# Tennessee Maneuver Area

The Tennessee Maneuver Area was a training area in Middle Tennessee, comprising the following counties: Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Hickman, Humphreys, Jackson, Lawrence, Maury, Moore, Perry, Putnam, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Warren, Wayne, White, Williamson, and Wilson. The area was selected because the terrain resembled that of France, Belgium, and Germany.
In June 1941, Major General George S. Patton conducted maneuvers with the 2nd Armored Division in the vicinity of Manchester, Tennessee, where he soundly defeated the opposing forces, using large-scale armored tactics based on Bedford Forrest’s cavalry doctrine. These maneuvers led to the creation of the Tennessee Maneuver Area.
On 24 June 1942, Governor Prentice Cooper, announced that nine counties would be used as a maneuver area by the Second Army, and the area was eventually expanded to twenty-one counties by 1944. By 25 July 1942, the War Department selected Cumberland University, in Lebanon, Tennessee as the location of the Headquarters for the Army Ground Forces field problems, commonly known as the Tennessee Maneuvers.
Between 1942 and 1944, in seven large scale training exercises, more than 850,000 soldiers were trained in the Tennessee Maneuver Area. Training activities in the Tennessee Maneuver Area were suspended in March 1944 because of the great acceleration of overseas shipment of units in advance of the D-Day landings and the resultant lack of combat and service units available to participate in the maneuvers and administer the maneuver area.

## Units Trained in Tennessee Maneuver Area

| Unit | Year | Training Period |
| XII Corps | 1942 | September - November |
| 6th Infantry Division | 1942 | September - November |
| 8th Infantry Division | 1942 | September - November |
| 4th Armored Division | 1942 | October - November |
| VII Corps | 1943 | April - June |
| 79th Infantry Division | 1943 | April - June |
| 81st Infantry Division | 1943 | April - June |
| 5th Armored Division | 1943 | April - June |
| III Corps | 1943 | June - August |
| 101st Airborne Division | 1943 | June - July |
| 80th Infantry Division | 1943 | June - August |
| 83th Infantry Division | 1943 | June - August |
| 10th Armored Division | 1943 | June - August |
| XX Corps$^*$ | 1943 | September - November |
| 30th Infantry Division | 1943 | September - November |
| 94th Infantry Division | 1943 | September - November |
| 98th Infantry Division | 1943 | September - November |
| 12th Armored Division | 1943 | September - November |
| XI Corps | 1943 | November - January 1944 |
| 35th Infantry Division | 1943 | November - January 1944 |
| 87th Infantry Division | 1943 | December - January 1944 |
| 100th Infantry Division | 1943 | November - January 1944 |
| 14th Armored Division | 1943 | November - January 1944 |
| XII Corps | 1944 | January - March |
| XXII Corps | 1944 | January - March |
| 17th Airborne Division | 1944 | February - March |
| 26th Infantry Division | 1944 | January - March |
| 78th Infantry Division | 1944 | January - March |
| 106th Infantry Division | 1944 | January - March |
$^*$Entered maneuver area as IV Armored Corps, re-designated XX Corps on 10 October 1943.