Evening star., 1942-03-18
Army Undertakes
Large-Sca|e Training
OF Desert Fighters
Experiments With Tanks
Will Be Started at Once
West of Colorado River

Training OF desert fighters is to
start Immediately on large scale
in the West to prepare American
troops for offensive action, Brig.
Gen. Mark w. Clark, chief of
staff Of the new Army ground
forces, disclosed today.
Armored forces and motorized In
fantry are to be given a thorough
grounding in the principles OF CO.
ordinative combat action in a vast
desert area somewhere" west OF the
Colorado River, selected only last
week.
The site of the desert training area
was not given. 1t was chosen after
Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, jr.,
commander Of the lst Armored
Corps. and some OF his staff officers
visited the ground and approved it.
At the same time, it was an
nounced field maneuvers this sum-
mer and fall will be conducted on 4
much smaller scale than the war
games OF last year, and will empha-
size the training OF Army corps for
amphibious warfare. An Army corps
consists ordinarily OF three to five
divisions.
Last year the four separate armies
engaged in extensive maneuvering
These ana other matters were re-
vealed at press conference held to-
day by 1t. Gen Lesley j. McNair,
commanding general of the ground
forces, and his chief of staff.
Gen. McNair exploded the idea
that the purpose of the new Army
reorganization was to give the air
forces their proper place in the
sun.
Takes Burden From Marshall.
The primary purpose, he declared,
was to streamline the complicated
War Department setup and to take
much of the burden of admins
tration from the shoulders of Gen.
George c. Marshall, Army chief of
staff.
1T was not. as the press indi-
Gates, with the idea of giving the
air forces at least their place in
the sum-" he explained. The Or
ganization of the air forces was
essentially taken care Of last June" +"
A timetable has been made for
activation Of the 30 new infantry
triangular divisions. set some time
ago as goal for this year. Includ-
ing three divisions already listed to
hn Had ivNtn oNfiuo enpvyirA lEarrh
Is, the schedule calls for the activa-
ton of two more in May. three in
June and four each month begin
ming in July. None is scheduled
in April.
Gen. Clark did not reveal the size
of the special desert task force to
be trained as soon as the men can
be transported to the scene.
Other task forces. such as noun
tain troops, which already are train
ing in the Pacific Northwest, will
be enlarged to meet the needs Of
an army expected to fight on fronts
around the world.
Gen. Clark said these task forces
are especially needed to pack a
wallop" for the offensive the United
Nations will be called on to as
sumo.
Some cavalry units with special
equipment have been training for
several months in the desert near
Yuma, AriZ.
Will Experiment With Tanks.
In another southwestern desert
area huge anti-aircraft firing CEN
ter was established some time ago.
The new proposal, Gen. Clark
said, involves wide scale experiments
to try out tanks and motorized units
for desert warfare.
The ground forces also will add
two new Army corps to its strength.
giving them II instead of 8 that
now are functioning. These two
additional corps have not been &C
tivated.
Consideration also has been given
the creation of special commando
forces, similar to the raiding units
that the British have used success
fully. Gen. Clark made it clear,
however, that no decision has been
made to organize such forces for
the American Army at this time.