Evening star., 1939-05-21
u. 5. Army Plans
For Summer Greatest
OF Peacetime
100000 to Moneuver,
Supplying Appraisal
Of Nations Power

The United States Army will en-
bark this summer on the greatest
program of training and maneuvers
ever carried out in American peace
time, history.
More than 100000 uniformed men,
scattered from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, will seek to outwit hypo-
thetical enemies and provide the
Army General Staff with data for
more realistic appraisal of the coun-
try's ability to mobilize and fight
In the event of war. Virtually all
branches of the service will be rep
resented.
Although small in comparison
with the maneuvers carried out by
Germany, France and Russia, the
American field exercises will include
more men than have been in uni
form here since World War days.
In addition to the value of the train
ing they will afford personnel, the
maneuvers also will provide staff
officers with an opportunity to test
out under simulated war conditions
several new pieces of materiel. such
as the 37-millimeter aircraft
and anti-tank guns which have been
developed within the last year.
Three Glasses of Maneuvers.
Basically, the maneuvers and
training program fall into three
categorieS of action:
/. Routine summer maneuvers in
the nine corps areas, including about
100000 men of the Regular Army
and the National Guard, and special
maneuvers by the experimental
"streamlined" infantry force of
10000 men at Fort Sam Houston,
Tex.
2. Training in some 1872 camps Of
units Of the National Guard, Organ
lied Reserves and Citizens Military
Training Camp enlistees, about
298,000 strong
3. Maneuvers by the General
Headquarters forces of the Army Air
Corps, involving approximately 5000
officers and men.
Troops of the 1st. I'd and Sd
Corps Areas, about $4,000 officers
and men, will assemble for maneu-
vers at Plattsburg, N. Y, from
August l3 to q. Also, troops from
both Regular Army and National
Guard units in the Sd Corps Area,
about $4,000 officers and men, will
assemble at Manassas, Va, from
August to 10.
Other Exercises Scheduled.
In the 4th Corps Area, some 6,70o
officers and men now are con-
centrated at Fort Benning, Ga, for
maneuvers.
The Army's mechanical brigade
In the 5th Corps Area will hold
maneuvers at Fort Knox, KY, on
May Is and 26. Some 5000 officers
and men will participate.
Combined maneuvers of Regular
Army troops in the 9Th and 7th
Corps Areas will be held at Camp
Mccoy, Wis, from May 81 to June 8,
with 1000 officers and men taking
part.
In the 9th Corps Area, 5000 officers
and men of the lst Cavalry Division
will hold maneuvers at Balmorhea,
Tex, in late October.
The Sd Division is now hold ma
neuvers near Fort Lewis, Wash, in
the 9th Corps Area, with $500 Off
GERS and men participating.
Experimental Division Watched.
OF special significance to the fu-
ture of the Army's organization will
be the maneuvers Of the Expert
mental Infantry Division at Fort
Sam Houston this summer. This di-
vision-only 10000 strong in COM
parison with the standard wartime
division strength of 22000-is test
ing the practicability of reducing all
infantry divisions in the Army by
more than half.
This revolution in organization,
If carried out, will result from the
fact that. with the new Garand
semi-automatic rife, the flre-poWer
of the individual infantryman has
been more than doubled.
Most of the infantry units par
ticipating in the maneuvers will
operate on a wartime basis with
their corresponding compliments of
artillery and cavalry. Where suffi-
cient forces are available, the troops
will be divided into red" and blue"
armies which will operate against
each other, Stimulating wartime
conditions. In areas where only
small forces are engaged, they will
fight hypothetical enemies.
The Air Corps maneuvers, to be
conducted independently Of ground
forces, will include all three wings
of the G. H. @. air force, or all mo-
bile, tactical units. Only training
and school organizations will be ex-
cluded.