The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background: Difference between revisions
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Some historians have concluded that there was no completely defined mission to govern the activities of G-2. Although the first two officers who were placed in charge of G-2 in the European theater, Colonels Homer Case and R. A. McClure, made serious efforts to draw up a workable organizational structure, the operation was continually evolving in a step-by-step manner. [Box 432, Folder 1]. | Some historians have concluded that there was no completely defined mission to govern the activities of G-2. Although the first two officers who were placed in charge of G-2 in the European theater, Colonels Homer Case and R. A. McClure, made serious efforts to draw up a workable organizational structure, the operation was continually evolving in a step-by-step manner. [Box 432, Folder 1]. | ||
A 27 October 1944 interview account by Lt. Col. '''Henry C. Settle''' (Chief of Administration, G-2 ETO, May 1942 – October 1943) likewise describes early Theater G-2 growing without a clear War Department mission and notes that most early G-2 officers were '''C and GSS graduates of the 6th Special Class at Camp Ritchie''' (a three-month course Settle dates from March 1942). The same account records European-theater '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' organized under Colonel Conrad by Colonel '''J. R. Elyachar''' to demonstrate captured German equipment to troops, the reorganization of field units as '''MIS, ETOUSA''', and a plan—with the Commanding General of the '''29th Infantry Division'''—to replace about half that division’s intelligence personnel with Camp Ritchie graduates. Full text: [[:File:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|Settle Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA)]] (also on [[Training materials#Featured: Early ETOUSA G-2 organization (Settle, 1944)|Training materials]]); Fold3: [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 G-2 History, ETOUSA Monograph]. | |||
The first class of instruction at Camp Ritchie was scheduled for July 25, 1942. Col. [[Robbins, Thomas|Thomas Robbins]] from the British School for Interrogators of Prisoners of War at Cambridge University was co-opted to help and was on site from June to October 1942. Prior to the establishment of the MITC at Camp Ritchie, there were several sporadic attempts to provide specialized training at other locations; this included aerial photo interpretation classes at the Engineers School, Fort Belvoir in 1941; and classes for the interrogation of German Prisoners of War at Camp Blanding, FL and at Camp Bullis, TX. The Fort Belvoir photo interpretation course was the first one given since World War I. A student of that first class was Lt. Col. Lester C. Curl (1907–1975) who then became an instructor at Fort Belvoir and later helped start the Air Intelligence School for the Air Corps. In April 1943, he was transferred to the ETO where he served with G-2 Section, HQ ETOUSA. From July to September 1944, he became a photo interpretation instructor at Camp Ritchie and later went on to become head of a new organization, the Photo Intelligence Center (PIC) [Box 374]. | The first class of instruction at Camp Ritchie was scheduled for July 25, 1942. Col. [[Robbins, Thomas|Thomas Robbins]] from the British School for Interrogators of Prisoners of War at Cambridge University was co-opted to help and was on site from June to October 1942. Prior to the establishment of the MITC at Camp Ritchie, there were several sporadic attempts to provide specialized training at other locations; this included aerial photo interpretation classes at the Engineers School, Fort Belvoir in 1941; and classes for the interrogation of German Prisoners of War at Camp Blanding, FL and at Camp Bullis, TX. The Fort Belvoir photo interpretation course was the first one given since World War I. A student of that first class was Lt. Col. Lester C. Curl (1907–1975) who then became an instructor at Fort Belvoir and later helped start the Air Intelligence School for the Air Corps. In April 1943, he was transferred to the ETO where he served with G-2 Section, HQ ETOUSA. From July to September 1944, he became a photo interpretation instructor at Camp Ritchie and later went on to become head of a new organization, the Photo Intelligence Center (PIC) [Box 374]. | ||
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For wartime prisoner-of-war compounds at the post and the late-war '''Hill Project''' (German POW research collaboration), see [[Camp Ritchie#Prisoners of war and the Hill Project]]. | For wartime prisoner-of-war compounds at the post and the late-war '''Hill Project''' (German POW research collaboration), see [[Camp Ritchie#Prisoners of war and the Hill Project]]. | ||
== Sources == | |||
* [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 Fold3 — Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle account of early G-2 Branch organization (ETOUSA), 27 October 1944] / [[:File:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|PDF on this wiki]] | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
* [[The Stories]] | * [[The Stories]] | ||
* [[Camp Ritchie]] | * [[Camp Ritchie]] | ||
* [[Training materials]] | |||
* [[Secret Heroes/First Class]] | * [[Secret Heroes/First Class]] | ||
* [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story|The Patricia Crane Story]] | * [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story|The Patricia Crane Story]] | ||