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]

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 and the resultant lack of combat and service units available to participate in the maneuvers and administer the maneuver area.

Units Trained in Tennessee Maneuver Area

UnitYearTraining Period
XII Corps1942September - November[4]
6th Infantry Division1942September - November[5]
8th Infantry Division1942September - November[6]
4th Armored Division1942October - November[7]
VII Corps1943April - June[8]
79th Infantry Division1943April - June[9][10]
81st Infantry Division1943April - June[11]
5th Armored Division1943April - June[12][13]
III Corps1943June - August[14]
101st Airborne Division1943June - July[15][16]
80th Infantry Division1943June - August[17][18]
83th Infantry Division1943June - August[19][20]
10th Armored Division1943June - August[21]
XX Corps*1943September - November[22][23]
30th Infantry Division1943September - November[24]
94th Infantry Division1943September - November[25][26]
98th Infantry Division1943September - November[27]
12th Armored Division1943September - November[28][29]
XI Corps1943November - January 1944[30]
35th Infantry Division1943November - January 1944[31][32]
87th Infantry Division1943December - January 1944[33][34]
100th Infantry Division1943November - January 1944[35]
14th Armored Division1943November - January 1944[36][37]
XII Corps1944January - March[38]
XXII Corps1944January - March[39]
17th Airborne Division1944February - March[40][41]
26th Infantry Division1944January - March[42][43]
78th Infantry Division1944January - March[44][45]
106th Infantry Division1944January - March[46]

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

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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