more interesting/amusing info re the GHQ manuevers:
General McNair wanted no more manuevers in which "one man with a flag is a tank".
The first M3 tanks, 105mm howitzers, halftracks, jeeps, and modern combat aircraft
became available in time for the 1941 manuevers.
"To make the sound of battle even more realistic, the army authorized $15,000 for construction
of 7 loudspeaker-equipped sound trucks to broadcast prerecorded battlefield noises."
(HUH???? Where pray tell would they get prerecorded battlefield noises???)
HERE YOU GO MARION! MORE INFO ON THE FLOUR BAG GRENADES!
"General Drum's antitank preparations received an unexpected assist a few days before the manuevers when Gen MCNair issued a memorandum that granted infantry troops the capablility
of knocking out tanks by hitting them with simulated hand grenades in the form of small
bags of flour" (WHAT GENIUS THOUGHT THAT UP?????)
The Battle For The PeeDee River:
" First Army (Which included VI Corps) was to be in it's concentration area by dark on
15 November. General Drum, however, positioned his brigade size crossing forces directly on
the riverbank and then endeavored to conceal this infraction from General Headquarters.
When GHQ discovered these troops outside the concentration area, General McNair ordered them back. McNair also discovered that some of First Army's signal troops had taken the farsighted but illegal precaution of laying telephone lines across the Pee Dee for use during and after the crossings. One of the illegal circuits actually ran into a private home & tied into the Wadesboro telephone exchange."
"The 1st Armored Regiment prepared to leave Abermarle bivouac about 0630 on 19 November withorders to strike south toward Ansonville & Wadesboro. At the same moment, the commander of TA-1 Col. Kennedy, tired of waiting for GHQ-Y, decided to attack the armored camp alone. The two forces collided in a desperate battle that cost 1st armored approximately fifty tanks, not to mention numerous real casualties resulting from acid-smoke
bottles and flour-bag grenades reinforced with rocks"
(HEY! Ithought this was suppossed to be SIMULATED combat!)
"113 Red Army tanks fell victim to the nearly useless .50 caliber antitank machine gun and
another 47 to the highly unrealistic flour-bag grenade. General McNair was not entirely pleased with the Blue Army's performance despite General Drum's masterful handling of First Army and the magnitude of his victory. In a confidential critique, McNair reproved Drum for First Army's violation of concentration area instructions before the manuever. McNair was also
aware that Blue Army troops had utilized ration trucks, which were IMMUNE FROM CAPTURE
under GHQ rules, to conduct reconnaisance excursions deep into Red Army lines. One such truck apprehended by GHQ observers was found to contain one can of coffee, one box of sandwiches, and a half-dozed men."
AND I LOVE THIS ONE:
" VI Corps was fighting desperately on it's right flank. The 1st Armored Div launched three
columns against the western extremity of the Blue Army, two of which broke through minimal opposition and turned VI corps' flank west of Monroe. The 4th Motorized Div assaulted Monroe iitself and by nightfall occupied half the town. Monroe, which happened to be the site of GHQ directors' headquarters, became the scene of a formless confused brawl. According to a GHQ observer, 'They are fighting on the roofs of houses, they are fighting in yards, they've got the town jammed up with half-tracks firing blanks. The Fire Department had to come out twice on account of smoke pots. It is rather a difficult situation'. GHQ finally suggested that all the umpires raise red flags, thus halting the battle & declaring the town half Red Army and half Blue Army for the night."
I think it may well be that the example of the formerly innocuous flourbag grenades retrofitted with rocks is indicative of how we won WWII.
Mary Ann
