I did some research on these maneuvers over the weekend. I remember when i was younger there was images and film out on trucks, I’m assuming Studebakers with Tank written on the canvas in big white letters. Does anyone recall seeing this ever, i know they used to do simulations by throwing flour at the vehicles to simulate an AT grenade and such but i just can’t find the film showing this.
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Scroll thru the photos here from Life for a good idea of what things looked like…
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@Stikpusher thank you this is a great start!
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You’re quite welcome…
a few more photos…
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Pre WWII Top… E-7
Here is one of your upgraded crew served weapons
wooden .50 Cal.
Wargame air attack?
Brass Hats’ rides
501st Parachute Infantry Battalion?
some things never really change…
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@Stikpusher im currently in the area for the next year, now thinking i need to go over to the museum and look at it. I swear there was at one point a video of studebaker trucks with TANK written in all white on the side during these events.
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I’m sure that there was more than a few vehicles and weapons “upgraded” in status to reflect what the TO&Es said should be on hand for each unit. I’ve seen photos of stuff like that but hadn’t come across them in those threads yet. Pretty much all of the Regular Army and activated Guard & Reserves of that time was there for the maneuvers,… and not enough equipment for all of those units.
I think that the museum idea will help.
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@Stikpusher yeah, i remember reading it seeing something on them having to use flour to simulate explosions, even using flags to show where the fire was coming from. Real different from what we do today, but still an awesome concept.
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More info about the 1941 maneuvers
https://history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-41-1/CMH_Pub_70-41-1.pdf
But not the pics you’re looking for…
A few more period personal pics
https://cooladventures.com/collection/louisiana-maneuvers-1941/
H.P.
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Gregory @Gregory_J_Copplin, I’ve seen the footage you’re talking about, I don’t recall exactly what documentary it was in but it’s out there for sure.
Cajun 
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By the time of the 1941 Louisiana (the last of the “large” pre-war exercises), it’s likely that units didn’t have to field trucks marked as “exercise tanks.”
You may be thinking of some of the other large maneuvers that started in the 1930’s. The regular Army and the NG began increasingly large joint exercises and maneuvers in 1935. Many of these were devised and planned as “tests” for various hypothetical organizations and units employing proposed and anticipated weapons and equipment.
Perhaps expand your search to division and a larger “war games” and “maneuvers.”
Here’s some footage from a 1939 exercise in Plattsburg, NY. No “truck-tanks” but a number of wooden MG and other “exercise” notional equipment.
Film Footage of the 1939 Platsburg, NY Maneuvers
There were maneuvers in Louisiana in 1940 as well as 1941. There were also the Carolina maneuvers in 1941 which pre-dated the Louisiana '41 exercises.
There was a series of pretty large maneuvers in Mississippi (aka the “3rd Army Maneuvers”) which took place in 1938.
There were many other smaller “war games” and exercises, like the 1937 “maneuvers” in San Antonio, TX.
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Some National Guards units did it in 1940 for the Wisconsin maneuvers in August
“Virtually every type of equipment was obsolete, or scarce, or both. Guardsmen reported to their encampments with World War I tents, webbing, shoes, and blankets in various stages of decay. Their khaki clothing looked old and worn even before field maneuvers began. News correspondents (147 at First Army’s encampment alone) who covered the August maneuvers paid particular attention to the numerous items of equipment that the National Guard did not have at all. A shocked public read about trucks with “TANK” painted on the sides, Springfield rifles labeled “.50 CALIBRE,” and simulated antitank guns constructed of drainpipe.”
from the book I mentioned in my last post.
H.P.
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Armored units by 1941 had relatively complete complements of both light and medium tanks. All of the US Army’s armored force units at the time were “regular” army and not NG (although this does change as the US enters the war and it progresses).
Best bet to find photos of “truck-tanks” would be to search exercises and maneuvers that pre-date the fielding of the M2 Medium Tank (starting in 1939). By 1941, the armored forces were able to put both M2 and M3 medium tanks into the field for training. The M3 Lee tanks feature prominently in photos of both the 1941 Carolina and Louisiana maneuvers.
I do recall seeing photos of some early exercises with M2 Light Tanks (or Combat Cars) in a unit with “medium tanks” represented by 4x4 cargo trucks with large capital letter “M” painted on the sides of the cargo bed tarps. IIRC, these tanks were being filmed as they were being “attacked” by aircraft simulating a strafing or bombing run at low altitude. I don’t recall the specific exercise or other circumstances.
Having said this, it might be possible to find photos of infantry or tank destroyer units (both regular army and NG) conducting anti-tank training using their own trucks marked in some manner to represent “tanks.” The main reason for this, though, would be that neither the infantry nor the (early) tank destroyer units had any type of tracked armored vehicles to simulate tanks.
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Here are a couple platoons of M3 Lights with a Half Track platoon during the Louisiana Maneuvers stopped somewhere on a road… Interesting to see the fuel can racks on the rear.
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Perhaps this M2 Light has the M for “medium tank”? Also from the Louisiana Maneuvers
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@Stikpusher these are some great pictures thank you!
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