greybeard
Well-known member
Caustic Burno":8oy7p94l said:
Look into Louisiana Maneuvers 1941 and you'll see why. He and lots of other US Army personnel were stationed there and some liked La, whereas Patton and others were less than impressed.
One example:
Several years ago I interviewed the late George Albritton of Robeline, La. at a Veterans Event. George was a Natchitoches Parish boy raised near Robeline, La. During the summer between his junior and senior school years, he went to work in a filling station in Leesville, La. to earn some much needed money. One Saturday during the maneuvers, George saw this big black Cadillac pull into his station with general's flags flying on the front bumper. George said a tall, extremely well dressed army officer emerged from the Cadillac and asked to use the rest room. George had just it up real good. The officer came out and wanted to know who owned and operated the station. George politely told the officer. The officer replied he was going to write the Texas Oil Company (Texaco) a commendation for he had just found the "only clean restroom in the State of Louisiana"!
The scene from the movie where Patton was directing traffic of tanks, jeeps, and trucks, was taken from a true event that actually happened in the small town of Many Louisiana during those same La Maneuvers.
Those maneuvers involved 400,000 troops.
From wiki:
Quartermaster Supply Unit during Louisiana Maneuvers.
Around 400,000 troops were divided into equal armies of two fictitious countries: Kotmk (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky), also called the Red Army; and Almat (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee), or the Blue Army. The troops were organized into a total of 19 divisions.
From August to September 1941, the armies fought over 3,400 square miles (8,800 km²) of Louisiana. The area spanned from the Sabine River east to the Calcasieu River and north to the Red River.
They fought over navigation rights and strategic points along the Mississippi River.[4]
