in the midst of an Army maneuver demonstrated the disruption that parachutists could cause to unwary opposing units. Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 127-GC-495-504479

http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/inde...47-00/sec3.htm

JCFalkenbergIII · #92 (**permalink**) February 25th, 2009, 03:03 AM

"
The first tactical employment of Marine parachutists came with the large-scale landing exercise of the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, in August 1941. This corps, under the command of Major General Holland M. Smith, consisted of the 1st Marine Division and the Army's 1st Infantry Division. The final plan for the exercise at New River, North Carolina, called for Captain Williams' company to parachute at H plus 1 hour onto a vital crossroads behind enemy lines, secure it, and then attack the rear of enemy forces opposing the landing of the 1st Infantry Division. Captain Howard's company would jump on the morning of D plus 2 in support of an amphibious landing by Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson's Mobile Landing Group and a Marine tank company. Edson's force (the genesis of the 1st Raider Battalion) would go ashore behind enemy lines, advance inland, destroy the opposing reserve force, and seize control of important lines of communication. Howard's men would land near Edson's objective and "secure the road net and bridges in that vicinity."
For the exercise the parachutists were attached to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, which operated from a small airfield at New Bern, North Carolina, just north of the Marine base. The landing force executed the operation as planned, hut Holland Smith was not pleased with the results because there were far too many artificialities, including the lack of an aggressor force. A shortage of transport planes (only two on hand) handicapped the parachutists; it took several flights, with long delays between, to get just one of the under-strength companies on the ground. Once the exercise was underway, Smith made one attempt to simulate an enemy force. He arranged for Captain Williams to re-embark one squad and jump behind the lines of the two divisions, with orders to create as much havoc as possible. Williams' tiny force cut tactical telephone lines, hijacked trucks, blocked a road, and successfully evaded capture for several hours. One after-action report noted that "the introduction of paratroops lent realism to the necessity for command post security."
Smith put great faith in the potential value of airborne operations. In his preliminary report on the exercise, he referred to Edson's infantry/tank/parachute assault on D+2 as a "spearhead thrust around the hostile flank" and emphasized the need in modern warfare for the "speed and shock effect" of airborne and armor units. With that in mind, he recommended that his two-division force include at least one "air attack brigade" of at least one parachute regiment and one air infantry regiment. (The term "air infantry" referred to ground troops landed by transport aircraft.) He also urged the Marine Corps to acquire the necessary transport planes. Despite this high-level plea, the Marine Corps continued to go slowly with the parachute program. At the end of March 1942, the 1st Battalion finally stood up its third line company, but the entire organization only had a total of 332 officers and men, less than 60 percent of its table of organization strength (one of the lowest figures in the division). The 2d Battalion, still recovering from the loss of its first Company A, had barely 200 men."

Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting: US. Marine Corps Parachute Units in World War II (The Jump into Parachuting)

JCFalkenbergIII · #93 (**permalink**) February 27th, 2009, 05:10 AM

JCFalkenbergIII · #94 (**permalink**) February 27th, 2009, 10:30 PM

And of course in addition to Patton there was Eisenhower

JCFalkenbergIII · #95 (**permalink**) March 1st, 2009, 07:57 PM

Patton looking alittle less flamboyant LOL

JCFalkenbergIII · #96 (**permalink**) March 4th, 2009, 12:14 AM

The Louisiana maneuvers, Dwight D. Eisenhower working with Lt. General Lesley McNair September 1941

JCFalkenbergIII · #97 (**permalink**) March 5th, 2009, 04:35 AM

L to R) Major Millard F. Harmon, Brig. General Herbert A. Dargue and Major General Delos C. Emmons during the Louisiana maneuvers.

JCFalkenbergIII · #98 (**permalink**) March 6th, 2009, 05:51 PM

JCFalkenbergIII · #99 (**permalink**) March 8th, 2009, 09:22 AM

A-58 · #**100** (**permalink**) March 9th, 2009, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCFalkenbergIII

I didn't know that the tank corps ever used the same roundel as the air corps. Does anyone know when the red dot was discontinued? I know the the US Army Air Corps, Navy and USMC dropped the red dot from their aircraft roundels in mid-42 or so as to not be confused with the "meatball" looking emblem of Japan's rising sun on their aircraft.