Wakulla Springs & WWII Troop Maneuvers (1940s Silent)

Excerpt of original. Army troops practice swamp slogging through cypress swamp, make human chain across river, crawl on their bellies, use weeds and Spanish moss for camouflage. Shows troops firing machine gun, sniping from trees, swimming assault across the river, smoke screen and explosions on water as troops hit shore. More machine gun team on shore, then troops swim with bamboo poles as floats. Troops with guns and helmets practice ducking under on cue as they swim across the river. They float gear across using tent canvas and poles for rafts. Amphibious vehicle tows troops in water. Soldiers jump from tower, then they swim through flames on water, set off smoke bombs, and swim through more flames. Next they practice jumping from the deck of a rusty derelict ship (possibly at Carrabelle). Back to Wakulla for soldiers posing in camouflage uniforms and more wading across river.

To see full-length versions of this and other videos from the State Archives of Florida, visit http://www.floridamemory.com/video/.

Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA. Contact: 850.245.6700. Archives@dos.state.fl.us

Persistent URL: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/232383

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Wakulla Springs
• World War II
• WWII
• Florida
• Army
• troop
• training
• maneuvers

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Crawling through a snake infested swamp. I know they needed to train, but I bet that was not fun.