[Office of Civilian Defense Informational Bulletin]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE
INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN
Washington, D. C., September 20,1941.
Subject : Trial of Plans for Civilian Protection During Army Maneuvers and Exercises.
Plans for civilian protection have reached the point of development where it is desirable that they be tested from time to time in conjunction with maneuvers and exercises of the United States Army.
I.	Maneuvers in General
Military maneuvers are extended field operations designed to test our defense strategy on a large scale. Certain “maneuvers” which involve less than full-scale strategic problems are known as exercises and are designed to test various military units and tactical plans with a view to introducing further improvements prior to full-scale maneuvers or actual combat.
The strategy of “total” war contemplates direct attacks against civilian life and institutions in order to crush national morale and to disrupt civilian support of the defending military forces insofar as manufacture of supplies, maintenance of transportation lines, etc., are concerned. The corresponding strategy of defense must include well-developed plans for coordinated action on the part of civil agencies to protect civilians and their property from military attack. Since these plans must be activated simultaneously with military operations, their effectiveness can be fully tested only in conjunction with Army maneuvers and exercises.
The actual testing of plans for civilian protection will encourage individuals to volunteer for service in. civilian defense, will acquaint everyone with the general nature and requirements of* civilian defense, and will enable State and municipal officials to demonstrate how effectively they have prepared for the protection of their citizens.
Furthermore, civjlian “test exercises” are of definite value to the Army in enabling military personnel to visualize the operation of their tactical units under circumstances which more closely resemble war-time conditions. Civilian cooperation in the blackout, for in- . stance, is particularly useful in the operations of such military units as pursuit squadrons, searchlights, and antiaircraft artillery.
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II.	Maneuvers Now on Schedule
For the first time civilians will participate on a large scale in military maneuvers in connection with the war games in Louisiana where the Aircraft Warning Service and certain phases of civilian protection have been placed in actual operation.
From October 9 to October 16, extensive exercises will be conducted to test the alertness and effectiveness of our defense against hostile air operations along the North Atlantic Coast. From October 20 to 25, similar exercises will be conducted to test the effectiveness of our air defense on the South Atlantic Coast. Further information regarding plans for these exercises is contained in the attached War Department press releases dated September 3 and September 18.
From October 28 to November 7, the Air Force Combat Command will hold exercises to test the effectiveness of our air defense along the North Pacific Coast, followed by exercises along the South Pacific Coast some time in December.
Additional Air Force exercises will be held in the spring of 1942.
III.	Immediate Preparations To Be Made by the Various State and Local Civilian Defense Agencies
General instructional information has previously been issued regarding the establishment of local organizations for civil protection. Every community, which has not already done so, should immediately effect the establishment of a local defense council, the appointment of appropriate subcommittees, and the preparation of specific plans for civilian protection in the community area. Instructions regarding further preparations for civilian protection and for participation in Army maneuvers will be issued by the Office of Civilian Defense from time to time.
In preparation for the test exercises now on schedule, each community should give special attention to thé following problems :
A.	Establishment of a control center to receive and transmit airraid warnings, and to coordinate the various Air Raid Precautions services.
B.	Development of plans for sounding of air raid warning signals, effectuation of the blackout, rescuing of persons caught in demolished buildings, fire control, provisions for first aid, hospitalization, ambulance service, etc., repairs to public utilities such as sewers, roads, etc., the control of special traffic problems and what is most important, the prevention of panic during the course of aerial bombardment.
C.	The testing, insofar as circumstances permit, of these functions in actual operation.
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It is fully recognized that little or no instructitonal material on most of the above subjects is now available to local communities. This means that in many cities and towns only the most general plans can be prepared and activated for the early test exercises. However, every effort should be made to attain the maximum coop7 eration possible under the circumstances even in the earliest test exercises, and to increase the degree of cooperation as the additional instructional information becomes available for later test exercises.
Each community should issue through established publicity channels full information regarding the preparations it is making for participation in test exercises in order that maximum cooperation can be obtained from the public at large and from each individual and group concerned in civilian protection. It is especially important that full recognition and appreciation be accorded to all the civilian volunteers who successfully execute the duties which they have accepted. For instance, in connection with the Aircraft Warning Service, civilian volunteers have spent untold hours during the past few months organizing observation posts, recruiting observers, and enrolling other volunteers for work at filter and information centers, and now for the first time the country as a whole will be able to see how vitally important their work has been in our national defense.
At the conclusion of each set of test exercises, each local defense council committee should submit a report on its work to the local defense council, which in turn should submit a summary report to the State defense council with a copy for the Regional Office of Civilian Defense. These reports will enable the United States Office of Civilian Defense to have available the practical experience of the individual communities in the developing of further plans for civilian protection.
F. H. LaGuardia,
Ü. S. Director Civilian Defense.
Immediate Release
War Department, Bureau of Public Relations, September 3,19^1.
AIR FORCE COMBAT COMMAND TO HOLD INTERCEPTOR EXERCISES IN OCTOBER
Aided by thousands of volunteer civilians, Air Force Combat Command units will carry out exercises during October to test the alertness and effectiveness of the Eastern seaboard defense against hostile air operations, according to plans announced today by the War Department.
Under the direction of Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons, Commanding General of the Air Force Combat Command, the 1st Interceptor Command with headquarters at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, will conduct exercises from October 9 to 16,1941, covering the northern part of the seaboard from the Virginia-North Carolina line north to include Boston.
The 3rd Interceptor Command, with headquarters at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, will conduct similar exercises in the southern region of the sea coast from October 20 to 25,1941. This area includes North and South Carolina and Georgia.
The air defense that will be tested in these exercises is the direct defense against any “hostile” air operation, and includes such functions as pursuit aviation, antiaircraft artillery, searchlights, and the Aircraft Warning Service.
Each of the Interceptor Commands will have available at least four pursuit groups, and two or three bombardment groups and reconnaissance units. The bombardment units, which will include both medium bombers and the longer range heavy bombers, will simulate “attacks” on the various regions to be included in the defense exercises. Pursuit ships of the latest type will be used to intercept these “threats” to military objectives along the seacoast that are so vital to the national defense.
The Aircraft Warning Service, which functions with the aid of the many civilian observers stationed at strategically located points throughout the area taking part, plays a role vital to the success of the defense.
These civilian spotters will report any flights of “enemy bombers”. The reports of the spotters will be sent to Filter Centers which will be set up. There the information sent in by the spotters will be
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evaluated and relayed to the Information Centers or Region Command Posts, where decisions will be made and orders issued that will send the fast pursuit ships out to stop the bombers before they reach their objectives.
Civilian spotters will be alerted for the exercises throughout areas approximately 125 to 150 miles inland from the seacoast. These persons will be constantly on the lookout during the exercises to report the number of planes, the type, and the direction of flight. Flights that might be made by “enemy bombers” from ships at sea will be spotted from patrols of Army aircraft and by other means.
Details of the exercises will be worked out by the Interceptor Commands, in cooperation with the civilian agencies concerned for the respective areas in which the exercises will be conducted.
War Department, Bureau of Public Relations.
Future Release
FOR RELEASE IN MORNING PAPERS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1941
DETAILS OF INTERCEPTOR EXERCISES ON EASTERN SEABOARD DURING OCTOBER
Final details of plans for testing defenses of the Eastern seaboard particularly vital population and industrial centers, are being perfected by the 1st and 3d Interceptor Commands, under the general direction of Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons, commander of the Air Force Combat Command.
General Emmons pointed out that the air defense exercises are actual tests of a permanent system of active air defense which is being worked out for the entire United States as rapidly as possible.
The 1st Interceptor Command, commanded by Brigadier General John C. McDonnell with headquarters at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island, New York will hold exercises October 9 to 16 in a large area from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Exercises for the 3d Interceptor Command, commanded by Brigadier General Walter H. Frank, with headquarters at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, will be held October 20 to 25 in an area from North Carolina to Georgia.
The Interceptor Exercises will take advantage of a slack period in the maneuvers involving most of the Army troops stationed within the continental United States. They are timed to start soon after the Second and Third Army maneuvers in Louisiana are concluded, but before First Army maneuvers in the North and South Carolina area.
Coordination of the details, which include the use of thousands of civilian volunteers in widely scattered locations, is a task that takes considerable time.
Communication nets, both for civilian observers and for the various units of the Air Force and the Army which will take part must be further developed. Strategic location of the air units and efficient location of cooperating antiaircraft artillery must be found. Supplies for the large number of planes that will be used must be obtained. Planes in the 1st Interceptor Exercise will fly more than 1,000,000 air miles during the eight days of the first air defense test.
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Each of the Interceptor Commands has divided the area to be organized for air defense into regions. Within each region, complete studies of time and space have been necessary. Airdromes from which Interceptor planes will attempt to stop “Enemy” bombers must be located to provide the best possible defense of the area. Capabilities of the pursuit aviation to be used must be considered, since a few minutes may mean the difference between success or failure of a mission. Limits of the ground observer system must be considered, and location of each observer must be planned to serve the area to the best advantage and greatest economy.
Information Centers with Region Command Posts will be established in each of the regions. For the 1st Interceptor Command exercise these centers will be located at:
Boston	Philadelphia
New York	Norfolk
For the 3d Interceptor Command, Region Command posts will be at: Charleston, S. C. Wilmington, N. C.
Filter Centers, which make a preliminary collection of the reports, are located at each of the Regional Information Centers as well as in other strategic centers. In the 1st Interceptor Area, Harrisburg., Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, will have Filter Centers. The 3d Interceptor Area will have such centers at Savannah, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina, in addition to Charleston and Wilmington.
Most of the operations carried on during the exercises will be during daylight. Limited night operations may be conducted in some instances, although that will be worked out by the various local commanders in conjunction with local Civilian Defense Agency officials.
Air Bases in the 1st Interceptor Command area that will be used for pursuit planes include the Boston Municipal Airport; Rhode Island State Airport in Providence, Rhode Island; Trumbull Field, Groton, Connecticut; the Suffolk, Long Island, Airport; Mitchel Field; Floyd Bennett Airport; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Phillips Field at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; Bolling Field, D. C., and the Norfolk Municipal Airport. Bombardment aircraft will operate from Langley Field, Virginia; Westover Field, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Air Bases in the 3d Interceptor Command Area that will be used as operation centers for Pursuit aviation include those at Wilmington, North Carolina; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Columbia, South Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; Savannah, Geor-
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gia; and Charleston, South Carolina. Bombardment planes for that phase of the exercises will be operated from Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Langley Field, Virginia.
Note.—Attached is a map that shows the area to be included in the exercises. Regions into which each Interceptor Command Area has been divided are shown, and the location of Information Centers or Region Command Posts and Filter Centers are fixed.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1941