Early in the morning of Tuesday, May 15, 1940, residents of central La. were awakened by the roar of military tanks speeding down their quiet country roads toward Leesville. For almost a week, the region had swarmed with soldiers. All of central Louisiana seemed to be engulfed in war, caught up in the largest military maneuvers ever held in the United States. After years of public apathy, the nation's military had been seriously neglected. The poorly equipped United States Army had few armored vehicles, so the sight of fifty-four tanks rolling through the countryside caught everyone's attention. Few had ever seen a single tank before, much less the thundering fleet advancing on Leesville.

Tanks had been used in World War I, but since then the technology had been largely abandoned. Military leaders still favored the cavalry. In 1940, on the eve of World War II, some still argued that the large-scale use of tanks was an ineffective strategy. Events that unfolded during the Louisiana Maneuvers soundly refuted this view. Firing blank shells, the tank forces easily overpowered the opposition, who only managed to fire one machine gun and one antitank weapon. More