World War 1 Bases

Sunday, November 11, 2018

100 years anniversary of The Armistice

This blog is ongoing project. Check regularly for updates. So many bases to cover, so little time!

Monday, October 30, 2017

Please Donate to help defray travel and research expenses.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

A Century ago on this day

The United States got involved in World War One. Numerous bases were created for the occasion. Some were short lived and lasted a mere two years and were shuttered shortly after Armistice Day. Then, there are some that survive to this day.

Explore this site and learn about them. Check back often for new material. This site is an ongoing work in progress.

Double click to enlarge map.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Introduction -100 years ago

100 years ago

This blog is an ongoing project which will attempt to showcase all known domestic World War One bases. The 100 year anniversary of the United States' involvement happened on April 6, 2017.

This blog will not give a thorough in depth history of individual bases, as there are a very large number of them. The goal is to showcase each base in a nutshell, and have some basic info like maps, pictures, troop capacity, acreage, and constructions costs in both 1919 dollars, and in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation. However, links will be supplied for those who desire more in depth historical information on individual bases.

I have found from doing extensive research that if a base has been around for a while, up to the post-Cold War base closure rounds which started in 1988, it is far easier to find detailed information on a base's history, much of which is easily available online.

On the other hand, some bases were very short lived and lasted less than 2 years, and did not even see so much as any re-use during WWII! Never mind, that I estimate WWII bases had at least 10 fold the activity in terms of acreage, costs, facilities, and personnel involved.

Some bases are low hanging fruit in terms of accessible information, and others require a special trip to the location of the former base.

In addition, as I sift through many haystacks for a few needles, sometimes skimming through very long winded base re-use/clean up reports, there is also useful information that sometimes surfaces from the World War II era. I will post anything found in a separate World War 2 Bases blog.

I am prioritizing WWI research as the 100 year anniversary has came up up for United States involvement. Anything that shows up for WWII, will be posted there.

I will be the first to admit the quality of some of the digital photos I took at various museums/libraries leaves a bit to be desired. But I figure it is better than nothing, until I find a higher quality replacement. If you have any pictures, maps, or interesting information, please send an email. You will be given credit for anything you supply.

email: basesofwar at gmail dot com.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Background Information (updated 11/05/18)

Since WWI was fought in Europe, base buildup was heavily concentrated in the eastern half of the United States. However, during WWII, there was plenty of activity on both coasts.

Much of the base build up during WWI was hurried and then abruptly scrapped. If there ever was a war done on the cheap by the United States, The Great War would be it. The U.S. was involved for a mere 19 months and 5 days from April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918. As a result of the very short involvement, many projects were aborted literally the day after Armistice.

Very few hospitals were reused by the military, along with ports of embarcation and debarcation. The bases of a more permanent nature were depots, arsenals, shipyards, and flying fields located on the West Coast and "Union States". For whatever reason flying fields located primarily in New York's Long Island and "Rebel States" were far more likely to be short lived.

Many of the bases were leased and had temporary structures with no plans on lasting any longer than necessary for the duration of the war. Today, WWI era buildings are very few and far between. There are a fair number of old forts, shipyards, and arsenals that predate WWI and have historically preserved buildings of permanent construction from the 1800s, but then again very few buildings exist anymore directly from the WWI era itself.

To calculate 1919 construction costs as compared to 2018 dollars, multiply each $1.00 x 14.59

Double click to enlarge map.

Training Camps or The Big 32:
The bulk of the WWI training activity occurred at 16 Regular Army (for draftees) cantonments and 16 National Guard (for volunteers) tent camps. The Big 32 dominated in terms of acreage, buildings, costs, and troops involved compared to every other base. For the most part, Regular Army cantonments were in northern or "Union States". More money was spent on them and they had superior facilities to the National Guard camps. Since these primarily northern cantonments were in "colder climates" they had better heating facilities than the primarily southern camps. Those who were training in the south did experience harsh winters after all, with inferior facilities. The most northern National Guard camp was at Camp Fremont in California's Silicon Valley.

All of the Regular Army cantonments were purchased after being leased for the duration of the war. Only one did not see any WWII action, which would be Camp Taylor in Kentucky. To this day, some of these bases are still active, which include Fort Dix, NJ, Camp Dodge, IA, Camp Funston (Fort Riley), KS, Fort Jackson, SC, Fort Lee, VA Fort Meade, MD, Fort Lewis, WA, and Camp Travis (Fort Sam Houston), TX)

The majority of the National Guard tent camps were abandoned in 1919 and never saw any reuse in WWII. Even the Regular Army cantonments were salvaged after the first world war, and had to be entirely rebuilt from scratch for the second world war. 12 of the 16 National Guard camps were located in former "Confederate States". After the war, the Army only bought Camp McClellan in Alabama and the property of Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma adjacent to Fort Sill. However, there are a few that still see military use today. Camp Kearney in California is now part of Miramar MCAS. Then there is Camp Beauregard which hosts the Louisiana National Guard. Finally, Camp Shelby in Mississippi now serves as a rather massive, and fully modernized National Guard training center.

In addition, there were some massive army training bases that were being built as the war was winding down. The Army continued to build them up after the armistice with the long term in mind, and they are still active today. They would be Camp Belvoir, VA, Camp Benning, GA, Camp Bragg, NC, Camp Eustis, VA, Camp Knox, KY, and Camp Pine (Fort Drum), NY.

Capacity and troop origination of camps.

Cost of camps in 1919 dollars.

Combat Arms Camps

Airfields:
The Wright Brothers had pioneered aviation not even a decade before the U.S. involvement in WWI. So, aviation was still in its early developmental stages. Many of the fields were crude and consisted of grass, and/or gravel runways. Typically training fields were about a square mile or 640 acres in size and had a linear row of hangars, and just enough of a cantonment area for the would be aviators and support staff. Many lives were lost during training as there was still a steep learning curve of aviation at the time. Besides, heavier than air training, there were also a few balloon bases that were used for lighter than air training. These latter bases required far less acreage for takeoffs and landings.

The majority of these airfields were abandoned and did not see any WWII use. In fact, they don't even have civilian aviation reuse today. The only remaining WWI era fields with military use today are Kelly Annex, TX, Langley AFB, VA, March ARB, CA, Maxwell AFB, AL, North Island NAS, CA, Offutt AFB, NE, Pensacola NAS, FL, Pope AFB, NC, Post Field, OK, Selfridge ANGB, MI, and Scott AFB, IL. In addition, the military has retained Anacosta NAS, DC and Bolling AFB, DC as non-flying fields.

The only former training fields that see any civilian aviation use today are Chanute Field, IL, Ellington Field, TX, Kelly Field, TX, Love Field, TX, Mather Field, CA, and Souther Field, GA.
In addition, there were some auxiliary fields. Since many had no specific names and were just referred to as aux field #1, #2, etc., it is quite difficult to find information on them. The best I have been able to get so far, is acreage and cost to lease. But I really need maps or location coordinates. I could perhaps compare their acreage to any known civilian airports from that era and see if we have a match.

Costs of flying fields in 1919 dollars.

Fields to be abandoned:

A few of these were rescued off the scrap heap, and saw reuse in WWII either as an auxiliary field, or a civilian contract school. But a good number were short lived.

Depots:
(updated 10/29/18)
All the training bases and a handful of the flying fields had their own depots. But there were a few stand alone depots for aviation parts, and other massive ones to serve the needs of the military. The overwhelming majority of stand alone depots survived to see WWII reuse.That's because many were constructed of more permanent structures like cement igloos for ordnance.

Motor Transport Camps

Ordnance Department Depots

Proving Grounds

Remount Depots

Quartermaster Corps

Harbor Defenses:
They were part of the military's real estate inventory, but saw no serious action during WWI. Many also lasted through WWII and were closed thereafter. Harbor Defense duty must have been really nice duty if one could get it. Think about it; one is near the coast, and rarely experienced extreme cold or hot. Plus it was rent free in a scenic area, and no coastal forts were ever attacked during WWI. Today, many of these forts are well preserved as parks and make for great tourist attractions.

Harbor Defense "improvement: costs in 1919 dollars. These figures do not count original pre-WWI construction costs.

Hospitals:
Every training base and airfield had a hospital. Then, there were a few stand alone facilities. Many were short lived. A couple that had pretty long lives up until post-Cold War base closure rounds were, Fitzsimmons in Denver, CO and Walter Reed in Washington, DC.

Location of general hospitals.

Hospital costs in 1919 dollars.

Medical Camps

Mexican Border Camps:
Predating WWI, Poncho Villa made incursions into U.S. territory. As a result, there was a heavy build up of the military along the border. One major factor that got the U.S. from being neutral to participating in the war, was an intercepted telegram from Germany to Mexico offering financial support if they would invade the United States. Most of the camps were minimal and had tents and little in the way of improvements. So finding maps of exact camp configurations, and photos of them while active are hard to come by. This information will tell what areas along the border had a troop presence. The forts were of a much more permanent nature, and did see WWII usage. Today, Fort Bliss and Fort Huachuca are still active army posts. Deja Vu, 100 years later we are seeing a buildup of the U.S. military along the border. History repeats itself.

Navy/Marine Corps Bases:
The Navy had far less involvement in WWI than the Army and as a result, far fewer bases. However, of those bases, the overwhelming majority were retained and lived on to see action in WWII. The Marines are truly, "The Few, The Proud". That also applies to a tiny number of overall bases they had at the time.

This is a list of all the navy properties owned in 1916. A few were added in the latter years leading up to the buildup of WWI. They ranged from tiny radio stations to massive shipyards.

Interior Forts:
Many of these were from the frontier days, some even pre-Civil War. To this day many of them have historical buildings preserved. They saw some use during WWI, but very few WWI era structures remain. A couple of really good ones to visit are the Presidio of San Francisco, and Fort Monroe, in Virginia.

Cost of permanent interior forts with "improvements" in 1919. Original pre-WWI construction costs not included.

Ports of Embarkation:
(updated 10/29/18)
All of them were on the East Coast, as the war was fought in Europe. Troops would typically arrive on train from a camp, then board a ship for Europe and be placed somewhere on European soil. Then after the armistice, they would demobilize and do the aforementioned process in reverse before being discharged. None of these ports saw any reuse during WWII.

NYC/NJ area

Hampton Roads area.

Port costs in 1919 dollars.

Updates

Alabama (updated 11/10/18)

Anniston:

Camp McClellan (Updated 11/10/18)

Only 3 structures from the WWI era have survived.

WWI use of Camp McClellan

Camp McClellan was one of 16 National Guard camps. It was one of the few NG camps that was retained after WWI. It was comprised of about 18,000 acres. In 1929, it was renamed Fort McClellan, and was an active base until it was closed in the late 1990s. Today, the Alabama National Guard has an enclave within the former fort. The movie "Bruno" was filmed there.

Mobile Harbor Defenses:

Fort Gaines

Fort Morgan

Montgomery:

Montgomery Engine and Repair Depot (Aviation Repair Depot No. 3)

Montgomery circa 1927.

Today this is Maxwell Air Force Base, which is still active.

Camp Sheridan
(Updated 11/10/18)

Camp Sheridan was one of 16 National Guard camps. It saw no reuse during WWII.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the "Great Gatsby" trained here. Today there are some historical markers at the site.

Taylor Field
(Updated 11/10/18)

Taylor Field closed after the war. But during WWII, it was revived for use as an auxiliary field, for what is now Gunter Air Force Base. Today this field is abandoned and is used for agriculture. It had 3 auxiliary fields. Where they were located exactly is unknown at this point.

Muscle Shoals:

U.S. Nitrate Plant No. 2

Sheffield:

U.S. Nitrate Plant No. 1