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].
-The first class of instruction at Camp Ritchie was scheduled for July 25, 1942. Col. 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].
 The school at Camp Blanding started courses on POW interrogation on January 16, 1942, with Major Charles R. Warndof as senior Instructor and Officer in Charge. Captain G. H. Schwedersky served as Assistant Instructor. Three officers and 32 enlisted men (including M/Sgt Paul Kubala) were in the first class, which graduated 25. This was followed by a course established at the Third Army Training Center, Camp Bullis (near San Antonio, TX) starting on March 30, 1942. Upon the activation of Camp Ritchie on June 19, 1942, under the command of Colonel Charles Y. Banfill, the entire staff headed by (then) Lt. Col. Charles R.Warndof and all available training material from the school at Camp Bullis TX was transferred to Camp Ritchie. One of the servicemen trained by Col. Warndof at Camp Bullis was Lt. [[Frenkel, George L. (0552533)|George Frenkel]] who then served first at Fort Hunt, then as an instructor at Camp Ritchie and later went overseas and served as an interrogator with Mobile Field Interrogation Unit Five.