Camp Hood Village Fighting Training Areas

[herbstine]

During WW2, Camp Hood, TX built 2 village fight training areas: One for Germany and one for Japan.  These training areas were swallowed up by the expanded Impact Area after the war and disappeared into the brush.  A few years ago, a major wildfire burned off most of the scrub, re-exposing the areas, and shut down the ranges allowing limited access.  I was very fortunate to have made contact with the post archeologists and was invited out to see the training areas.  I'm going to try and post the photos I took.  Theses areas have disappeared into the brush once more.

471145992_CampHoodInstallationMapEarly1940s-Copy.TIF

[SARGE]

Great photos of this forgotten training village.  The Engineers plaque from the soldiers who built this area is a neat find.

 

 

[patches]

Good stuff and interesting, like the German Dorf, looks more like a Western Town seen in Hollywood 

 

Having served at Hood with the Cav in 80-81 as an 11B, I can say I never came across this in many times I was out in the field.

[patches]

This is certainly made by men of the 374th Engineer General Service Regiment (Colored) which indeed was a Camp Hood before shipping out to Europe.

[herbstine]

On 2/22/2023 at 1:30 AM, patches said:

Good stuff and interesting, like the German Dorf, looks more like a Western Town seen in Hollywood 

 

Having served at Hood with the Cav in 80-81 as an 11B, I can say I never came across this in many times I was out in the field.

Patches,

  You wouldn't have, as the location is in the Impact Area and was heavily covered by trees and scrub (until those were burned off).

[herbstine]

I'm adding a Camp Hood map from 1948 with the village areas marked.

[Nickvet419]

On 4/11/2023 at 12:11 PM, herbstine said:

I'm adding a Camp Hood map from 1948 with the village areas marked.

Awesome, I love being able to add these tidbits to Openstreetmap  Being a Live Fire area, that's one spot that's not easy to just go and see so there isn't much documentation on it. Good to see that area wasn't bulldozed over for the multiuse range like the Japanese mock village was for Brookhaven range.   Here is vid of the nazi village with a nice view of them blasting the hole in the wall as part of the training. 

 

[herbstine]

I don't think the Japanese village was bulldozed, it's not that far from the German village.  If memory serves, Brookhaven ranges are on the east side of the Impact area.  The villages are on the west side.

 

Great film find.  I didn't see any barb wire in the film, but we found a lot of rusty Bangalore Torpedo parts all around the German village.

 

BTW, the last 6 pictures are of the Japanese village.  Only the outer walls, MG positions and footbridge abutments remain.  Everything else was wood and either rotted away or burned up down through the years.

[Nickvet419]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:44 PM, herbstine said:

I don't think the Japanese village was bulldozed, it's not that far from the German village.  If memory serves, Brookhaven ranges are on the east side of the Impact area.  The villages are on the west side.

 

according to the 1953 topo maps, they had a Japanese mock village over where Brookhaven range is now. Must of built a new one with the nazi villiage.