Louisiana Maneuvers

Summer of ‘41

Eighty years ago, America was enjoying its last summer of peace before a second world war consumed its people, resources, and attention.

Even though much of Europe had been fighting in earnest since September 1939, the USA remained neutral. Germany had split Poland with the Soviet Union, and then conquered Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France. England had survived the air attacks of the Battle of Britain but was struggling to free itself from the death grip of German U-boats. Hitler had turned East during June 1941, and the biggest land battle the world has ever known raged as Nazi and Communist ideologies began their duel to the death.

President Roosevelt announced the "Lend-Lease Act" on March 11, 1941, and as American warships escorted Allied convoys in the Western Atlantic and US troops occupied Iceland, America looked less and less like a neutral nation. Even so, more than 70% of Americans favored staying out of the war. Isolationism was the watchword of the era, and for most folks it was yet another "European problem" that they wanted no part of.

Charles Lindbergh, one of America's greatest heroes of that time, described isolationism in this way: “An independent American destiny means, on the one hand, that our soldiers will not have to fight everybody in the world who prefers some other system of life to ours. On the other hand, it means that we will fight anybody and everybody who attempts to interfere with our hemisphere."

That was the backdrop for America's extensive war games, conducted in Louisiana during August and September of 1941. On June 17, 1941, the US Army was expanded to 280,000 men. Just nine days later it was expanded to 375,000 men. Despite these additions, America’s ground and air forces were quite small compared to European armies. Meanwhile, very few in the USA were giving any credence to the growing threat from Imperial Japan. Fortunately, the US Navy was one of the finest in the world.

With an eye to the massive combined-arms battles going on in Russia and in North Africa, the "Louisiana Maneuvers" were a series of major US Army field exercises and were the largest ever held by US forces to that date. They would grow to involve nearly 400,000 troops operating in central and northern Louisiana, including Fort Polk, Camp Claiborne, and Camp Livingston.

Two fictitious countries, represented by the Red and Blue armies (comprising a total of 19 divisions), were created for these war games:

The Red Army: Kotmik (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Kentucky)

The Blue Army: Almat (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee)

There were two phases of the operation, the second phase concluding with the Blue Team (led by General Patton's 2nd Armored Division) taking Shreveport. There were 26 men truly killed in these war games, most of these deaths coming from drowning or vehicle accidents. Cooperation and relationships with the confused residents of Louisiana varied throughout the maneuvers but ultimately the locals, along with their farms and crops, survived.

Some important lessons were learned, mainly about the operations of armored and mechanized forces. Much of the basis of what would become American armored division structure in WWII was learned in Louisiana during the summer of 1941. Unfortunately, US planners were satisfied with a substandard group of armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons. The M1 Combat Car and the M2 Light Tank were both obsolete by European standards. The M3 "Lee" just began production during August 1941, so it was not available for the war games. Meanwhile, US anti-tank weapons, from the new 37mm M3 AT gun (introduced in 1940) and the well-aged 75mm M1897A4 gun were good enough for the moment but were on the verge of being obsolete as well.

The basics of the new US tank destroyer doctrine (towed AT guns at this point) were tested during the Louisiana War Games and without a truly modern armored force to defend against, all seemed well. While the tank destroyer doctrine and its specialized vehicles was not a failure per se during World War II, it was never proven effective either and it was quietly dropped by the autumn of 1945. With America's entry into WWII just a few months away, many lessons were yet to be learned. America would soon learn what it was made of and discover the incredible bravery and ingenuity of its people.

For the moment though, there was still one last summer of peace for America during 1941.