This morning, we went to the
General Patton Memorial Museum here at Chiriaco Summit. It was a very nice facility that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We learned that this area was part of the Desert Training Center, often referred to as DTC. Up to 200,000 people at a time were training here between 1942-1944. The area was selected by Patton as the conditions were similar to North Africa.
There was an excellent movie explaining the often asked question of "why here?". When troops were originally sent here, most had never been to California before and were visualizing the Hollywood portrayal of the state, not the bleak landscape that greeted them. This sign was on the gate to the outdoor part of the museum. Not probable at this time of year.
In an adjoining warehouse were some of the more restored vehicles including these MB jeeps and the Mule. I've only seen pictures of a Mule before. It's the third vehicle back. There were numerous displays in the indoor part of the museum but I didn't take any pictures. Not sure why...
The outdoor area was filled with tanks, trucks, cranes and other large vehicles. It was obvious that some of them still run as there were tank tracks in the dried mud around the museum grounds. Not all of the tanks and other vehicles on display were from WWII.
For training, they used Jeeps with frames covered with canvas as targets. They mentioned in the video that live ammunition was never used during any of the training so I'm guessing these were used to help troops spot tank shaped vehicles in the desert.
Finish with the sunset view out the window. Not too shabby...
That Mule is kinda cool. Never saw one before.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of an unusual vehicle. You can either sit on the load or walk along side as the steering is on a u-joint so you can have it off to the side. I remember back in the 60s you would see them in mil surplus catalogs.
DeleteNever saw one while I was on active duty, they'd been phased out for Gamma Goats instead, not that I had any experience with those either.
ReplyDeleteI think the Mules were in use during the Korean war. And their driveline looked very jeep-like.
DeleteSounds like an interesting place to visit. I can't imagine 200k people all being there to train at once.
ReplyDeletePretty sunset too.
The DTC area was huge covering most of the desert in California and western Arizona. They said over a million total soldiers trained here in condition similar to northern Africa. The training site was shut down after the conflict ended there and the troops moved on to Italy.
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