HISTORY CORNER

MIDDLE TENNESSEE MANEUVERS

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

A lot of people have heard about the Middle Tennessee maneuvers during World War II, but many, I suspect, don’t realize their magnitude and their importance.

The reason the maneuvers were held in 21 Middle Tennessee counties is that the terrain in Middle Tennessee is similar to that of Belgium, France and Germany. Pontoon bridges were built across the Cumberland River between Lebanon and Gallatin, at Carthage, and possibly at other points because the Cumberland was a substitute for the Rhine. General George Patton commanded the 2nd Armored Division that participated in the maneuvers of which there were seven between 1941 and 1944. Most lasted two months. More than 850,000 soldiers trained in the state. Tennessee Governor Prentice Cooper and U.S. Senator Kenneth Mc- Kellar both urged the army to stage the maneuvers in Tennessee.

The center of operations was Cumberland University in Lebanon. Fighting forces were divided into two armies-red and blue. Officers acted as umpires and blanks were used instead of bullets. Farmers in all the impacted areas were asked to allow soldiers to trespass and were compensated for damages to their properties. The army’s Board of Rents and Claims wrote more than 20,000 checks for damaged property and 1,000 bridges, which had been damaged by tanks or trucks, were repaired. More than 250 soldiers died during the maneuvers, most from truck and jeep accidents, plane crashes and drownings.

No maneuvers were held in Davidson County because it was too heavily populated but every weekend thousands of soldiers from the Middle Tennessee maneuvers, Camp Forrest, Camp Campbell, the balloon camp near Paris, Smyrna Air Force Base and the Classification Center on Thompson Lane did come. I can remember as a boy, seeing soldiers asleep in my church, First Presbyterian. I remember one soldier who was asleep on a piano in our Sunday School building. Another soldier, desperate to find a place to sleep, even knocked on the door of the Governor’s Residence on West End Ave., thinking it was a boarding house. Howard Werthan opened a big house on Elliston Place where soldiers could eat, relax, shower or sleep without charge. There were 20 more places in Nashville where soldiers could rest, take showers or sleep.