The Louisiana Maneuvers provided vital training for the tens of thousands of American boys who would go on to fight and win on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. In the midst of that global conflict, soldiers who had battled near Shreveport, driven tanks in East Texas, flown reconnaissance missions over Evangeline Parish, or simply fought off the chiggers and ticks, would acknowledge the bond forged during a make-believe war. A Walk in the Sun, one of Hollywood’s most poignant accounts of World War II combat, features a memorable scene in which American soldiers slog forward under fire near Salerno to capture a farmhouse. Members of the platoon laughingly agree: Their assignment is going to be tough, but “it can’t be worse than the Louisiana Maneuvers.”

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For further reading, Mark Perry recommends: “The 1940 Maneuvers: Prelude to Mobilization,” by Christopher R. Gabel; “Careers of Officers Involved in the Louisiana Maneuvers,” by Rickey Robertson; and Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life, by Carlo D’Este.

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