World War II was racing to a climax, in other words, and not only had the United States missed out on the action, it remained to be seen if it would see any action at all. Japan had already overrun much of China, and the Wehrmacht had smashed one opponent after another in Europe and was even then in the midst of the greatest land campaign of all time: the opening drive into the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. The war had been raging for two full years. Manuals and training help, but any officer will tell you that the best way to get ready for the real thing is to plunk down your formation in real terrain and let your personnel see how challenging even the simplest march or maneuver can be.īy the time the US Army gathered for its first great field maneuvers in the fall of 1941-in Arkansas in August, Louisiana in September, and the Carolinas in November-it was high time for a test. The field is where armies hone their craft, commanders learn to command, and soldiers learn to fight.

The military budget for 1940, about $9 billion dollars, exceeded all the military budgets combined dating back to 1920.Īs force levels exploded, big open-field maneuvers became possible for the first time. By the end of 1940 there were 630,000 men in the army (13 divisions), and six months later (June 1941) there were 1,400,000 (36 divisions). Some 16 million men registered for the draft that fall. In September 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act into law, the first peacetime draft in US history. The country had made great strides, certainly. It wasn’t until 1940, when the Wehrmacht overran France and drove the British off the continent, that the United States began actively preparing for war. Of seven campaigning seasons, the United States missed the first three and was active only in the final four.

US participation spanned less than four years of that total, a little over half the war. Think of it: by the usual reckoning, World War II lasted six years, from the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, to Japan’s surrender on board the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. Americans like to think of World War II as a “great crusade,” but if it was, the country certainly didn’t seem all that fervent about rushing into it.

Wwii 34th 168th tank battle map -call