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At last weekend’s bimonthly meeting of the Coffee County Historical Society, we viewed a video of the “Signature Required” podcast featuring Kelly Magill and her upcoming documentary about the Tennessee Maneuvers held during the World War II era. Camp Forrest in general gets quite a bit of recognition around Tullahoma and Coffee County, but the Tennessee Maneuvers seem to be discussed less. However, the Tennessee Maneuvers were very significant, as well as invasive, and greatly contributed to the Allied Forces victory during the war. Their effect on Coffee County was immense, and vice versa.

The Tennessee Maneuvers were basically a dress rehearsal for war. In the ensuing years after World War I, the methods of fighting war had changed. The technology between 1918 and 1941 was vastly different and armies had adapted. American soldiers had to be trained in the new ways and Middle Tennessee provided terrain and environment that was very similar to Europe, so it was a perfect place for the maneuvers. Similar training was held simultaneously in other parts of the country with swamps, bitter cold, or desert environments.

From early 1941 and well into 1944, Coffee County and surrounding counties were a pretend war zone, the only differences being that no one was being killed on purpose, though there were unfortunately a few accidents. It was very common to see military vehicles and soldiers on roads, in fields, and everywhere else.

Thankfully Hugh Doak, publisher of the Manchester Times, postmaster, photographer, and more, recorded the maneuvers photographically, and these accompanying photographs are his, generously provided by the Coffee County Historical Museum. The Historical Society has thousands of Hugh Doak’s negatives that they are painstakingly scanning and archiving.

Those negatives could have been lost forever, had it not been for the wise intervention of another local historian. According to a small sign in the museum, after Mr. Doak’s death in 1963, someone at the Manchester Times set his negatives out on the curb to be hauled away as trash. Mr. Grady York, a banker at People’s Bank, saw them and recognizing their significance hauled the whole lot away to the historical society.

The Coffee County Historical Museum, located in the Coffee County Courthouse in Manchester, currently has an excellent exhibit highlighting the Tennessee Maneuvers specifically in Coffee County. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

If you value history and its preservation, consider becoming a member of the Coffee County Historical Society. Check their Facebook page and their website. We’ll talk more about Coffee County’s part of the Tennessee Maneuvers over the next couple of weeks.

Do you have sharp pictures of buildings, businesses, churches or events from Tullahoma’s past? If so, reach out to me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.