 United States Army presents The Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Exercise, Swift Strike, North and South Carolina, summer 1961. One maneuver serving many purposes. It provides a first rate test for the ready forces of strike, the Strategic Army Corps, gives training to members of the Air Reserve and Air National Guard, and it offers an opportunity to measure how well two services, Army and Air Force, can operate together in the way they would be called upon to deal with an actual emergency. Hung before the first rifle or plane is loaded, the blueprints are drawn. Exercise directors issue a joint general plan outlining the maneuver's purposes and scope. These are spelled out in operations plans for friendly forces and aggressors, administrative instructions, orders to activate Provisional Troop Carrier and Combat Air Forces, plans for the commanding 19th Air Force, a control plan for umpires, information for press and observers, and a scenario plotting unit roles in the maneuver. Exercise headquarters are set up at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Blue Dragon 18th Corps at left supervising Army forces. At right, the double A 82nd Airborne Division will supply the main part of the friendly forces. The 82nd, as a key element of strike, is ready to fly to any trouble spot in the world. The paratroopers who wear the screaming eagle patch of the 101st Division are called on to take the part of aggressor forces. In this respect, the exercise is unusual. Two entire divisions are pitted against each other in equal contest. World and Air Forces must be assembled from 25 states, from as far away as California. The Tactical Air Command draws units from the 9th, 12th, and 19th Air Forces, and unites them with reservists and Air National Guard members in two Provisional Air Forces. 470 airplanes must be assembled, plus the aircraft of Army aviation. The Army's new Caribou transport makes its first appearance. Specialized units must be gathered to support the two airborne divisions. The 31st Transportation Company from Fort Benning, and a dozen other transport outfits. The 362nd Signal Company from Fort Gordon brings vandalodes of electronic equipment. The 70th Engineers come from Fort Campbell, special forces from Fort Bragg, and more, in all more than 30,000 officers and men. The maneuver area in the center of the map covers 50,000 square miles in South Carolina and into North Carolina. To give those in the exercise a further sense of actuality, a background situation is created. Three fictitious nations invented for the Carolina's maneuver area. Carlotta is a satellite state of an aggressor power. Kuhnvac is firmly committed to the West. Bolusea recently has signed a mutual assistance pact with the United States. Carlotta suddenly makes a sneak attack and drives deep into Bolusea. The Carlotta Jacksonian guards are detached and sent toward Camden while the invasion spearhead continues toward the sea. Unable to stem the invasion, Bolusea appeals for United States help. And so, swift strike begins with the 82nd Airborne Division selected to answer the SOS from Bolusea. The paratroopers load onto famous flying boxcars, but Air Force C-123's known as providers also are used in the exercise. Each provider can carry 60 troops. The countryside near Camden is the target for the airborne strike. Drop zones range from three and a half to 20 miles from aggressor-held territory. Cars now used extensively by reserve and national guard units do yeoman work in the exercise. Three of the 82nd Division's five battle groups jump in this opening salvo of paratroopers. Each paratrooper jumps in with about 180 pounds of arms and rations. He also brings an important intangible awareness that his division never gave up a foot of ground in World War II as it jumped and fought from Sicily to Anzio, from Normandy to Germany. Air drop is observed by Strat Commander and exercise controller, Lieutenant General Thomas Trapno, by General Herbert Powell, Continental Army Commander and Army Secretary Elvis Starr Jr. Hung the first down, path finders signal incoming waves when to jump. Every precaution is taken, particularly since these drops are over civilian territory. They're heavy equipment. Two and three 100 foot shoots tied to the heavier burdens of ammunition, machine guns, mechanical mules, jeeps. Troopers of the 82nd now move to reconnoiter the alien region and to secure the airheads. Behind the screen of paratroopers the Army's new caribou planes swoop into a field that would try a jeep. These remarkable planes can land or take off in the length of a football field. Income more men, ammunition and vehicles, and then the caribou is off for another load. The airhead secured without trouble, the 82nd's officers and men prepare to move on their first objective, Camden Airport. This is the way the division's battle groups line up, the 187th, 325th and division headquarters, 503rd, 501st and 504th turning toward the enemy. The aggressor Jacksonian guards, conquerors of Camden by this time are conducting their own reconnaissance. Small patrols are sent to probe the 82nd's position and strength. The 82nd takes Camden Airport, brushing aside light resistance, and with the good landing strip available Air Force C-123s bring in the hardware and other essentials to give the Airborne Division a heavier wallop and greater endurance, more troops and heavy equipment. A signal van, trucks, jeeps, fuel, food, more ammunition. Although many of these items come in faster by paradrop, this way all damage loss is eliminated. The planes are down, unloaded and on their way again in 15 minutes. The support units move out quickly from Camden Airport. 30 hours after the first paratrooper touchdown, the entire Airborne Division goes in quest of the Jacksonian guards. If he wasn't aware before, the aggressor now realizes that he has a full-fledged counter-invasion on his hands. The aggressor force, known during the maneuver as the Carlotta Jacksonian guards, and actually a provisional battle group from Fort Jackson, South Carolina, moves out promptly in an effort to nullify the 82nd Airborne's successful airdrop. This promptly rolls into an 82nd Airborne ambush. Born soldier effectiveness, the 82nd proceeds to convince the Jacksonian guards that they should have stayed home. Aggressor Carlotta now is forced to commit its strategic reserve, airborne against airborne, and the famous 101st, the Screaming Eagles, enter the maneuver. These troopers of the 101st Airborne possess an illustrious record. In World War II, the Screaming Eagles jumped into Normandy to link Utah and Omaha beachheads. They won fame at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge and became the first entire Army Division to receive a distinguished unit citation. While this is a maneuver, this same division would be the lead outfit for the strategic Army Corps if a hot war started. The 101st shows its professional competence by dropping in between the 82nd Airborne at Camden and the 82nd's base in friendly Kuhnvac. The 101st drops at and around Chirot, first literally, soul the air with Screaming Eagles. This is a precision drop of men and equipment. The land areas have all the normal obstacles of terrain and unfamiliarity, and in addition, there are the nearby civilian communities to worry about. But the 101st troopers are professionals at this business. As a result, 99% of all soldiers, 98% of all equipment landed inside the drop zone. In fact, for the entire exercise, the average error from the designated impact point is less than 100 yards. The ever-present umpires keep the fast developing counterattack hewing to the rules of the maneuver. General Trapnel again is on hand to watch this drop with General Curtis LeMay, the Air Force Chief of Staff. General LeMay, a dedicated Air Force officer, is a recognized expert on infantry small arms. Although you can't stop a war temporarily every so often, a maneuver does halt for a recap, critiques, and time for the umpires to be briefed on the upcoming phase. With more than 30,000 troops now actively engaged in swift strike, there's plenty of work to keep support units busy. Water supplies are continually tested. This water may have come from a river or from a well, but it will be pure and drinkable before the soldiers get it. As for Chow, support units show that they can deliver under any conditions. Army nurses are there too for a maneuver tests the active participation of all concerned. The Army Chaplain takes care of the soldier's spiritual needs. Throughout the far-flung maneuver area this Sunday, these scenes are repeated in open fields, beside airstrips, at campsites. When swift strike kicks off again, the battle groups of the 101st are before Chara, waiting for the attack of the 82nd, and it isn't long in coming. The 82nd is ready, willing, and able, and its Sunday punch, a transportable missile, a rather grim reminder that the infantry today has atomic weapons. During the Airborne Division's ace, extreme mobility, the 82nd plans an aerial end-run purpose to trap the aggressor against the P.D. River. The Benetsville Airport plays a vital role here. It must be captured. This is what the Army calls vertical envelopment, all told in swift strike, the largest Airborne maneuver ever undertaken in peacetime. The Air Force flies 2,700 troop carrier missions. 12,000 troops, more than one-third the total number in the exercise, are paratropped. Yet there is only one serious injury per 1,000 jumps, a remarkable example of precision and discipline. Benetsville Airport, unopposed. The 82nd troopers have flanked the aggressor forces, and the field is theirs. In short order, the captured airfield is a going relay station for the 82nd. On a minute-by-minute schedule, caribou shuttle in weapons, ammunition, and vehicles. Copters begin moving the men in weapons close to the vulnerable flank and rear of the 101st. Aggressors resort to nuclear weapons. Here a simulated atomic explosion, in an effort to head off the enveloping moon. With the 82nd paratroopers already dispersed over a wide area, the nuclear shot fails to stop the battlegroup. In a closing vice, the 101st begins a desperate effort to escape across the P.D. River. The combat engineers are called upon to build a pontoon bridge, and rapidly. The 82nd is making good use now of the artillery they brought in with them. The pressure increases on the 101st. Some screaming eagles get their wings clipped. The engineers come through, however, throw a 60-ton bridge across the river overnight. By dawn, the aggressor division is withdrawing. By several routes, axiom of war, withdraw until you can regroup and counterattack. The 101st now goes airborne in the Army's own troop carrier, the fantastic turboprop caribou. In the largest assembly of caribou's ever gathered, in fact, a caribou is quite an aircraft. It can carry 32 fully-equipped troops and deliver them right to the front lines. No reinforced runways needed for this one. Fields, pastures, country roads, beachheads, desert, they're all the same. Not competitive with Air Force troop carriers, the caribou is designed for large-scale troop and cargo movement within combat areas. Since the first caribou's arrived at operational units less than three months before, this is the first chance for most ground commanders to judge the plane. As the tested Army helicopter, versatile, maneuverable, already has been working changes in field tactics. Army aviation craft, fixed and rotary wing, airlifted more than 11,000 troops during swift strike, providing a mobility and fluidity not seen before on this scale. Using close tactical support, Air Force fighters fly more than 2,000 combat sorters. Do what they can to stop the 103. But this aggressor counterattack is too well organized to stop. The maneuver so far is proving one thing. Airborne troops can mount an extremely effective, fast-moving force, both of attack and counterattack. In addition, swift strike is a proving ground for junior and non-commissioned officers. Continuously thrust into new and volatile situations, they must think as well as fight their way out. Thrown off balance by the 101st's counterattack, the 82nd wards off blows with a series of local firefights. The first counterattack pays tangible dividends, and 82nd troopers occupy PW cages for a change. Special forces detachments take their share of captives. At this point, the exercise directors declare swift strike at an end. There is no final decision as to which side won. This is not the purpose of a maneuver. But the ensuing period of study and assessment, the critique of the action will reveal many things. For our example, Army aviation came of age. It showed by the amounts of material the numbers of men carried that it can affect the course of battle, give the airborne troops even more mobility and punch. For the troop in cargo carrying caribou, this was a debut, a highly successful one. Ground commanders were impressed by its performance. As for Army Air Force coordination, that gets more than praise, it brings action. The Defense Department decides to merge the tactical air command and strategic Army Corps into a unified strike command, and the one-two punch of strike, the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions are rated easily among the best infantry divisions in the world. There is a winner in swift strike after all, every person who is concerned with a stronger America. An official report for the armed forces and the American people, produced by the Army Pictorial Center, presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.