Tennessee Maneuver Area

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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. [1]

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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. [2]

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. [3] 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.

Units Trained in Tennessee Maneuver Area

UnitYearTraining Period
XII CORPS SSI.gif XII Corps 1942September - November [4]
6th Infantry Division.svg 6th Infantry Division 1942September - November [5]
8th Infantry Division patch.svg 8th Infantry Division 1942September - November [6]
4th US Armored Division SSI.svg 4th Armored Division 1942October - November [7]
US Army VII Corps SSI Pre-April 28, 1944.png VII Corps 1943April - June [8]
79th Infantry Division SSI.svg 79th Infantry Division 1943April - June [9] [10]
US Army 81st Infantry Division SSI.svg 81st Infantry Division 1943April - June [11]
5th US Armored Division SSI.svg 5th Armored Division 1943April - June [12] [13]
3 Corps Shoulder Sleeve Insignia.svg III Corps 1943June - August [14]
101Airborne-Patch.jpg 101st Airborne Division 1943June - July [15] [16]
80th Inf Div SSI SVG.svg 80th Infantry Division 1943June - August [17] [18]
83rd Infantry Division SSI.svg 83th Infantry Division 1943June - August [19] [20]
10th US Armored Division SSI.svg 10th Armored Division 1943June - August [21]
XX Corps ssi.gif XX Corps *1943September - November [22] [23]
30th Infantry Division SSI.svg 30th Infantry Division 1943September - November [24]
94th Regional Readiness Command SSI.svg 94th Infantry Division 1943September - November [25] [26]
98th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia.svg 98th Infantry Division 1943September - November [27]
12th U.S. Armored Division CSIB.svg 12th Armored Division 1943September - November [28] [29]
US XI Corps SSI.svg XI Corps 1943November - January 1944 [30]
35th Infantry Division SSI.svg 35th Infantry Division 1943November - January 1944 [31] [32]
US 87th Infantry Division.svg 87th Infantry Division 1943December - January 1944 [33] [34]
100th Infantry Division SSI.svg 100th Infantry Division 1943November - January 1944 [35]
14th US Armored Division SSI.svg 14th Armored Division 1943November - January 1944 [36] [37]
XII CORPS SSI.gif XII Corps 1944January - March [38]
XXII Corps SSI.svg XXII Corps 1944January - March [39]
USA - 17 ABN DIV.svg 17th Airborne Division 1944February - March [40] [41]
Yankee Division.svg 26th Infantry Division 1944January - March [42] [43]
78th Infantry Division SSI.svg 78th Infantry Division 1944January - March [44] [45]
106Infantry Division.svg 106th Infantry Division 1944January - March [46]

*Entered maneuver area as IV Armored Corps, re-designated XX Corps on 10 October 1943.

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References

  1. ↑ Sloan, Eugene, "With Second Army, Somewhere in Tennessee", 1995.
  2. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  3. ↑ Sloan, Eugene, "With Second Army, Somewhere in Tennessee", 1995.
  4. ↑ XII Corps: Spearhead of Patton's· Third Army
  5. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  6. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  7. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  8. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  9. ↑ The Cross of Lorraine, A Combat History of the 79th lnfantry Division, June 1942- December 1945
  10. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  11. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  12. ↑ Paths of Armor; Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Alsace, Rhineland, and Central Europe.
  13. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  14. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  15. ↑ Rendezvous With Destiny. History Of The 101st Airborne Division
  16. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  17. ↑ 80th "Blue Ridge" Infantry Division
  18. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  19. ↑ Thunderbolt Across Europe: A History of the 83d Infantry Division 1942-1945, The
  20. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  21. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  22. ↑ The XX Corps Its History and Service in World War II
  23. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  24. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  25. ↑ History of the 94th Infantry Division in World War II
  26. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  27. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  28. ↑ Hellcats, 12th Armored Division.
  29. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  30. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  31. ↑ The 35th Infantry Division in World War II 1941-1945
  32. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  33. ↑ A Historical and Pictorial Record of the 87th Infantry Division in World War II, 1942- 1945
  34. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  35. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  36. ↑ The Fourteenth Armored Division
  37. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  38. ↑ XII Corps: Spearhead of Patton's· Third Army
  39. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  40. ↑ Thunder from Heaven: Story of the 17th Airborne Division, 1943-1945
  41. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  42. ↑ 26th Infantry Division History World War II
  43. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  44. ↑ Lightning: The History of the 78th Infantry Division
  45. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
  46. ↑ McMillin, Woody, In the Presence of Soldiers, The 2nd Army Maneuvers & Other World War II Activity in Tennessee. Horton Heights Press, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, ISBN   978-0-9827770-0-8
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