The Camp Granite was a sub camp of the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Desert Training Center The Desert Training Center (DTC), also known as California–Arizona Maneuver Area (CAMA), was a World War II training facility established in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, largely in Southern California and Western Arizona in 1942. It ...

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

. The main headquarters for the Desert Training Center was

Camp Young The General George S. Patton Memorial Museum, in Chiriaco Summit, California, is a museum erected in tribute to General George S. Patton on the site of the entrance of Camp Young, part of the Desert Training Center of World War II. Exhibits inc ...

were

General Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

's 3rd Armored Division was stationed. Camp Granite was designated a

California Historic Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

(No.985.2). The site of the Camp Granite is 45 miles East of

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

off

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

and

California State Route 62 State Route 62 (SR 62) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that cuts across the Little San Bernardino Mountains in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It runs from Interstate 10 near White Water to the Arizona state line, passin ...

near the Granite Mountains. Built in the spring of 1943, Camp Granite was built to prepare troops to do battle in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

to fight the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The original camp had to quickly be moved to higher ground due to flooding. At Camp Granite were stationed the

90th Infantry Division 90th Division may refer to: ;Infantry * 90th Division (1st Formation)(People's Republic of China), 1949–1950 * 90th Division (2nd Formation)(People's Republic of China), 1950–1952 * 90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) * 90th Infantry Divi ...

and 104th Infantry Divisions. Among the smaller units known to have been stationed at Camp Granite were the

76th Field Artillery Regiment The 76th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. First formed as a cavalry regiment in 1916, the regiment was converted to field artillery in 1917, and served in Europe during World War I with the 3rd ...

and the

413th Infantry Regiment 413th may refer to: *413th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *413th Flight Test Group, United States Air Force Air Force Reserve Command unit * 413th Flight Test Squadron (413 FLTS), part of the 46th Test Wing, bas ...

XV Corps (United States) The XV Corps of the US Army was initially constituted on 1 October 1933 as part of the Organized Reserves, and was activated on 15 February 1943 at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. During the Second World War, XV Corps fought for 307 days in the Eur ...

used Camp Granite as there headquarters from July- 1943 to November 1943. When completed the camp had 40 shower buildings, 157 latrines, 191 wooden tent frames, and a 50,000-gallon water tank. The camp had an artillery ranges and small

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s range. Targets were towed behind planes for the .30-caliber antiaircraft and .50-caliber antiaircraft guns. There were also ranges for

M101 howitzer The M101A1 (previously designated M2A1) howitzer is an artillery piece developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters and during the ...

and 57 mm guns. The trained troops went on to fight in the North African campaign. The army used live-fire exercises and warning signs are still on the site. The camp used the near by US Army

Camp Iron Mountain Airfield The Camp Iron Mountain was a sub camp of the US Army Desert Training Center in Riverside County, California. The main headquarters for the Desert Training Center was Camp Young; this is where General Patton's 3rd Armored Division was statione ...

for air support.

Palen Pass

Palen Pass in the

Palen Mountains The Palen Mountains are located in the southern Mojave Desert – northern Colorado Desert in eastern Riverside County, California, US. The range lies southeast of the Coxcomb Mountains, and northeast of the Chuckwalla Mountains near Interstat ...

was the site of major maneuvers. The pass was both used as a place for troop to built defenses and as target for artillery training.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

s bombed and attacked ground targets in the pass on August 20, 1943.

Marker

Marker on the Riverside, California site reads:californiahistoricallandmarks.com 985.2, Camp Granite - Riverside
/ref> *''NO. 985 DESERT TRAINING CENTER, CALIFORNIA-ARIZONA MANEUVER AREA (ESTABLISHED BY MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.) - CAMP GRANITE - Camp Granite was established at this site in the Spring of 1942. It was one of twelve such camps built in the southwestern desert to harden and train United States troops for service on the battlefields of World War II. The Desert Training Center was a simulated theater of operations that included portions of California, Arizona and Nevada. The other camps were Young, Granite, Iron Mountain, Ibis, Clipper, Pilot Knob, Laguna, Horn, Hyder, Bouse and Rice. A total of 13 infantry divisions and 7 armored divisions plus numerous smaller units were trained in this harsh environment. The Training Center was in operation for almost 2 years and was closed early in 1944 when the last units were shipped overseas. During the brief period of operation over one million American soldiers were trained for combat.''

References

{{reflist

External links

Training Center Boogie - Sony by John Malcolm Penn, song about : Desert training camps
Military in San Bernardino County, California Military installations in California Closed training facilities of the United States Army History of San Bernardino County, California California in World War II Formerly Used Defense Sites in California California Historical Landmarks 1942 establishments in California

Palen Pass

Marker

See also

References

External links