Desert Training Center

Transcription

The Mojave Desert, a vast foreboding expanse of sand sun and wind, a harsh and rugged landscape broken by jagged ranges and steep ridges. Revered by its original native inhabitants, but a daunting environment to those unaccustomed to its extremes. And yet, this is where 1 million young Americans came to train for battle during World War II. Where our soldiers build the skills and resilience needed to win in combat. In this gritty endeavor millions of acres designated as the desert training center became both foe and friend. I think being isolated is putting it mildly. Just 50 miles east of Palm Springs lies the western boundary of the desert training center. The largest military reservation in US history is encompassed 18,000 mi.² spread across Arizona, Nevada and California. There are still remains from the time road grids and crumbling foundations are mute testimony to the enormity of what took place. At its height there were a dozen divisional camps each holding some 15,000 men along with numerous landing strips and five major airfields to support them. One of these was Rice Army airfield where young men learn to fight in the sky. In our war we knew what the stakes were we just had to stay with it do and we did. By the fall of 1941 world already been a war for two years, avoiding direct involvement the United States and confined itself to supplying materials for the beleaguered allies. That changed on December 7 with Japanese aircraft destroyed much of the Pacific fleet of Pearl Harbor Hawaii. Overnight this nation was united in an all-out determination to avenge the hideous assault on American lives and property, now practically the entire world is joined in a horrible war. With war declared the United States found itself unprepared to fight the axis powers, the entire army consisted of less than 200,000 troops with only one battle ready division. In Europe the Germans have swept British and allied forces off the continent, driving them back to defend Egypt and the critical Suez Canal in North Africa. There they faced one of Germany's most effective generals Erwin Rommel the Desert Fox, at British Prime Minister Churchill's eurgeing Pres. Roosevelt agreed to make this far corner of the world America's first battleground in World War II. Everybody knew they was going to the desert going to fight Rommel, that was all concentration was finally going to fight Rommel One of the great advantages of North Africa for the Americans in particular was that it was a good place to learn to fight .It was a place to Germans were relatively weak especially in terms of air power. we cannot train troops to fight in the desert of North Africa by training in the swamps of Georgia. The Army turns to Gen. George S Patton Junior to find an appropriate locale to train the troops with the riggers? Of desert warfare Patton and his staff explored the Mojave in March 1942 and found it an ideal location exclaiming Well Patton was looking for a place for his troops could train in isolation and secrecy and this certainly gave him that, and the Army we wanted a place where they could practice maneuvers with large numbers of troops large units operating together over a wide area. America goes to war to save the homes and ideals of free men from axis domination. Patton’s vision was well served by the thousands of young men entering the armed services many of whom an already built bridges dams and roads as part of the depression era WPA programs. There was a set of optimism about the American soldier we refer to it as the greatest generation but it was it was a generation that was actually made by the new deal who believed that government could do good things. Because we had a depression and a CCC camp and the CCC camp taught us to fight for something that nobody else could touch. We fought a war and we fought for a country that we had worked for we have worked for, we have built. They came with a can-do spirit to create the roads structures and utilities necessary for a massive training center all within a few short months. The camps had a plan the area was completely bulldozing a clear boulevards were laid out streets were laid out and it wasn't random. The company streets were set up with the two rows of tents with an assembly area in between so it's a very regimented army of fashion of setting up the camps. The architect of the desert training center chose locations strategically to cope with the immense logistical demands of transporting thousands of arriving soldiers and then supplying them. Rice Army air base is just a couple miles down the road when the main reasons was built where was because of thiese railroad tracks that were here before the base was built. Off to my right is the Metropolitan water District's Colorado River aqueduct which provided all the water that those many men needed at Rice Army air base. I know some officers really did not know where they were when they am got to rice. They knew where they came from didn't know where they landed. Most new soldiers came from east of the Mississippi and were unprepared for the site that awaited them after their long train ride West. They were told maybe that they were going to California they were thinking of Hollywood and beaches they're really excited about their new duty station, and that the vast majority of them rode the train are told to get off the train and here they are in this vast wasteland. You should've heard some of these guys cussing California you can't blame and not seen any place else in the state then dropping them off in no man's land, Sgt. Hors Barrett 709 tank battalion. The dramatically different surroundings weren't the least of the surprises awaiting the new recruits. These large training areas were of course a shock these are people from places that California sounds incredibly exotic you’re mixing Protestants and Catholics. Suffering together in the heat, tent camp In the middle of nowhere far from any comforts of home of civilization and the desolate desert really attended to bring the men together and really strengthen those bonds unit cohesion for critical to winning overseas. We started pitching tents five-man pre tent and on the first day were pitching him I felt something warm bite me on the side, than a scorpion ran out of my pant leg and one of the guys killed it. They took me over and glanced it sucked out the poison then they gave me a furlough corporal, O. V. Coffman 736 Tank Battalion For trainees these camps in the middle of nowhere were home for the next several months, soldiers did what they could to make the best of the situation. The men really took pride in their specific areas there's lots of instances where unit symbols were spelled out rocks of the painstaking detail find just the right color to get the unit symbols just right, and lots of stories of men sweeping their company area here they were out in the middle of the desert but theirs brooms out sweeping the company streets in the reveille areas you can see a lot of pride in those units and in the unit areas. The decision to have the rock alignments of the visual emblem of things like this, this may be more product of the individual troops showing pride or make the landscape when they were out here for the period of training. This one is known as Iron Mountain divisional camp or Camp Iron Mountain it’s typical of the other camps but it is distinguished by the fact that it has two religious alters, one on the eastern side of the camp and one the western side of the camp. We have to remember that Patton number one goal is to prepare troops for the rigors of desert warfare, and in these situations I’m sure spirituality would have been very important component of training. The troops to get some time off her rest relaxation and a lot of times they spent playing cards writing letters home. It's hot and dusty and you just make do with what's available off-duty can't do much their crap games card games they have a PX that serves warm beer when they can get it Lieut. Guiltier 736 Tank Battalion. Periodically the USO would break the soldier’s routine and loneliness with a Saturday night dance the desert bussing in young ladies from Los Angeles. Organized by Mrs. Edward G Robinson they call themselves The Desert Battalion their time with the troops was welcomed if all too brief. Perhaps the most favored among the troops were when the celebrities came out from Los Angeles which is only couple hour drive up the desert so that's pretty big-name entertainers came out there was Bob Hope, Diana Shore or Red Skeleton and a variety of others came out and entertain the troops right there in their camps. Flying their might of the United Nations is loosed upon war plans in Nazis occupied Europe. As the war ragged in Europe and the Pacific military strategists increasingly relied on air power to take the fight to the enemy. New planes poured out of America's factories pilots were needed to fly the fighters and bombers airbases like Rice Army airfield were critical in preparing pilots and aircrews. So there are still two runways that are visible today there is taxiways and you can still see in the desert surface, there’s a large concrete apron behind us you can see to concede there's a lot of foundations for the buildings there are extensive rock lined walkways sure troops lived in and worked for two years. Believe it or not this is the remains of what was once an active runway here at Rice Army airfield. It was originally built with a mixture of sand and asphalt to create a relatively durable surface. Will runway wasn't smooth as it might have been its substantial support airplane all right. The A20 Havoc attack bomber and the durable P39 Airacobra fighter were familiar aircraft at Rice Army airfield. Young man flew them for target practice precision bombing and strafing runs, clear whether nearly all year long what pilots spent countless hours aloft. The work was exciting but was also dangerous with new pilots pushing the limits crashes were inevitable. most of the pilots that were out your young probably averaging between the ages of 18 and 20 minutes they had some flight experience before arriving here in the desert training center but with the good weather that the desert provided this is where they really gained the lion share of their training flight experience before going overseas. I was always impressed at how quick a 20-year-old would become a man. He went over there thinking I’m going to be Rickenbacker I’m going to be an ace it wasn’t long he realized that wasn’t very easy and it was a job to be done. He began to realize that he fighting for the freedom for his mother and father family back home. The desert training center was first and foremost a simulated theater of war where realistic combat operations tested men and equipment prior to deployment overseas. Training encompass new tactics and measures adapted for the desert such as camouflage dispersed formations and coordination of forces. They wanted to be able to work infantry with armor and artillery with air support altogether one place in this desert was perfect for that type of training. Maneuvers could involve as many as 30,000 troops coordinating with hundreds of tanks and numerous planes over a broad landscape. Patton believe in training troops under the conditions that they were going to experience and in the actual battlefield exposure to the heat the harshness of the surroundings to the real-life sounds and feels of what the battle field experience was going to be like. What did I know about deserts I was from Massachusetts so damn hot you could fry an egg on the palm your hand, one day corporal calls me and says some dumb damn fool Gen. thinks were going to win the war with tanks think his name is Patton would you go with him I said I'll go anyplace, Lieut. John company 736 Tank Battalion. The whole character of the center really was imbued with his vision of training and preparing for war he really wanted to create the desire among his troops to close the enemy destroy them and the desert training center really took on that persona I think. It was in the Palin Pass area that commander could bring all the elements of the battlefield exercise into one location, airplanes bombers would come from Rice air field and do strafing runs through the area you have troop movements moving through the area and it allowed troops to experience both how to attack these kinds of positions as well as defined these kinds of positions. All the other factors are secondary protecting how did you do the job how you did it you didn't stand up you crawl on your belly. Troops would have been participating at the same time live fire exercises were going on tanks were using ruminations the troops were using ruminations of the airplanes were using ruminations and many these exercises. On the way into camp we pass the remains of the blown up vehicles as the men passed by the wonder just how realistic the training they were getting into was getting to be weather this burned-out tank was just the beginning, Lieut. Bill Sweeney 736 Tank Battalion This truly was a battlefield area and the remnants of that battlefield are still present you can see the that the a gun and placement for the howitzers would been put down into the ground to give them support for the recoil, you have the foxholes that that are assorted dot the landscape. They gave it two hours dig your foxhole and you and they brought the tanks in and run it over it was a hell of experience, got their you really dug. They kept telling you every 10 minutes the tank was going to be here tank but you don't know when your get deep enough but you dug when you got half an hour before the tank was going to be here see that big tank over there and going to run right over you. Monday night we left her on the 200 mile road march with the new tanks we didn't have any sleep Sunday night to Wednesday night we were on the road with the tanks all that time, it was hell Sgt. Hors Barrett 709 Tank Battalion. It means walking and 8 miles got 24 mile march you hundred mile march you have the discipline of water that all the water you got between 8 in the morning and 11 at night when you stopped that amount of water that's all the water that mean bathe and everything. One of Patton’s most well know quotes was that the California desert could kill quicker than the enemy and that will lose a lot of men to heat but it'll save hundreds of lives when we get into combat. You know got a sort of lay the groundwork in places like this for Army this is going to function it's not just learning mechanics is learning how to be a soldier how to think like a soldier but while still retaining those sort of civilian characteristics, that are going to make I think the American forces extremely successful in World War II. Somewhere in the California desert American armored troops are training one sees a small cloud on the fringe someday leave death to awaken the sandy places of Libya or wherever it may be sent Yank Magazine December 23, 1942. of the desert it sweeps by and beyond crunching everything in its path it is this force that will someday After just a few months in command Patton left the desert training center to plan operation torch the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa Patton’s vision of rigorous realistic training proved its worth throughout the war beginning with success in North Africa soldiers who trained at the desert training center were were later involved in combat throughout Europe and the Pacific. I think the desert training center was really critical in the war effort the troops to train their ended up doing pretty well overseas you look at the divisions the train their and the 339th fighter bomber group who trained at Rice Army air base were some of the most highly decorated in the war. The benefit of training at Rice was we had stability our pilots and enlisted people worked together as a team and being able to do this for six months there was a lot of bonding. Ultimately John Henry Street 339th fighter group was sent to England in support of the bombing campaign in Europe. That we got orders from England and that was our great reward. At Rice airfield the P39 era cobra worked well enough for training but in a dogfight it was no match against a German Messerschmitt, however in England the 339th was given a new aircraft the prized P51 Mustang which became a dominant World War II fighter. And knew we were getting P51 we were very grateful it was an airplane that was easy to fly and is enjoyed to fly. Heading east they randevu at the appointed time and place with the heavy bombers. And here are the heavy’s giant flying fortresses that drop their tons of high explosives on pin point targets. We ah talk to the bombers just doing the duty that we were called on to do every day that was get in the airplane go escort those bombers. They flew missions every third or fourth day and ah their chances of coming back weren't very good, sometimes you know you think back of what those men did in the group, the dedication they had and what they had to do and what might be the consequence, causes you to well up a little bit almost every day you cry a little bit cause you lost 2 or 3 that day it was always a happy day when everybody came back. The victory flash electrified Times Square keys to the bursting point the magic word of complete surrender came through. Though it required tremendous sacrifice the Allied forces would eventually triumph in Europe and the Pacific in April 1944 just two years after its inception, the desert training center was decommissioned having served its purpose well. Its remnants are slowly being reclaimed by the desert, and yet Patton’s legacy survives in the methods and rigors of desert training still valued by today's military. General Patton would be proud, the greatest thing about the desert training center was the vision that not only did share for prepared for combat then but preparing for combat. Today that to the vision that was there in the desert training center back in 1942 is still shared here today and prepares us for combat as we send units off ever our country may need them. So when a soldier comes here who is not necessarily conditioned to this environment they understand that it's this environment that will prepare them for combat, it is this environment that will prepare the leadership and it's this environment that will test not only them but their equipment to go down range to face the realities of combat. Well training serves several purposes obviously you're taking civilians your teaching them some rudiments of how to be a soldiers your teaching how to live together, but are also sort of forging a spirit your forging a notion of why we're doing this That’s the answer why we won the war we had a spirit, we did it because we work together when the time to fight for our country we wept everybody. I think men who felt a strong duty to the defense of their country to the preservation of our way of life. I think that’s the legacy that we would like to leave. The men the guns the mock battles are gone now, faded tank tracks and airstrips ghostly grids of tent cities these bear witness to the momentous effort and sacrifice that began with Patton’s vision here, in a desolate corner of America and ended in victory in the heartland of Germany and the coral atolls in the Pacific. A story of trial and triumph entombed in the former desert training center and Rice Army airfield in the sands of the Mojave freedoms desert.