Louisiana Maneuvers (1940-1941)

Would you have a source? The statement is about the 1941 Maneuvers. Could you be thinking of one of the other ones?

 

"Curtis took part in the Louisiana maneuvers of 1941. During the maneuvers, the medical detachment job was to treat battalion members who were injured or had been bitten by snakes. After the maneuvers, he learned that he was being sent overseas with the 192nd."

Massey_C

"Realisitic military training can lead to injuries and death due to safety risks incurred through various factors including lack of sleep, enervated, the presence of heavy equipment, traffic accidents, and the presence of firearms. During the Louisiana Maneuvers, 26 men died. Most men lost their lives from drowning in the Sabine River and vehicle accidents. One died from getting struck by lightning, and one had a heart attack at age 24. [3]"

Louisiana Maneuvers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Staff Sergeant Louie Alexander And General George S. Patton Heroes Amoung Us

​

Early in the morning of Tuesday, May 15, 1940, residents of central La. were awakened by the roar of military tanks speeding down their quiet country roads toward Leesville. For almost a week, the region had swarmed with soldiers. All of central Louisiana seemed to be engulfed in war, caught up in the largest military maneuvers ever held in the United States. After years of public apathy, the nation's military had been seriously neglected. The poorly equipped United States Army had few armored vehicles, so the sight of fifty-four tanks rolling through the countryside caught everyone's attention. Few had ever seen a single tank before, much less the thundering fleet advancing on Leesville.
Tanks had been used in World War I, but since then the technology had been largely abandoned. Military leaders still favored the cavalry. In 1940, on the eve of World War II, some still argued that the large-scale use of tanks was an ineffective strategy. Events that unfolded during the Louisiana Maneuvers soundly refuted this view. Firing blank shells, the tank forces easily overpowered the opposition, who only managed to fire one machine gun and one antitank weapon.
Before the United States entered into World War II, three major maneuvers had been conducted in Louisiana. These exercises helped recast the entire U.S. Army‹its strategies, equipment, and leadership. Many of our nation's most recognizable and decorated military leaders developed their strategic theories at these maneuvers. General Courtney Hodges, General Robert Hasbrouck, Brigadier General William Hoge and Major General John Devine would go on to long distinguished careers forged in battle using skills developed in Louisiana.
A new generation of officers moved to the forefront, including Generals George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower and Brigadier Generals Adna P. Chaffee and Jonathan Wainwright. Within weeks of the conclusion of the maneuvers, Chaffee received a promotion and orders to form the nation's first armored divisions replete with tanks and geared for rapid movement. He authorized the acquisition of land near Leesville for the 3rd Armored Division, which later was to distinguish itself in the battle to retake
Normandy and in other crucial European engagements. The new post that Chaffee helped establish ultimately became Fort Polk.
To the casual observer of the Louisiana Maneuvers, the street fighting was an exciting diversion. The long-term implications, however, were deadly serious. Within a year and a half of the first maneuvers, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, thrusting the nation into a global conflict that ultimately killed sixty million people. The training provided during the Louisiana Maneuvers and later at Fort Polk, as stated by many of the leaders of the armed forces, proved pivotal information in turning the tide toward victory.
At this dangerous juncture in history, the United States' military was ranked seventeenth in the world, behind even the tiny country of Romania. The May 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers created a unique opportunity for the U.S. military to witness first hand the strengths and limitations of both air power and armored warfare. While participating in the war games, military leaders experimented with the question of how an armored unit would perform when combined with an infantry under a single command. After fewer than forty-eight hours of formation, the new unit had advanced some seventy-five
miles in one day. During this advance, the improvised force won various simulated battles, including the May 15 surprise dawn attack on Leesville. Combining tanks and motorized infantry under one command proved to be a strategic breakthrough.
During the maneuvers, another notable figure stepped onto the Louisiana stage. A colonel at the time, George S. Patton was destined to have a significant impact on Louisiana, on the military, and on training methods at Fort Polk. Patton was invited to an historic meeting regarding armored warfare on the final day of the maneuvers. The gathering, held in the basement of an Alexandria high school, was kept secret from of the army's most powerful officers. The topic of tanks was so highly charged that attendees could have possibly risked their career advancements by participating. Nonetheless, these men had just witnessed how effective tanks could be. The experience convinced them that the army had to change quickly if it was to be effective against potential enemies. At the meeting, the group, later called the Basement Conspirators' decided the Army should immediately create an independent agency to strengthen armored forces. One of the Basement Conspirators', General Frank Andrews, Assistant Chief of Staff, relayed the participants' recommendations to the Pentagon and his boss, General George C. Marshal. Within two weeks Marshal took action. On July 10, 1940, Chaffee assumed command of a new corps, consisting of two armored divisions and a reserve tank battalion. Within a year, a third armored division was added and was soon moving to the new headquarters at Camp Polk.
The Louisiana exercises served as a vast laboratory for testing strategies and innovations. For the first time, C-rations were consumed by large numbers of troops. Army Chief of Staff Marshall declared central Louisiana the "finest training area" he had ever seen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was another U. S. Military figure whose career took a dramatic turn upward directly related to his participation and performance in the Louisiana Maneuvers. There was also General Lesley McNair who oversaw the entire 1941 Armored Maneuvers. Besides supervising these maneuvers, McNair was responsible for training the Army and National Guard troops. More than anyone else, he was ultimately credited with preparing millions of young soldiers to fight in World War II. He would also become the highest-ranking officer to be killed in action.
A significant development during the September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers was the success of the four-wheel drive vehicles. The next year, the Ford Motor Company and Willys-Overland both mass-produced vehicles similar to these that came to be called jeeps. The jeep vehicles could travel almost anywhere and they quickly became the Army's workhorses
The exercises in Louisiana provided thousands of men with their first experience of armed conflict and ultimately helped many of them survive overseas. One such member of the armed forces to benefit from this kind of training was Staff Sargeant Louie Alexander, father of Dutchtown High School Principal David Alexander.
Drafted in 1942 at the age of twenty-two, Louie Alexander, a resident of Ruston, moved through Fort Polk and Camp Beauregard in central Louisiana. He continued his training at Fort Youstas in Virginia. After six more weeks of physical and obstacle course training he was sent to Camp Edwards in Cape Cod, MA where he underwent rigorous artillery training. Mr. Alexander said, I trained on the 90 mm anti-tank gun and the 90mm anti-aircraft gun, which could shoot 30,000 feet in the air.
Soon afterward, the Japanese Army captured Kiska Island off the west coast of the United States. Louie was deployed to the coast of Canada in response to this occupation. He stayed there for six months until the Japanese were driven off the island. At that same time, Hitler had pushed the German Army forward toward what would become the Battle of the Bulge. Sargeant Alexander soon learned he was headed to Belgium. He was sent directly to Southampton as his point of crossing the English Channel. The channel was mined, he said. Some of our equipment had been delayed coming from America, so we were delayed on our crossing. I was with the 76th Infantry and we had to trade times with the 86th. On their third day, two ships were blown apart by mines and every man on those two ships was lost. We felt very lucky but it was with great sadness that we understood how close we had come to death and we had not even entered into the fighting yet.
The mines were cleared, and the 76th had its turn to cross the English Channel into France. They joined two divisions of General Patton’s army which had marched up northward to Europe from Italy. Earlier they had fought and won in Northern Africa in some of the war’s fiercest battles against the “Desert Fox”, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Mr. Alexander and his fellow soldiers experienced two months of fighting Germans to clear them from France near the English Channel. They then turned their attention inland to France which had been captured by Hitler. They engaged the Axis power in the Roi Valley. Hitler underestimated their forces in large part because of the new battle philosophies developed by the brave men in their Louisiana Maneuvers. Mr. Alexander told us, "The English were very instrumental in leading our forces with advanced artillery," another tactic studied and revamped after Louisiana. "We were a young group, many just out of high school, but we ripened fast. We had to, but it was tough. We were fighting in the thick forests of Belgium and Germany at one point. The temperature was minus twenty-seven and we had not yet been issued overcoats." They experienced heavy fighting in the bitter cold, and their heroic efforts proved worthwhile when they later liberated Bukenvald Concentration Camp.
The Army's 711th Railway Operating Battalion arrived in Louisiana in August of 1941 to begin laying tracks connecting Camp Polk to Camp Claiborne near Alexandria, some fifty miles away. They trudged through miles of fetid swamps to raise twenty-five ridges, aided by a clanging steam powered pile driver. The workers designed and built the bridges with little experience, but after finishing the rail line the 711th traveled to Iran where their Louisiana experience helped them maintain the Trans-Iranian Railroad, which carried vital military materials to Russia throughout World War II.
In December 1944, with blistering efficiency, Germany attacked along a seventy-five mile front along their border with Belgium and Luxembourg. This late in the war American strategists assumed that if Germany somehow managed to mount an offensive, it would not be there. The region was sparsely populated with the dense Ardennes Forest. Undulating terrain with few good roads, covered with a thick blanket of ice and snow made the area seem untenable for German-style tank warfare. The Allies had siphoned away forces from the area so they were ill equipped to handle the onslaught of nearly a half million troops and tanks. The Germans created a breach in the Allied lines and their objective to battle through to Brussels and Antwerp seemed within reach. Time was of the essence for the Germans. At the site of a small village named St. Vith in Belgium, the American troops in the area were the 9th Armored Division. Trained during the Louisiana Maneuvers, the 9th were outnumbered by more than six to one. Despite these overwhelming odds they used their intensive training and strategic expertise to delay the German assault for over forty-eight hours. Allied forces were able to scramble and gathered personnel to send to the region where soon one of the most famous and deciding confrontations of the war would take place, The Battle of the Bulge. The soldiers' skill, courage, and sacrifice provided Eisenhower time to move more fresh troops into the Bulge, a tactic that would eventually stem the German tide. The American units trained at Fort Polk accomplished one of the most spectacular defensive stands in United States military history. Staff Sargeant Louie Alexander, during his time of great bravery and service, was paid fifty-four dollars a month. He was almost as far across the spectrum of military hierarchy as he could possibly be from the decorated General Patton. Yet these two heroes have an overriding common experience that makes them more alike than different. These two soldiers and hundreds of thousands of others can point to the lessons they learned from their time spent in Louisiana as the single most important reason for victory. It is without question that Louisiana and its people truly helped save the world.
Source:
“A Soldier’s Place in History”
Sharyn Kane and Richard Keeton
​

 

Staff Sergeant Louie Alexander And General George S. Patton Heroes Amoung Us

​

Early in the morning of Tuesday, May 15, 1940, residents of central La. were awakened by the roar of military tanks speeding down their quiet country roads toward Leesville. For almost a week, the region had swarmed with soldiers. All of central Louisiana seemed to be engulfed in war, caught up in the largest military maneuvers ever held in the United States. After years of public apathy, the nation's military had been seriously neglected. The poorly equipped United States Army had few armored vehicles, so the sight of fifty-four tanks rolling through the countryside caught everyone's attention. Few had ever seen a single tank before, much less the thundering fleet advancing on Leesville.
Tanks had been used in World War I, but since then the technology had been largely abandoned. Military leaders still favored the cavalry. In 1940, on the eve of World War II, some still argued that the large-scale use of tanks was an ineffective strategy. Events that unfolded during the Louisiana Maneuvers soundly refuted this view. Firing blank shells, the tank forces easily overpowered the opposition, who only managed to fire one machine gun and one antitank weapon.
Before the United States entered into World War II, three major maneuvers had been conducted in Louisiana. These exercises helped recast the entire U.S. Army‹its strategies, equipment, and leadership. Many of our nation's most recognizable and decorated military leaders developed their strategic theories at these maneuvers. General Courtney Hodges, General Robert Hasbrouck, Brigadier General William Hoge and Major General John Devine would go on to long distinguished careers forged in battle using skills developed in Louisiana.
A new generation of officers moved to the forefront, including Generals George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower and Brigadier Generals Adna P. Chaffee and Jonathan Wainwright. Within weeks of the conclusion of the maneuvers, Chaffee received a promotion and orders to form the nation's first armored divisions replete with tanks and geared for rapid movement. He authorized the acquisition of land near Leesville for the 3rd Armored Division, which later was to distinguish itself in the battle to retake
Normandy and in other crucial European engagements. The new post that Chaffee helped establish ultimately became Fort Polk.
To the casual observer of the Louisiana Maneuvers, the street fighting was an exciting diversion. The long-term implications, however, were deadly serious. Within a year and a half of the first maneuvers, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, thrusting the nation into a global conflict that ultimately killed sixty million people. The training provided during the Louisiana Maneuvers and later at Fort Polk, as stated by many of the leaders of the armed forces, proved pivotal information in turning the tide toward victory.
At this dangerous juncture in history, the United States' military was ranked seventeenth in the world, behind even the tiny country of Romania. The May 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers created a unique opportunity for the U.S. military to witness first hand the strengths and limitations of both air power and armored warfare. While participating in the war games, military leaders experimented with the question of how an armored unit would perform when combined with an infantry under a single command. After fewer than forty-eight hours of formation, the new unit had advanced some seventy-five
miles in one day. During this advance, the improvised force won various simulated battles, including the May 15 surprise dawn attack on Leesville. Combining tanks and motorized infantry under one command proved to be a strategic breakthrough.
During the maneuvers, another notable figure stepped onto the Louisiana stage. A colonel at the time, George S. Patton was destined to have a significant impact on Louisiana, on the military, and on training methods at Fort Polk. Patton was invited to an historic meeting regarding armored warfare on the final day of the maneuvers. The gathering, held in the basement of an Alexandria high school, was kept secret from of the army's most powerful officers. The topic of tanks was so highly charged that attendees could have possibly risked their career advancements by participating. Nonetheless, these men had just witnessed how effective tanks could be. The experience convinced them that the army had to change quickly if it was to be effective against potential enemies. At the meeting, the group, later called the Basement Conspirators' decided the Army should immediately create an independent agency to strengthen armored forces. One of the Basement Conspirators', General Frank Andrews, Assistant Chief of Staff, relayed the participants' recommendations to the Pentagon and his boss, General George C. Marshal. Within two weeks Marshal took action. On July 10, 1940, Chaffee assumed command of a new corps, consisting of two armored divisions and a reserve tank battalion. Within a year, a third armored division was added and was soon moving to the new headquarters at Camp Polk.
The Louisiana exercises served as a vast laboratory for testing strategies and innovations. For the first time, C-rations were consumed by large numbers of troops. Army Chief of Staff Marshall declared central Louisiana the "finest training area" he had ever seen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was another U. S. Military figure whose career took a dramatic turn upward directly related to his participation and performance in the Louisiana Maneuvers. There was also General Lesley McNair who oversaw the entire 1941 Armored Maneuvers. Besides supervising these maneuvers, McNair was responsible for training the Army and National Guard troops. More than anyone else, he was ultimately credited with preparing millions of young soldiers to fight in World War II. He would also become the highest-ranking officer to be killed in action.
A significant development during the September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers was the success of the four-wheel drive vehicles. The next year, the Ford Motor Company and Willys-Overland both mass-produced vehicles similar to these that came to be called jeeps. The jeep vehicles could travel almost anywhere and they quickly became the Army's workhorses
The exercises in Louisiana provided thousands of men with their first experience of armed conflict and ultimately helped many of them survive overseas. One such member of the armed forces to benefit from this kind of training was Staff Sargeant Louie Alexander, father of Dutchtown High School Principal David Alexander.
Drafted in 1942 at the age of twenty-two, Louie Alexander, a resident of Ruston, moved through Fort Polk and Camp Beauregard in central Louisiana. He continued his training at Fort Youstas in Virginia. After six more weeks of physical and obstacle course training he was sent to Camp Edwards in Cape Cod, MA where he underwent rigorous artillery training. Mr. Alexander said, I trained on the 90 mm anti-tank gun and the 90mm anti-aircraft gun, which could shoot 30,000 feet in the air.
Soon afterward, the Japanese Army captured Kiska Island off the west coast of the United States. Louie was deployed to the coast of Canada in response to this occupation. He stayed there for six months until the Japanese were driven off the island. At that same time, Hitler had pushed the German Army forward toward what would become the Battle of the Bulge. Sargeant Alexander soon learned he was headed to Belgium. He was sent directly to Southampton as his point of crossing the English Channel. The channel was mined, he said. Some of our equipment had been delayed coming from America, so we were delayed on our crossing. I was with the 76th Infantry and we had to trade times with the 86th. On their third day, two ships were blown apart by mines and every man on those two ships was lost. We felt very lucky but it was with great sadness that we understood how close we had come to death and we had not even entered into the fighting yet.
The mines were cleared, and the 76th had its turn to cross the English Channel into France. They joined two divisions of General Patton’s army which had marched up northward to Europe from Italy. Earlier they had fought and won in Northern Africa in some of the war’s fiercest battles against the “Desert Fox”, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Mr. Alexander and his fellow soldiers experienced two months of fighting Germans to clear them from France near the English Channel. They then turned their attention inland to France which had been captured by Hitler. They engaged the Axis power in the Roi Valley. Hitler underestimated their forces in large part because of the new battle philosophies developed by the brave men in their Louisiana Maneuvers. Mr. Alexander told us, "The English were very instrumental in leading our forces with advanced artillery," another tactic studied and revamped after Louisiana. "We were a young group, many just out of high school, but we ripened fast. We had to, but it was tough. We were fighting in the thick forests of Belgium and Germany at one point. The temperature was minus twenty-seven and we had not yet been issued overcoats." They experienced heavy fighting in the bitter cold, and their heroic efforts proved worthwhile when they later liberated Bukenvald Concentration Camp.
The Army's 711th Railway Operating Battalion arrived in Louisiana in August of 1941 to begin laying tracks connecting Camp Polk to Camp Claiborne near Alexandria, some fifty miles away. They trudged through miles of fetid swamps to raise twenty-five ridges, aided by a clanging steam powered pile driver. The workers designed and built the bridges with little experience, but after finishing the rail line the 711th traveled to Iran where their Louisiana experience helped them maintain the Trans-Iranian Railroad, which carried vital military materials to Russia throughout World War II.
In December 1944, with blistering efficiency, Germany attacked along a seventy-five mile front along their border with Belgium and Luxembourg. This late in the war American strategists assumed that if Germany somehow managed to mount an offensive, it would not be there. The region was sparsely populated with the dense Ardennes Forest. Undulating terrain with few good roads, covered with a thick blanket of ice and snow made the area seem untenable for German-style tank warfare. The Allies had siphoned away forces from the area so they were ill equipped to handle the onslaught of nearly a half million troops and tanks. The Germans created a breach in the Allied lines and their objective to battle through to Brussels and Antwerp seemed within reach. Time was of the essence for the Germans. At the site of a small village named St. Vith in Belgium, the American troops in the area were the 9th Armored Division. Trained during the Louisiana Maneuvers, the 9th were outnumbered by more than six to one. Despite these overwhelming odds they used their intensive training and strategic expertise to delay the German assault for over forty-eight hours. Allied forces were able to scramble and gathered personnel to send to the region where soon one of the most famous and deciding confrontations of the war would take place, The Battle of the Bulge. The soldiers' skill, courage, and sacrifice provided Eisenhower time to move more fresh troops into the Bulge, a tactic that would eventually stem the German tide. The American units trained at Fort Polk accomplished one of the most spectacular defensive stands in United States military history. Staff Sargeant Louie Alexander, during his time of great bravery and service, was paid fifty-four dollars a month. He was almost as far across the spectrum of military hierarchy as he could possibly be from the decorated General Patton. Yet these two heroes have an overriding common experience that makes them more alike than different. These two soldiers and hundreds of thousands of others can point to the lessons they learned from their time spent in Louisiana as the single most important reason for victory. It is without question that Louisiana and its people truly helped save the world.
Source:
“A Soldier’s Place in History”
Sharyn Kane and Richard Keeton
​

 

In some of the pictures in this thread were some tanks that I did not recognize. The only one that was familiar to me was the Stuart. I am familiar with the Grant tank, but there was another tank that was similar to the Stuart that is new to me. Just wondering.

 

M2A1 Medium Tank

1,000 were ordered into production in June 1940. However, the M3 Medium was nearing completion and only 94 were completed. These were used for training.

Or,








M2 Light Tank

This M2A4 is externally very similar to the M3 Stuart. However, visible differences include the raised idler wheel, seven pistol ports ringing the turret compared with the M3's three, and the recoil mechanism of the 37mm gun extended from the gun shield and was therefore protected by armor. This tank apparently has its sponson machine guns fitted. This tank was in England in 1942 or 1943 and was part of a Lend-Lease shipment.

 

So, of these tanks used in the Louisiana Maneuvers, only the M-3 Stuart saw combat later in the war, correct? That picture that you posted of the M-2 indicated that it was in England as part of a lend-lease shipment. I don't recall any of those being used, but as usual, I could very well be wrong. As not being a tank expert by any means, the M-2 looks as if it could hold it's own against Japanese or Italian armor, but that's about it. Again, that's just my opinion, and it's not based on any concrete knowledge. Anything with a combat narrative with the M-2 that I can get my hands on out there?

 

The M2 Medium was never used in combat. For the M2 Light Tank,

"By December 1941, the M2A1, M2A2 and M2A3 were used for training only. A few M2A4 saw some combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal with the U.S. Marine Corps and remained in service in some areas of Pacific until 1943.
Britain ordered 100 M2A4s in early 1941. After 36 of them were delivered, the order was canceled in favor of an improved Light Tank M3."

M2 Light Tank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Light Tank M2A4
Final version of the M2, standardized in May of 1940. It announced the Stuart, among others by introducing the turret mounted 37 mm gun whereas the previous model hadn't gone further than machineguns. By contrast to the few dozen units of its predecessors produced, more than 300 M2A4 left the factories, benefiting from the start of the US rearmament. M2A4 saw action at the start of the War in the Pacific during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and in Guadalcanal. 40 were delivered to Britain, which used them for the defense of the homeland and later for the training of the Stuart crews. None saw combat in EuropeIt already looks like the next type, the Stuart. The distance between the bogies, the mantlet, the gun shield and the rear of the hull among others allow an easy distinction between the older and the newer type.Built by American Car & Foundry Co. , Baldwin Locomotive Works"

LemaireSoft's Light Tank M2: global

 

Thanks again JC for a series of very informative posts. I will read up on these tanks in detail.

I know how you feel about the "what iffers," but here's one that may be a little different. What if there were no Louisiana Maneuvers in 1940 and 1941. The war carried on along historical lines. What would happen? Especially in the ETO.

Of course to keep in line with the thread, just consider this a rhetorical "what if." I shudder to think of what would happen. Good thing the maneuvers were conducted. Too much would have changed without them.

 

LOL Dont want to hijack the thread either LOL. Well you could try this in the "What If?" Forum. It sure would be a different change rather then some of the others threads created LOL. . But since this wouldn't involve the Germans winning I dont think some would be interested LOL.

 

Not 1940 or 1941. But 1942. Still horses around LOL.

 

As a side note it is interesting on how the twin turret design had caught on with quite a few countries. But didn't last very long once the war started.

 

J.C.,

I'm glad you took an interest in this thread, you always have the best and most informative post.

The Manuvers were one of the amazing accomplishments of the US. Can't imagine the thoughts and planning that went on at that time. Something that will never be duplicated.

One could imagine what the Axis thought when they caught word of our manuvers ?! It was the begining of their end.

Best Regards,

 

Thanks . I find it just another little facet of the war that some are not aware of. Just like advances in Logistics ,Training and Doctrine seems to not be thought of.

 

The History of the 897th and 3562nd Ordnance Heavy Automotive Maintenance Companies
1941-1945 - 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers

1941 Louisiana Maneuvers​

Apparently written by BJ (Ben) Noster for the 897th Ordnance Association’s 15th reunion, September 16-18, 1993, in Henrietta, NY.
The 1941 Army maneuvers took place in two sections of the country – first in Louisiana followed shortly afterwards in the Carolinas.
On August 27, 1940, Congress authorized the Ward Dept. to call up nearly 300,000 Guardsmen and Reservists for 12 months of federal service. Three weeks later the Selective Service Act cleared Congress, empowering the Army to draft up to 900,000 men, also for a year’s service.
From the outset, efforts to create a combat ready Army encountered numerous difficulties, that of imposing a uniform training program where none had existed before. In spite of difficulties a formulated training program was implemented.
The soldier who entered the Army in 1940-1941 began his training with a mobilization training program (MTP) that lasted about thirteen weeks. Training began with several weeks of basic training which included physical conditioning, introduction to military knowledge and discipline, map reading, sanitation, first aid, and close order drill. The second phase introduced the recruit to his service specialty and to function as part of a small unit.
To the Army’s top command, maneuvers would provide an answer for the vital question; did the U.S. posses an Army capable of defending the nation in time of crisis?
In August of 1941, participating field units began to gather on the Louisiana maneuver grounds. At this time Gen. Krueger brought his ten divisions into the Blue assembly area north of Lake Charles.

897th en route to Lake Charles

After a month in garrison at Camp Shelby, the 897th departed on Aug. 4th, bivouacking the first night at the far end of the runway at the Baton Rouge airport. The next day brought us to Lake Charles, where we set up pyramidal tents the following day, after clearing out the primitive swamp area of copperheads, scorpions and water moccasins, etc. Cots and mosquito nets were provided for sleep. Shops were set up in a large warehouse and maintenance performed. Shops were also operated “in the field” in Crawley and Pitkin.

Encamped near Lake Charles (Gocek)

Encamped near Lake Charles (Gocek)

Encamped near Lake Charles

Encamped near Lake Charles (Crowley standing at left, Carfora in tent)
Maneuvers completed, the 897th returned to Camp Shelby on Oct. 9.
The Louisiana maneuvers consisted of two phases; phase 1 was the Battle of the Red River and phase 2 was the Battle for Shreveport. Phase 1 started on Sep. 15 in the midst of a tropical storm and torrential rain showers. Phase 2 started on Sep. 24 amidst the side effects of a powerful hurricane which grounded aircraft, flattened camps, and soaked troops.
The 1941 maneuvers helped the nation prepare for war; for the first time in the nation's history there existed a field tested nearly combat-ready Army before a declaration of war. Sixty one soldiers lost their lives in the Louisiana and Carolinas maneuvers and which cost the nation $20.6 million in expenses incurred. Additional compensation went out for damage claims for stolen melons, rutted yards, wrecked barrooms, drowned sheep, buildings damaged by tanks and fatal accidents involving Army and civilian vehicles.

897th and 3562nd Ordnance HAM Companies, 1941-1945

 

I found this interesting too about the manuvers.

"The 1941 maneuvers helped the nation prepare for war; for the first time in the nation's history there existed a field tested nearly combat-ready Army before a declaration of war. Sixty one soldiers lost their lives in the Louisiana and Carolinas maneuvers and which cost the nation $20.6 million in expenses incurred. Additional compensation went out for damage claims for stolen melons, rutted yards, wrecked barrooms, drowned sheep, buildings damaged by tanks and fatal accidents involving Army and civilian vehicles."

 

I never understood these maneuvers. How do they determine if a certain unit won if they met on the field?

 

The article that dgmitchell link explains some of it.

Louisiana Maneuvers (1940-41) » HistoryNet