Carolina Maneuvers 1941 and 1942

[Joe Hinson]

M3 Lee tank collapses bridge in Monroe, NC


M3 Lees on train in Rock Hill, SC


M3 Suart tanks cross bridge over Wateree River in SC 1941


M3 Lee tank in Carolina Maneuvers 1941


Fortified pontoon bridge over PeeDee River..1941


M3 Stuart tank advancing Carolina Maneuvers


1st Armored tanks on Rock Hill road


Light tanks Carolina Maneuvers 1941


Art .. this might be your WC55


Blue Army Anti Tank section Carolina Maneuvers.


Anti tank halftrack M6? Carolina Maneuvers.


Anti tank crew in action in Cheraw SC


Anti tank section with AA support Wadesboro, NC


Anti tank crew Carolinas 1941


Anti tank crew Carolinas.. (and cold too)


Anti tank crew Red Cross NC


Field stripping 37 MM Carolinas


37M Maint. Carolinas


75MM Anti tanks gun in action in Wadesboro, NC


1st Armored Sgt with MG Carolinas 1941


Holding off an Aircraft attack Bethune, SC 1941


Bridge Guard, Carolinas


Carolinas, 1941


Anti aircraft gun position Carolinas, 1941


Scout car in woods, Carolinas, 1941


15th Recon Scout car Carolinas, 1941


Camden, SC, 1941 102nd Cav Recon Scout car


Gen Magruder's half-track on flat car Rock Hill SC 1941


Half-track at crossroads Carolina Maneuvers 1941


Half-track down embankment Carolina Maneuvers 1941


1st Army tank cracks bridge deck Monroe NC 1941


Tank on pontoon bridge PeeDee River, SC


5 M3 Tanks on Pontoon Bridge PeeDee River


Tanks on flat-cars in Rock Hill, 1941


M3 Tanks moving, Carolinas, 1942


Tank train from Ft Knox to Rock Hill



I found lots more .. but darn .. there's lots more..

[D W Lyles]

Those are some great photos! Thanks for showing them.

[WILLYS1951]

Little did they all know that weeks after these pictures were taken they would be fighting the "yellow army" for real.

[Steve Webb]

Great series of pic's. I have peed in the Pee Dee river only it was in N.C.

[Joe Hinson]

Really cool thing about these is that some of those maneuvers were held right in my back pasture. There are still riflepits and gun emplacements on one of the hills in my back 40.

[Frank USMC]

Joe
My mom talks about the maneuvers in 1941 on thier farm in Pageland, SC. I will see her on Sunday, I will ask her about them again.
Side note, she turned 85 today!
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

[Bob at Warsaw]

Great pictures Joe thanks for shareing them

[HQ327]

Really cool thing about these is that some of those maneuvers were held right in my back pasture. There are still riflepits and gun emplacements on one of the hills in my back 40.

Joe:

How close to SOV land?

Jeff

[Joe Hinson]

All over Camden Jeff,

Army War Games - The Carolina Maneuvers
by Louise Pettus
Lancaster County was one of 16 counties in the two Carolinas in which the U. S. Army staged maneuvers from Oct. 6 to Nov. 30, 1941. More than a half-million troops were involved, nearly one-third of the entire U. S. Army.

The Carolinas were chosen for the exercises in mock warfare for a number of reasons.

The rolling terrain and numerous streams were considered ideal. There were adequate highways, yet the population was not so concentrated as to interfere with the soldiers training of the civilian routines.

Besides Lancaster, other S. C. counties involved were Chester, Chesterfield, Fairfield, Kershaw, Marlboro, Richland and York. The soldiers fought over an area that formed a rough triangle anchored by Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Jackson in South Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia.

At one point, a line of more than 2,500 military vehicles stretched from Fort Benning to Rock Hill, a distance of 425 miles. On Nov. 16, two divisions that numbered 40,000 men moved through Fort Mill. It took 36 hours for the column of trucks, light tanks, artillery and 500 mounted cavalrymen to pass through the town. Army Air Corps airplanes droned constantly with as many as 20 in one formation.

An engineering unit built a pontoon bridge across the Catawba River just north of SC 5 where it enters Lancaster County. The Red Army and the Blue Army fought over control of the bridge on the Lancaster County side of the river.

The high school students of Van Wyck were fascinated by the soldiers (not much older than the students) who raced through the school's classrooms, spilling out of open windows and doorways.

Further north the Spratt Bridge over the Catawba river (U. S. 21) was captured and Rock Hill "fell to the enemy."

Headquarters for the maneuvers was at Camden's fine old resort hotel, the Kirkwood, which was also used as a press center.

The Blue Army was designated the defender. The numerically superior Red Army was the invader. Umpires determined casualties, who made up about 20% of all participants.

The umpires also decided on prisoners of war, who were handled as they would under wartime conditions. The prisoners were taken 50 or 60 miles behind enemy lines and were held until they could be exchanged between the army headquarters.

Tested for the first time was the tank destroyer battalion equipped with the latest model tanks, half-tracks with guns, jeeps and swamp buggies.

The army had on hand 12 field guns that wer produced too late to be used in World War I. The guns fired a projectile that weighed 345 pounds. The guns were extremely accurate and in one test missed a target automobile that was parked nine miles away by only 25 feet.

The maneuvers were a Monday through Friday war. Weekends were for rest and recreation. Homes, churches, and civic organizations opened their doors to soldiers. After roughing it for five days, the soldiers were delighted to take showers, sleep on mattresses and share home-cooked meals. The USO and the YMCA offered recreation along with reading and writing rooms.

Local businesses thrived. Perishables such as milk, eggs, produce and ice were in high demand.

Gen. Lesley McNair held a press conference in which he said that the troops "can fight effectively, but warned that losses would be "unduly heavy" at the present level of training. He warned that the army was especially vulnerable to attacks from the air.

Four days after the general's press conference, which signaled the end of the Carolina maneuvers, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

[lowell]

Really cool thing about these is that some of those maneuvers were held right in my back pasture. There are still riflepits and gun emplacements on one of the hills in my back 40.

love to see pics... Lowell

[captndavie]

Thanks Joe. Sure would like to see the rest.

[tamnalan]

These are neat!

Think of all the logistics lessons-learned from that exercise... a whole new way of war unfolding. West Point still had horsemanship in their curriculum at the start of WWII.

[ltflyboy3012]

Interesting have a guidon from the carolina manuvers 1941 cool some photos from there.

[pdqf]

The picture of M3 crossing bridge is incorrect! The light Tank is a M2A4 The raised Commander hatch is on the M2A4! Carlina Maneuvers

[Joe Gopan]

Over the years I have either known or served under many veterans of the Carolina and Louisiana Maneuvers. Some were issued wooden sticks to simulate rifles.