Louisiana Maneuvers (1940-1941)

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.

 

Just found this one. LOL!!!!



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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

LOL May have to look into that . But you are right. It is a cargo drop.

 

[SIZE=-1]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[/SIZE]

 

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.

 

[SIZE=-1]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.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 127-GC-495-504479[/SIZE]

http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003147-00/sec3.htm

 

"
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)

 

And of course in addition to Patton there was Eisenhower

 

Patton looking alittle less flamboyant LOL

 

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

 

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

 

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.